And a Happy New Year

Aaaaaaaand, I’m back.? Well, that was a whirlwind 60-day lead into the holiday period and new year!?? Even after several months of down time in 2023, the gallop across the finish line of 2023 had me extremely grateful for some downtime with our family in Ireland and a New Year celebration with friends visiting the UK from the US.?? December was a busy period for me, with several “first-in-a-long-time” events, all of which took some significant care and attention to make sure that the outcomes I was working towards would be results I would be proud of.?? Those who know me the best will know that I have a habit of taking on just enough to make myself uncomfortable, in terms of cognitive load and time management.?? The end of 2023 is an excellent example of my having done just that.??

At work, month two leaned into all the usual year end, annual planning and strategy conversations you’d expect in a growing advisory consulting group, and personally kicked off client work with seven new clients, on topics ranging from building a people analytics centre of expertise, through measuring the impact of learning interventions, and improving organisational maturity in strategic workforce planning.?? While working as a consultant internally for much of the last decade, and often bouncing around multiple stakeholder groups in a week, each focussed on supporting outcomes in the businesses through application of different parts of the people analytics world, it’s been very many years since I had worked with multiple distinct clients from entirely different organisations in such a short period.?? That takes a great deal of mental agility, and I can tell you, that the re-engaging of that muscle was a workout!??

Speaking of mental agility and a workout – December also saw the due date of 4 of my 5 first term assessments for my MSc.?? I’m not ashamed to admit that I had forgotten entirely what writing academically was like.?? As it transpires, there’s a lot more reading involved in writing than I remembered, and far more technical requirements in terms of referencing than in writing a blog!? Mercifully, I had an exceedingly wonderful tutor for Life and Career Development, the subject area that reviews all the overlapping and interacting theories and frameworks to understand human life stages and work and careers, who shared the best tip for re-engaging in academic reading (for writing) ever.? So, take note of this, anyone preparing to study, because it’s a life and time saver.??

Don’t read whole articles.??

This December I doubled down on the skill of academic interrogation, rather than reading – focussing on answering the Big 6 + 1 (What Who What When Where Why and How?) to understand the contribution of the academic writing, and seeking further into the writing based on subjects I was interested in understanding and writing about.??

Effectively, this approach enabled me to learn deeply about the content area I was most interested in, namely, the influence of a career calling on the current work and career landscape, and whether it has a positive or negative influence on humans’ ability to effectively navigate career changes.?? My view – in the current career landscape, drawing on insights from the World Economic Forum Future Of Work Report from May 2023 – noting that vast numbers of us will face a career change in the coming 5 years – it’s a positive.?? The north star that a career calling provides, gives a sort of anchor, and helps us to seek mechanisms to pursue fulfilment in new roles, even as major life transitions may be happening.

Finally, and reflecting on that core trait of maxing myself out – I think I finally understand the deep intrinsic value of time off with family at the end of the year.?? In years gone by, I would have very happily worked through the holiday season, saving my vacation time to spend more time chasing the sun and sundowners on beaches.? I got chatting to a brother & sister in law on Christmas night about favourite parts of the holidays, and surprised myself when mine was, genuinely, peeling potatoes (amongst other meal preparation) with glasses of wine and Christmas carols on the radio, with my parents in law and husband in the kitchen on Christmas eve, and sitting around said brother & sister in law’s dining table after we’d all stuffed ourselves with turkey and aforementioned peeled potatoes at lunch, and debriefing the day/week/month/year that had been.?? There’s something wonderful about the familiar, and relaxing time spent with family that has been completely restorative. I hope anyone reading managed some restorative time as well – 2024 is bound to be an exciting year, in every sense of that word.?? And I’m ready for it!