Your career and the shape of you

How do you take care of yourself? Are you passionate about the shape of your career? If so, what are you doing about it?

There are tons of information available that explains the benefit one accrues by being physically active and agile. The act of going to the gym, or swimming, being regular in walks, or any other physical activity, is aimed at taking care of oneself and one’s body.

What if your workplace was your gym? And your focus was on career building? What would you be doing? How much time would you be spending in this gym daily? Would you pay more attention to repetitive exercises, or would you be game to bringing in a mix of old and new?

The shape of you

Let us explore how you can give yourself a new and/or better shape with your workplace and career as your gym.

#Repeat the sets

Physical exercises help strength muscle and build endurance. The more repetitive tasks you do with a particular muscle, the stronger it becomes.

At work many tasks become routine or mundane. We tend to lose interest in them or do them half-heartedly. But what if you were to increase your focus on these repetitive tasks and push for improvement? Reflect on a task that you would like to improvise on. It does not matter if the task is small. Focusing on things with the idea of improvement will always bring about change.

For instance, if it takes you an hour to draft a press release, by improving on making yourself efficient, you can turn your attention to doing new things.

#Set achievable targets

People set targets when working out. It acts as a motivator and something to look forward to. Many strive to walk 10,000 steps daily. When completed, it gives a tremendous sense of achievement. The key is to ensure that the targets you set are achievable.

Similar benefits can accrue if you were to set targets/goals in your career that are doable. If you aspire to be a leader, your career target could be to seek internship opportunities wherein you can hone leadership skills. Or it could well be a prospect to shadow a leader. Of course, you can also join programs/courses and pick up new knowledge.

#Build that habit

Ever noticed how regular are the people who exercise? They are always there in the gym or on their walks, come what may. A routine, a fixed time and a fixed plan. Those who are consistent with their physical exercise know that once it becomes a habit, it is addictive.

Where are you in your career path? What habits can you pick up that can become addictive and assist you in not wavering? Habits like being punctual, organised, and open for feedback and improvements go a long way in strengthening your career graph.

#Do not ignore the core

In any workout program, the focus is not just on cardio exercises but also on strengthening the core muscles. In fact, a well devised exercise routine consists of a mix of exercises that ensures that movement of all muscles.

Career core values include integrity, ethics, professionalism, accountability, honesty, and like. Assess on a regular basis where you stand against each of these values. Strive to improve your score by living your values all the time.

What matters is not the end result. It is the process that you follow. Physically agile people turn their energies to what is doable and achievable. You could give your career the shape you want by developing a plan, routine, and habit that can be done, no matter what.

Become a career fitness freak!

The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Sarita Bahl

Sarita Bahl is an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the Swedish Institute of Management Program. An experienced and versatile leader, she comes with nearly four decades of professional experience. She has over the years successfully overseen the communications and public affairs function and led the corporate social responsibility strategy for Bayer South Asia, Pfizer, and Monsanto, among others. Sarita has held multiple roles across diverse industries, the public sector, trade associations, MNCs, and the not-for-profit sector. Her areas of interest include advocacy, stakeholder engagement, sustainability, and communications.

As an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and Senior Practitioner (Mentoring) from the European Council of Mentoring and Coaching (EMCC), Sarita specializes in career transition, inner engineering and life issues. Sarita enjoys writing and is passionate about animals, books, and movies.