The month of November is recognized as National Career Development Month. And what matters most in our lives in terms of career growth is our mental health. Career development is intimately linked to mental health wellness. Just like our physical health, our mental health can have an impact on our entire lives, including our relationships, everyday tasks, school commitments, and work responsibilities. Everything in our lives is impacted in some way. Our career development will be affected if our mental health isn’t in good shape.
Let us discover some strategies for maintaining our mental health wellbeing in our career development.
Good Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance affects the performance of millennial generation employees, according to Wolor, Kurninanti, Zahra, and Martono (2020), and having a work-life balance, people can be motivated and dedicated to working effectively.
The first step in pursuing our career development is to learn how to establish a good work-life balance. Learning this will help determine the career path towards which you want to progress. According to Simmons (2012), achieving a good work-life balance does not mean literally separating work and leisure time, but instead balancing the two to attain physical and mental health harmony. One strategy to achieve a good work-life balance is to find enjoyment in your work.
Understand Your Stress
Understand the stress you usually encounter. Stress is an unavoidable part of life that, if not managed properly, can impede your career development. This is an unavoidable life aspect that will always be present, no matter what you do. All you have to do now is figure out how to manage your own stress and figure out what causes the majority of your tension.
(To know more about stress, read our article here.)
Know yourself
If you don’t know yourself, how will you grow in your job and achieve your goals? Taking steps to understand and know yourself will motivate you and make you more aware of the things that may influence or hinder your career decisions. Know what motivates you, what your principles are, what your values are, and what your personality type is. Overall, knowing who you are will make your career progression a lot easier.
Along with knowing and understanding yourself, it’s important to remember not to identify yourself with your job; in other words, don’t make your job your identity. If you try to get to know yourself more and you find yourself identifying yourself with your work, according to Koretz (2019), try to reframe your relationship with your job and consider how your existing skills might be applied in various contexts.
Let us remember this month that career development is about more than just the skills we need to learn and improve in order to do better and advance in our work; it’s also about getting to know ourselves and preserving our mental health wellness. Our mental wellness is essential for our career advancement. If you’re lost in your current job or aren’t sure what career path to take, do not hesitate to seek guidance from a career coach like us. Feel free to send us a message here and let us know how you’re doing. And if you’re a struggling leader with anxiety, get your free eBook here to help you learn how to become an anxiety-reducing leader.
References:
Wolor, Christian & Kurnianti, Destria & Zahra, Siti & Martono, s. (2020). THE IMPORTANCE OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE MILLENNIAL GENERATION IN INDONESIA. Critical Reviews in Toxicology. 7. 2020. 10.31838/jcr.07.09.203.
Simmons, S. (2012). Striving for work-life balance. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 112(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000410173.98529.f6
University of Bristol. (n.d.). Understanding yourself. Staff Development | University of Bristol. Retrieved October 26, 2021, from http://www.bristol.ac.uk/staffdevelopment/academic/researchstaffhub/takestock/understanding-yourself/.
What happens when your career becomes your whole identity. Harvard Business Review. (2021, September 30). Retrieved October 26, 2021, from https://hbr.org/2019/12/what-happens-when-your-career-becomes-your-whole-identity.
