Work/Life Renewal

Have you ever had a time in your life when you realized you were just going through the motions? Going to work each day to get paid, so that you could afford to do the other things in your life you truly enjoyed? Have you ever thought, ‘there’s got to be more than this!?” Perhaps you feel that way now. What you may long for at a time like this is to regain your sense of self. To restore yourself and get a new sense of your well-being. To do so, you will need to align what is important to you deep inside with the daily life you lead on the outside. After all, you probably spend more time at work than anywhere else—shouldn’t you feel like you are contributing to your sense of self while you are there? What is Self-Renewal? Self-renewal begins when you take time out to reflect on what is working and not working in your life, to determine what is really important to you so that you can reframe, refocus, and rejuvenate. Self-renewal requires that you, by choice, step back—away from whatever it is that you are doing and that you look at what you want in life and work to determine how the two can be more synchronized. The four step ‘magic formula’ that leads to self-renewal.

• Hold on to what is important to you in all areas of you life (take a look at your core values).
• Let go of those things which are not priorities—attitudes and behaviors that you feel are self-defeating.
• Take on new approaches—ways of doing things that are consistent with the real you, and
• Move on, going forward with new life and energy, and direction because you are focused on what’s important.

Why is Self-Renewal Important? The pressures of work and life tent to cause the ‘important things’ to get out of focus. Sometimes our work and other ‘commitments’ cause our sense of self to become faded. Therefore, it is especially important in today’s busy world with all its many pressures, to take time out so that we can revisit and restore ourselves, our core, our soul. These are the things which keep us grounded and moving forward with inner direction and sense of well-being in a world where there is so much complexity and change. How Will You Know When You’ve Experienced Self-Renewal? You’ll know that you have experienced renewal when you feel a sense of direction and purpose—a new burst in energy. You will probably go through all the stages of self renewal:

• Solitude
• Revision of Core Values
• Exploring the World again
• An Exiting Ritual: Choosing New Priorities.

Renewal is about a time for fresh new ideas and learning. How we experience renewal in our day-to day work lives has much to do with our opportunity to learn and grow, the satisfaction and excitement we feel from doing what we love, the community of people with whom we interact, and the opportunity to do what is meaningful to us. But it also comes from knowing, in a real way, about where we are, what’s important to us, where we want to go, and what we want to become. Our purpose at WINNING WAYS is to help people experience the joy of meaningful work. And that can take many different forms of each of us. Have you considered Self-Assessment? In our WINNING WAYS one-on-one introspective Counseling program a self assessment is designed to help you take that first step back to assess where you are and where you want to be.

For help in designing effective job search strategies that work, and living a more balanced life and career that is fully aligned with your passions and values, contact Winning Ways.