Have you ever had a busy time, when you knew you couldn’t afford to miss a step? You knew it was coming, and you made a plan to juggle all your responsibilities, and you were ready, in the words of Project Runway’s infamous Tim Gunn, to just “make it work.”
And then, despite all the planning, thinking things out from different angles, and even planning the contingencies, you trip over some unexpected change in terrain….
Boom.Flutter.Fall.
Flat on your face. Ouch-ey! And you wonder whether you should even bother to get up.
Fall has been kinda like that for me, and I’m finally at a point where I need to start over, focus on some core priorities, and let some other things go (or delegate them out). This week, I’m going to tell you what I’ve been doing with my time, and ask you to help me prioritize a bit by letting me know what you’d like to see.
Part 1: The Blog(s)
Readership was pretty consistent last spring during the “placement conference season” and through the summer. July was the best month for traffic, probably in part due to the “down time” many of us experience right before the August/September madness. Since August readership has been down, and I’ve been struggling to come up with fresh content, in part because I am juggling several other projects now, including a part-time gig with Wesleyan College down in Macon, GA, a hybrid coaching course for placement season, some webinars, some guest posts for other blogs and web sites, and the beginnings of some e-books and other “informational products.” I also helped plan a half-marathon.
I thought I had some good plans for this fall, and a good idea of how to execute them. But I got stuck in a few details, distracted by other projects (who knew planning a half-marathon would require so much work?) and then thrown off by a few life events (both cars robbed in my own driveway a couple of weeks back.) So my blogs are off-track, my business has taken a back-seat to a race, my office is a mess, my schedule is full, and there are days I look back over my shoulder and say “where did the day go, and what do I have to show for it?”
I’ve been teetering between the two big options lately: giving up and bucking up. When I set out to do this, I had idealistic reasons in mind, and some pie-in-the-sky ideas about how I’d turn my interests and idealism into a sustainable business and lifestyle. The reality is that I’ve been stumbling through some of it, and like anyone, I could use some feedback and direction. So I’m turning to you. I’ve decided not to quit (at least not yet).
What do you think I should do to mold this idealistic vision of helping higher ed job seekers into a sustainable business model?
What interests you?
What would you be willing to pay for?
What do you want?
And what do you need?
Last year, I did a good job of building up some partnerships and getting guest writers. In July I had a few, and it was the best month for readership for both HigherEdLifeCoach.Com and HigherEdCareerCoach.Com. Many of my regular guest bloggers have started new jobs or had other significant changes in their lives. I’m working with a couple to find time to “get back on the horse,” but I’m also going to bring in some new contributors, so the content can be fresh, and so new voices can find a platform. As I do, I could use your input to help me prioritize any changes or updates to the blogs.
As a reader:
Which past guest posts have you enjoyed the most?
Which contributors?
What topics do you want to read more about?
And if you are a writer or a fellow coach, what would you like to contribute?
Should we have more video and audio posts, slideshows, resource lists, tips and tricks?
Do you like book reviews, product reviews, or “wish list” types of posts?
How often should we have new posts? I had been shooting for 2-3 per week.
Please share some ideas that will help improve the blog, either by commenting below or by sending feedback to sean@higheredcareercoach.com.
RescueTime is a great tool to help you get a handle on how you spend your time. If you are interested, sign up for the free acount through my referral link and I’ll earn two weeks of free RescueTime. Sign up for a paid account, and you’ll help me extend my account by 30 days. This is also a great way for you to get to use this tool, since referrals earn you free time. I’m sure that many of you will be interested after watching my tutorial video.
Also, if you are entrepreneurial at heart but struggle with marketing yourself, learning how to run business, or you just want to be immersed in social media and have the opportunity to learn first-hand from some great business minds, check out Third Tribe. They have an affiliate program, too, so if you sign up through my link, I will earn a commission.I have found the advice I get there to be worth several times the membership cost, and I can safely say that if I have to trim back on expenses, this will be among the last to go. The community there is awesome, and it goes way beyond the founders (Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan and Sonia Simone).
I hope you found this tour of RescueTime interesting and that you’ll give it a spin. It’s really been helping me, and I think it could help you, too. My best wishes to you as you find ways to rescue time and find more life in your work/life balance.
There are some important periods of the academic year to pay attention to when you work in higher ed. Everyone acknowledges that the busiest times…welcome week, exam week, and closing for the summer… can eat up your time and energy. But it’s equally important to pay attention to the times which are slower-moving, because they sometimes represent “the calm before the storm”
When I worked in Residence Life, I always had a mid-semester slog starting around October. People were settling into routines, events were happening here and there, and my calendar would feel pretty set, with regular committee meetings, 1-on-1 meetings with supervisees, and loads and loads of busy work. It was always around this time, too, when we’d start to see roommate and neighbor conflicts pick up, alcohol poisonings increase, and psychological issues rear their ugly head.
This period between early October and Thanksgiving always felt to me like wading through molasses. When this feeling hits you (and it will, sometime between now and Thanksgiving, I guarantee it!), you may do one of two things…bury yourself in work so that you feel busy and productive, or avoid work like the plague, put off unpleasant tasks as long as you can, and just hope to ride it out until break. Neither of these methods should be mistaken for work/life balance.
Times like these call on you to stop ad pay attention to how you are balancing your priorities. If you don’t, it can be like a slow, smoldering burn, ready to flash into a fireball at any moment, and leave you ashen, grey, or even burnt to a cinder.
So do yourself a favor: Pay attention to how you are spending your time, and find some time for yourself. If you don’t insist on work/life balance, you won’t have any!
What do you do to make it through your mid-semester slog? Share your ideas, questions and thoughts in the comments below.
Sean Cook, Certified Life Purpose & Career Coach
Sean Cook is a certified Life Purpose and Career Coach based in Athens, GA. Before completing his certification from the Life Purpose Institute, he earned his M.Ed. in Counseling and Guidance Services from Clemson University, and spent over 15 years various student affairs roles in higher education. He specializes in working with college students, recent graduates, and higher ed professionals, and acts as publisher for HigherEdCareerCoach.Com and HigherEdLifeCoach.Com. You can listen to his periodic podcast, the Higher Ed Life and Careers Show, at 11 a.m. Eastern on Fridays on BlogTalkRadio.com. Look for his upcoming contribution to SelfGrowth.Com’s new book “101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career” later this Fall.
Things have been really busy lately and so today we did not have a podcast. I will try to return next week and start getting on a more regular schedule again. I am looking for guests, but have a few tentative topics lined up. Here are a few quick updates on some things worth checking out in the meantime. Thanks for visiting!
I found a great new web service called paper.li that lets you enter your Twitter username or a hashtag or a Twitter list and it automagically makes an online “newspaper” out of the links shared on those streams. I set one up for my @hiedcareercoach account, and for the hashtags #sachat and #saplacement. Check them out.
I never announced that I did choose LeaderShape for recognition for the August Who-DO award. I am going to finally get my act together in the next week to post a “who-do” award page and to actually send out the awards to the recipients so far. I plan to announce the September Who-Do next week. There won’t be a poll this time, because I have already chosen who to recognize. Polls will continue in the near future.
I am planning another hybrid coaching program to begin soon, and go through the placement season. I’m collecting information on people who might be interested through a new list. If you are interested in learning more, sign up here.
Look for more information about webinars on resumes, networking and job interviewing soon.
This week, the Student Affairs Twitter Chat (#sachat) passed a milestone. Now one year into its existence, it has changed how many student affairs professionals engage in conversations and professional development. I’ve been a member of the community surrounding this chat and the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog during this formative year, so I’d like to share my thoughts on how being involved in this community changed my life.
What communities are you engaged in online?
Are you using social media to engage other professionals and to network? Is it making you a better professional?
Work with Sean. I help higher ed professionals take control of their careers with tailored services including resume and CV development, LinkedIn profile optimization and networking strategy, interview coaching, and one-on-one career guidance.
