How to get a part-time job

Charlie, Me and Aiden. Photo by www.andreathompson.com.au

While I was in Byron Bay recently attending the fab Business Chicks Movers and Breakers Conference I was contacted by a Human Resources (HR) Colleague and friend. She sent me a message on Facebook promoted by an article I shared called this is the reason women should never give up their jobs.  You can go have a read if you like..... I can wait.

You see I don't think women should give up their jobs. I just don't, but I also know that circumstances at different times make this hard for some people and I don't judge. This is just how I feel about things.

My colleague/friend wanted some advice because she wanted to return to work now that her kids are in school, but was struggling to gain part-time work in her profession.  She had to leave her previous job because the company wouldn't provide flexible work when her second child wasn't well. She needed some help and advice.

I have written about working part-time before. I wrote about it here back in 2014 and then I had my friend Jacqui write about it here, about her attempt to reduce her full time hours. Today I have been doing some more research and writing on part-time work (beyond this post) and did you know that in Australia 43% of women work part-time? I think part of the reason is that women still bear the majority of caring for children and elderly parents and looking after the household. There is obviously a big need for this type of work.

Did you also know that women retire with less than half of the retirement savings of men? There are reasons for this, including not earning the same as men for equivalent work, spending time out of the workforce to have children and working part-time. You can check out the appalling stats here, page 4 

But back to the point of the post. How do you get a part-time job? There is huge competition for part-time roles because;

a) lots of women want part-time roles,  and (unfortunately for my colleague and friend) 

b) the HR profession, in particular, is full of women who would really like a part-time role.

Whenever part-time roles are advertised I suspect there are hundreds of people who apply. It's tough. I think the majority of part-time jobs are created by people in full time jobs who need something to give. They were able to argue for something that suits them better and will have a track record of performance behind them. I don't think these kind of roles are offered up very often in the open job market, so here was my advice to her which may help you too.

Apply for full time roles. 
If/when you are offered a full time role you could try negotiating for a part-time one. I think this works for a 4 day a week role but not less than that. Companies that think they need someone in a role doing full time hours are unlikely to consider much less. 

You need to think about how you could do a full time 5 day a week role in 4 days. 

Maybe you do 5 days (38 hours) in four e.g. work longer hours on 4 days?
Maybe you can present an argument of how your understanding of the role could be done in a only 4 days a week?
Maybe you could think about working 5 days but with slightly shorter hours e.g. start later than normal and/or finish earlier than normal?

I have a friend who applied for full time jobs and when she was offered one she negotiated to work 4 days per week and was successful. 

The risk with this option is that you erode some trust upfront and what if it doesn't work? Hmmm....

Apply for a full time job, get through probation and then negotiate part time hours. 
This may be a better option than the first one as you know the company and the role better. Though you may need childcare options for the length of the probationary period (usually 3-6 months), if this is the reason for wanting to work part-time. You would be in a better position to work out how you could do the job on reduced hours. Of course there is the risk that the company won't agree to your proposal and you are stuck doing a full time job, or would need to resign.

Work full time. 
This is a tough option but if you have family support (grandparents etc), can access childcare and/or before and after school care. This option also gives more money so you could potentially have a cleaner to help with some of the household stuff and get your partner to do their share. Honestly, this is my favourite option. I know it's the toughest but I truly believe it's the best.  

OR
What about you and your partner (should you have someone to share the parenting) negotiate some part time hours or flexible options? If your partner is the main breadwinner even just leaving work early a couple of days a week can be a help in picking up children, doing some grocery shopping and cooking the evening meal.

Would love to hear about other ideas for securing part-time work......

Do you like the photo of the boys and I at the top of this post? It was taken by Andrea Thompson in June at Byron Bay (can you tell I really like Byron Bay?). Andrea is a long time friend and Brisbane (Australia) based photographer. She has done numerous family shoots for me as well as some corporate gigs. She has also just won the AIPP Queensland Professional Wedding photographer of the year for 2016! Andrea is a great example of making her work, work for her. She is able to do what she loves while also looking after her family.

My Career Story

 Hi! Welcome to I-develop-me. I hope you enjoy visiting and picking up some great information and tips to help you in your life, and your career. It can be inspiring and interesting to understand how others have got to where they are so here is a bit about me and my career story....

What do you want to do, when you grew up? 

When I left school in Brisbane I had no idea what I wanted to do, or be, when I grew up! Maybe I still don't. When I left school it seemed like the next step would be to go to university. And study what? I seriously had no idea. I learnt music growing up and became pretty good at playing flute but wasn't sure that it was something I wanted to make a career out of. My flute teacher's husband asked me one afternoon "Do you want to spend 8 hours a day practising alone?" I did not. That decided that. 

What should I study?

I read the Tertiary selection course book from start to finish to see if there was anything that interested me. My best subject at school was Home Economics (please don't tell anyone. God it's embarrassing!). I was top of the class in every year at high school. Seriously. I liked Home Economics but knew that I definitely did not want to be a Home 'Ec' teacher.  The thought of year 8 boys was enough to turn me off that. I came across a degree called "Bachelor of Applied Science in Home Economics". I decided to do that. I was good at Home Ec and Science. Why not? Of course doing that 3 year degree just delayed me working out what the rest of my life was going to look like!

Time to get to work!

I finished my degree and still having no idea about what I wanted to do, I started work in my parent's hardware store. On day 1 working for Dad I was offered a Full-time job and a place in the management development program for a jewellery chain-store. During uni I worked at said jewellery chain-store as a casual worker. The decision was made quickly. I could either work with pretty things, or hammers. I was off! Poor Dad. So while I was pretty sure I didn't want a career in retail long-term I knew that the skills I would learn in this job would be invaluable. Also the opportunity to be part of a management development program was pretty appealing. 

I worked for that company for 6 years and was eventually promoted to Store Manager. I learnt lots; how to manage people, how to budget and plan, how to drive profit, merchandising skills, how to deal with conflict effectively (you learn this pretty quick when you have customer screaming in front of your during the Christmas rush!), how to ask good questions and communicate effectively and I definitely learnt that there had to be an easier way to earn a living, that didn't involve standing on your feet 10 hours a day. 

A career change and more study

During this time in my career I became interested in how organisations selected employees and managed them. The Store Manager who originally employed me had become the State Human Resources (HR) Manager and I wondered if that was something I could do. Back to uni I went, this time studying part-time (Bachelor of Business in Human Resource Management), while I worked full-time. Let me just say studying part-time is HARD WORK. On the evenings I needed to attend lectures I arrived physically exhausted, mentally thirsty and completely talked out*.

So even though I had decided I wanted to move from Retail Management into HR Management, and was studying to match,  I had no idea how I was going to make the transition and convince someone, anyone, to give me a job in HR when I had no experience. I decided I had to get some experience any way I could. I took a casual job in the business faculty of the university, with one of the HR Lecturers which involved photocopying and filing. I enrolled in the universities mentoring program and was lucky enough to get matched with the HR Manager from an industrial type company. I attended any kind of free or cheap HR industry training or events, and I amended my resume to demonstrate my HR Management skills in the roles I had to date.  

 My first corporate role

I applied for an entry level role with a company that was looking to establish a new HR department. I was selected for an interview because I didn't have much HR experience and because I had other experience. How cool is that? I was very lucky that the new CEO recruited on potential and liked my energy and personality. The HR Manager I worked for in that job was also great and I was given lots of feedback and assistance which was just what I needed. I was on my way!

Move to the big smoke

I had always wanted to move to Sydney and decided the time was right in 2002. You can read a bit more about why I decided move here. I wanted to work for a big company in Sydney. My first HR role in Brisbane was for a small niche insurer with around 100 employees. I wanted to see how a big company "did" HR. My first role was with a very large and entrepreneurial company and their HR systems were basically non-existent. Oh well. I still learnt heaps!

From then to now..

I have worked really hard so far in my work and education and I have been lucky enough to work for some great companies and people throughout my HR career. I have completed a Masters in Organisational Coaching and have progressed steadily in my career to the point I thought I could help others with theirs, so I decided to write this blog. I have worked for big and small companies, some Australian and some Global and worked in generalist and specialist roles as I have increased my seniority in the HR profession.  I have been given the opportunity to travel the world during my career to the UK, Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia, the USA, and China and work with some fantastic people and fascinating cultures.

I have lived and worked in Singapore and now the UK. 


*"talked out" is the technical term for having to talk all day, to customers, to staff so that by the end of the day you never want to talk to anyone again ;-)

About Me

Hello! I'm Lisa. Nice to meet you!

The Formal Stuff!

My 16+ year career in Human Resource Management and Organisational Development has included both local and global experience in Industrial Distribution, Retail, Insurance, Services, FMCG and Manufacturing industries. I am very proud to have worked for companies such as National Transport Insurance, P&O Ports, Coates Hire, Coca-Cola Amatil, Brady Corporation and MRC Global in Human Resource Management and Organisational Development.

I have lived and worked in Brisbane and Sydney Australia, Singapore and now the UK.

My passion and focus is developing people and in particular leaders in organisations, and I like working with leaders to help them create an organisational culture which makes people want to work there, do a great job and build and improve the business.

I have two undergraduate degrees in Applied Science and Business from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Organisational Coaching from Sydney University. I am accredited in a number of tools which help people develop self awareness and effective leadership behaviours.

The Fun Stuff!

I am a complete pop-music tragic! I love all the one word female singers - Madonna, Brittney, Kylie, Danni, Rhianna, Lady Gaga (yes that's two words. I know).

I am a Magazine junkie. Every month I buy 6-8 fashion and interior design magazines. They are completely taking over the house. There are piles of them everywhere. I like reading them while watching TV, in the bath and on planes! 

I am enjoying developing my photography skills (he, hee!). 

I love travelling, whether it's for work or holiday. I have had some amazing experiences that I will never forget such as enjoying an afternoon drink with a Maharajah on a beach in the very north west of India, near the Pakistan border while pet camels wandered past. This was at the end of a work day which started doing HR Audits.  

My name is Lisa and I'm a real-estate slut. There I said it.

I LOVE wine. It's one of my passions. My husband Arran and I are working our way around all the wine regions of Australia and are about to start on the wine regions in Europe.

Interesting Stuff

Blogs I like

Seth's Blog
TED Blog
Springwise
Keith Abraham's Blog 

Cool Stuff

The Domino Project - is a new way to think about publishing. Founded by Seth Godin and powered by Amazon, this project is trying to change the way books are built, sold and spread.

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin's experiment of becoming and being happy in everyday life.

 Apps for iPhone

LinkedIn - keep in touch with your network

HBR Tips - get useful management tips each day from Harvard Business Review

The Gender Pay Gap

I haven't blogged in a while because, well....one excuse is that I have just moved country (from Singapore to the UK) and that takes a fair bit of mental energy and time and planning. And it literally sucks the life out of you trying to set up bank accounts and trying not to stab yourself in the supermarket because you can't find the polenta. The other excuse is I have wanted to blog about many issues but sometimes I can't work out a way to write about these constructively*

But last week I attended a lunch and employment law update which was very helpful on a number of levels. The main being that while I know a little something about employment law in the UK (enough to be dangerous), I don't know much. This is actually a good position to be in because it makes me research and learn and talk to people who know more than me. I know what I don't know, which is better than thinking I know everything. It means I will end up in less sticky situations.

One of the items for discussion was Gender Pay Gap Reporting in the UK. I'd heard a little bit about it before I moved to the UK but as the company I work for doesn't have enough employees in the UK to have to complete the report, I let it fall out of my brain. But after some superior sandwiches and other lunch food tidbits I was in the right frame of mind to take in what this meant for employers.

Employees with more than 250 employees are expected to report their Gender Pay Gap by 2018 in the following ways:

• the mean pay gap between men and women,
• the median gender pay gap, and
• the gap in bonuses paid to men and women.

The brief included what exactly constituted 250 employees and what formulas you used for the calculations and when it all had to happen by. It struck me that this type of reporting has the potential to change the culture of how we look at gender and equal pay in the workplace. Because I'm assuming that the pay gap is not going to be positive for women. Actually I know it's not because of the clever research conducted by the International Labour Organisation and the World Economic Forum and the United Nations and many many other private and public sector organisations. We know the gap is not going to be pretty and this is going to force employers to start to do something about it, because there is going to be a bit of an uproar. You would think.

But then the presentation took a bit of a turn. There was a discussion about how you could potentially avoid reporting and how if you engaged a lawyer to help you look at your data, then the data would fall under legal privilage so you could get away with not reporting (say if your results were really bad and you needed time to sort it out). And then some information on how there wouldn't be any sanctions for companies that didn't report and then I started to feel a bit "half glass empty" about the whole situation.

In my home country, Australia we have been doing reports like this through the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. At least since 2008 the reporting requirements include numbers of males and females at each level, having policies that support gender equity in relation to all parts of people management and some other stuff that I don't think anyone cares about. I think the Workplace Gender Equality Agency is doing a great job driving this agenda but most companies I have worked at have all the right policies on equal employment opportunity and flexible work practices and so on. What is harder is having the right culture and leaders who believe and live the intent of the policies.

In various roles I have either been responsible for completing the report, part of a team completing the report or reviewing the report before CEO sign off. I can say generally that most years it is a scramble to demonstrate that the organisation has done anything to move the gender diversity issue along (though maybe I haven't worked for the right organisations) and to be honest it's exhausting applying creative thought to situations that don't deserve it.

The legislation that sits behind this reporting is well intentioned and should produce outcomes where organisations really look at what's happening in their patch and start to engage in dialogues to improve the situation. Equal pay for women and men has a huge impact on our community at large. Instead the lack of teeth in forcing or reviewing the public reporting means for many HR people tasked with filling out the sometimes excruciating details, is that it is all for nothing. We seem to be lacking some real grit and courage to deal with the problem.

Gender and diversity reporting attempts to create transparency around organisational remuneration, policy and cultural practices but how can this happen when there are no ramifications for non reporting or for reporting poor figures with no robust plan to fix it?

I really like this TEDx video which was shared on my social media a number of times this week so I had to pay attention. In January this year, David Burkus talked about why sharing salaries could benefit employees, organisations and the wider society.

Take a look. What do you think? Would you want your colleagues to know what you get paid? I think the new UK legislation is attempting to create transparency around pay gaps and that's a good thing.

Or maybe we could just pinksource? Its pretty, cheap labour. Go watch this video, now!

*code for writing about a topic without getting sacked

He's a Good Guy!

It seems appropriate that I talk about the "Good Guy" on International Women's Day. Don't know who the "Good Guy" is? Well, let me tell you.

It's this person that exists in organisations. And they are a guy in the truest sense of the word. A man. Not the collective term "guys" which could mean a group of men and women. It's just the men. I probably have noticed the "Good Guy" phenomenon more because I have worked in lots of male dominated industries and organisations. I am often the only woman in the room so I think I can talk from some sort of experience.

The "Good Guy" is generally not that great at their job, actually that's not fair. Some aren't great but they usually have some really good attributes, and to go with them they have some significant development areas. Some have great potential teamed with significant career de-railers.  But they usually survive, because they are a "Good Guy".

We are all good at some things, not great at others but I'm talking about larger extremes than your average person.

The term "Good Guy" is used in sentences like "yeah.....but he is a Good Guy!" or "he's a really good guy" usually said in defence of a conversation about the person's significant limitations and the issues or challenges they are creating in the organisation. The term is only used by men about other men which somehow infers that they are one of them. Part of the group, the pack. The term humanises the "guy" and makes us realise that we are dealing with humans and that no one is perfect. And that's ok and organisations need "Good Guys". Not all of them, but some. Harsh but true.

The real issue I have with "The Good Guy" is that there is no like term for women. Do you ever hear someone say "she is a great chick?" Well no because it may be offensive and, well, just no. What about "but she is a good woman"? Ever heard that? Nope. I did have one male manager describe one of my direct reports as a "Good Egg". He meant it in a positive good way, but still..... it's not the same as "Good Guy" is it?

How do we humanise women in the workplace when they are demonstrating good attributes but significant development areas? Some of the terms I have heard include; "quirky" and "inconsistent", maybe "emotional" or "challenging"...often these are negative and not humanising. And how do Women indicate that other women are part of the same group, the women tribe, part of something greater? I'm just not sure that exists, and that perhaps, is the real problem.

I don't think the solution to diversity is to bash men in organisations. Far from it, but we need to work out a way to humanise and celebrate the contribution that women make, and work out how they are part of the group that is somehow to be protected in the same way the "Good Guys" are.

So to all the fabulous women who are forging their way, happy International Women's Day! #pledgeforparity

Manage your energy, not your time

This is the title of a great Harvard Business Review article. I used this article as some pre-reading for the participants on a recent leadership development program. We talked as a group about the kind of things each of us do to top up our energy. I really like the article because it recognises that we only have so much time each day, but we can recharge our energy to be more effective in a number of different ways.

I like talking about this topic with leaders because I find that our working lives are getting busier and more manic. The environments we operate in are less stable and less predictable and increasingly we need better strategies to deal with stress, pressure and ambiguity. For leaders working in a global environment these issues are even more pronounced, particularly when they are being asked to produce more, with less resources.

I also recognise that leaders need to perform at their peak and often do very little to ensure that they actually can. Top athletes use every resource available to them to ensure they have the best competitive edge. They have coaches and dieticians and psychologists and physiotherapists and exercise physiologists and specialist doctors. What do leaders have to ensure they can run the race and produce the results? In some, or most cases, nothing.

That's why I love this article. It addresses different types of energy including the body (or physical energy), emotional energy, the mind and spirit. The article talks about how you can build energy in each area. 

I write this post from the airline lounge in Singapore, on the way to Queenstown, New Zealand to restore my energy. I am attending Trey Ratcliff's Photography and Yoga workshop. I met Trey in the lift at a blogging conference three years ago. He turned out to be the keynote speaker and blew the attendees, including me, away with his energy, courage and creativity. 

I follow him at stuck in customs and when he posted about this workshop I just had to go. A couple of ways I manage my energy when working long hours and travelling a lot is to do something physical and to do something creative. This workshop at Aro Ha seemed to combine the two perfectly. 

I'll be learning some new things like processing photos, which I haven't really done before. I have purchased Lightroom for this task and am looking forward to learning how to enhance raw images from the camera. Actually it would be really good to just work out how to get photos into the software. I'm coming from a low base aren't I?

I'm looking forward to doing something physical everyday from trekking around the beautiful scenery near Queenstown to doing yoga. This will be a nice change from my usual day sitting on my butt or even standing at my new adjustable desk. Swapping this view with clean air and mountains should be good for the soul.

Most weeks I manage to attend one or two yoga classes so getting to do one every day without the rush of work and time, will be a luxury. I'm also looking forward to seeing how the vegetarian "paleo friendly, gluten free, dairy free, and enzymatically active" food makes me feel, and there will also be massages. I like massages. Still tossing up whether I should take some wine along or whether a week without alcohol would be a good thing. Ok, I know the answer to this. 

The opportunity to use my brain and body in a different way for a whole week is such a luxury. I like my job and what I get to do each day but I know if I don't take out time to breathe and be creative I'm not good at my job. This coming week I will get to restore my physical and emotional energy along with recharging the mind and the spirit.

Of course you don't have to fly hours to attend a retreat to restore your energy. What are some of the things you do?

Follow your passion, or not?

High Line, NYC

Much popular career advice comes with tag-lines like "follow your passion" and "do what you love, love what you do"  and so on.  I love thinking about these things. The things I love and that I'm passionate about. Things like looking at fashion and interior design photos on Pinterest and researching and eating at the the best most innovative restaurants in Singapore and doing some virtual and sometimes real shopping on Net-a-Porter. I'm also passionate about stupid expensive handbags and attempting to become a runner.

In addition I like photography and yoga and am managing to combine these by attending a workshop in a couple of weeks in Queenstown New Zealand. I like travel too and we are heading to Switzerland for Christmas and then Paris after that, well because travel is fun and because we can. And apart from fantasising about becoming a fashion blogger every couple of weeks, well I usually like my day job.

Arran lives and breathes riding bikes while he is not working in risk management in large banks. If he isn't riding a bike, he is planning a ride or watching videos about riding or choosing a new bike to ride or selling a bike so he can buy another bike without getting in too much trouble.

So all this is very well isn't it? So why don't we live our passion and do these things for a job? Well to start with I like having a roof over my head and money in my wallet, and while people do do all these things to make money, I'm just not sure I want to. I once went to an event at the Chanel store in Sydney. I was so excited to learn about fashion and all the excitement and meet other people also interested in fashion, but to tell the truth it was all a little hollow. Some of the attendees were more interested in checking themselves out in the mirrors than talking to me about all the pretty things.

Well a few weeks ago Dr Jason Fox who is all about making clever happen, posted a link to this article The Many, Many Problems With "Follow Your Passion" It's a good read and true I think. The point of the article is to find work that is not necessarily your passion, but something that you can become engaged in.

Taken directly from the article by William Macaskill engaging work has the following aspects which seems to make sense to me:

• Independence: How much control do you have over how you go about your work?
• Sense of completion: How much does the job involve completing whole pieces of work so that your contribution to the end product is easily visible?
• Variety: How far does the job require you to perform a range of different activities, using different skills and talents?
• Feedback from the job: How easy is it to know whether you’re performing well or badly?
• Contribution: How much does your work “make a difference,” improving the well-being of other people?

So if you are not enjoying your work, which of these items are you missing? Would love to hear from you.

Having and having a career sponsor

So a little while ago a friend, kinda fabulous friend and all round amazing women, asked me to write about having a career sponsor.

At the time I felt like a bit of an imposter. I didn't really know anything about the topic apart from a general idea of how cool it would be to have a career sponsor. At the time I couldn't say I had ever had one.

Then this thing happened at work. A fairly major structure change and people were ringing me, and asking how it affected me! Well. Truth be told, long story short, it wasn't that great. I always respect the need for businesses to make decisions,  however if they affect me negatively and my career goals, well then, I'm not going to be happy about it.

The skeptical part of me said that those people calling thought I might have the inside scoop on the changes (I didn't) and the part of me that thought these people cared, said the opposite. I would say 90% were the later.

You see my purpose is to make organisations better place for people to be. I do this through working with leaders, to help them be better and more effective. Maybe that sounds naff, but I don't care. That's me. And I want to work in organisations where I get to do that, at least for some of the time.

The change in structure, in part, would hinder my ability to do this. So what do I do? What would you  do?

I always believe that we all have choices. Some are better than others of course. Should I take a few days off and build my network and meet all the Senior HR recruiters in Singapore? Or should I stay put and ride it out?

My decision rested on a number of people who advocated for me and supported me. People who I thought might think I was ok, or did an ok job, but who actually spoke up and were positive supporters. I guess I had hoped they would, but learning that they took some sort of action....well, I was/am humbled. Some were my peers and some were more senior. Wow!

That doesn't mean that anything has changed except for knowing I have some powerful supporters, and that is pretty cool.

Tell me about your career sponsors.....

Disneyland and Motivation

Writing from New York City. Just like a real writer!

There I was, a few weeks ago, sitting with one of the leaders I support and we were seriously in a state. Both of us. He had been, and was, having a tough time. Business conditions have been hard with no indications that things were going to improve in the short term. Some things that were being tried to rectify business performance were not seeming to have any effect. Making progress against our goals is one of the most powerful motivators. The opposite being when you get home from work and feel like you have achieved nothing. We all know how that feels and it ain't good.

I was in a state because I have been feeling exhausted and in need of a holiday, and also feeling like the things I have been working on don’t make a difference. I think we all want to make a difference and do something worthwhile that has meaning, whether in our work life or doing something else. Even Prince William wants to do something that is worthwhile.

So there we were, two pretty senior people feeling down and dejected. Some would say we needed to harden the fuck up. We decided to go have lunch and look at the water. Same same.

I had been feeling particularly bad about the situation because when I say I want to make a difference, it’s working with and supporting senior leaders where I feel I can make the most difference, and on this day I just wasn’t in the right head space to do this and it really make me reflect.  Here was an opportunity to do what I love best, and I had nothing. I even admitted this to the leader.

I knew I needed a holiday and at the end of that week I would get one, but still....ultimately this is what I get paid for and I was out. I had nothing.  My emotional bank was empty. It bothered me for a couple of days but eventually I got into a space where I had some nuggets to share with this leader. Here are three things I shared.

My first one was about Disneyland....the story started with, “when I was in the Broncos cheersquard  I got to go to Disneyland and do a backstage dance workshop......” I’m sure it was at this point he thought I was nuts, though earlier in the week he got to see my eccentric old lady sunglasses so perhaps he had a hint anyway......

So I did get to do a backstage dance workshop with the Broncos cheersquard when I was 21 at Disneyland in California. I can’t tell you how cool that was. The think that stuck in my mind though, was the choregrapher was telling us about going for auditions and being upset when she didn’t get the job. Her advice was to have a good cry about it, and then pull yourself together and get on with things. That advice really stuck with me. It’s ok and acutally great if you have passion and emotion with what we do. We are humans and are emotional beings before being rational beings. It’s ok to be upset, frustrated, down and low energy when everything you are trying is just not working. Go wallow, go cry but put a limit on it because it’s carthartic for a bit, but if it goes on too long you are heading into the realm of professional help. Which is also fine, as long as you get some professional help.

Secondly, I shared that because I was feeling like I wasn’t achieving anything I went back to the work goals I had set at the start of the year. I was feeling so wrapped up in small admin type work that I needed to make sure I was still on track with the big ticket items. I surprised myself that I was! I added some notes to my goals in our online system, which made me feel great, (progress against goals is motivating) and then went and created a mind map of what needed to be achieved during the coming months.

The third thing that helped was doing a day of interviews for a Finance person. Yep I know. How exciting could that be? But it turned out to be a great day where we met some really great people. One of the candidates, who we really liked, couldn’t articulate his achievements in his previous roles. We tried a number of ways of asking about these but got nothing. After the interview the Finance Director (who I was interviewing with) turned to me and said “you know, you and I could write a long list of what we have achieved just in the last 6 months!” And it was true. That made me feel great when I started to think about that.

Back in Singapore our Regional leader had done somthing similar. He had written a list of all the things that had been achieved so far in the year across the regions we support. This was the longest list. The next list were the things we were still working on. It was a middle size list, and then the last list were the things we hadn’t got to yet. It was a pretty short list.

Sometimes you just have to take stock and reflect on how far you have come. I’m not big on looking back but sometimes you just have to, to see how far you have come. To see the progress you have made. Check out this guy Dr Jason Fox my fav person on motivation and making clever happen.

What are your tips when feeling unmotivated? What do you do?