5 Ways to Renovate Your Career - and Life
November 17, 2011, By Chandlee Bryan 0 comments
Remodel Your House, Remodel Your Life
Do you spend less than 20% of your time at work doing work that matters to you? Do you spend more time sitting on a $30 stool in your kitchen than in one of your $500 dining room chairs? Architect Sarah Susanka, author of the bestselling book "Not So Big House," sees parallels between these two problems. She's developed a blueprint for remodeling your life that can also be used to renovate your career. I sat down with her to learn more about how to live a "not so big life."
In that type of life, the work you do and the people you spend time with are those that matter most to you. "The 'Not So Big' concept is about focusing your time and energy on what you really love—in your life and in your work," says Susanka. "You are reapportioning how you spend your time—transitioning time spent on areas you don't care about into time spent on what you do care about."
If you're feeling stuck in your job or career, here are five concepts from the book that you can apply to your own career renovation. (For the full blueprint, check out the book and website or Susanka's Year End Review Program at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.)
1. Start by Identifying What Isn't Working
It's easy to point to the things we'd like to have time for and to "rattle off a list of ways to get the things we have to do done more efficiently," says Susanka, "but we often don't realize that the real problem is not a lack of time, but how we engage time in general. To successfully remodel your life, you need to identify and sort through the clutter to make room for change."
Have you been going to a networking breakfast for three years and not getting anything out of it? It's okay to say no. "The art of finding time has primarily to do with seeing how we obscure our desires by filling the day with not very important stuff that we think is impossible to avoid."
2. Do One Thing at a Time
Be present in what you are doing. "Every time you find yourself multi-tasking, take a deep breath, decide which one requires your attention the most, and do only that one thing," says Susanka. "If you believe you don't have time to single task, remember that by multi-tasking you are, in fact, not doing either thing effectively because you are not completely engaged."
NEXT: Stay Focused on Now
