Every one of us who are women have a job. Some of us have many jobs. As I write this, I am sneezing with the smells of renewed birth, in other words Spring. Just as the seasons continuously change 4 times a year and continue and have continued for eternity so do we change and continue on.
If I asked you, “What season is your Professional Career in right now?” What would you say? What are the signs that tell you that you are in that particular season?
Let’s give an overview of what those seasons might look like.
A Professional Career that is in the “Spring” season: A new job, someone who is has just graduated and is in their very first job, a new job in a new town, city or state presents its own new challenges and excitement, what else can you think of?
A Professional Career that is in the “Summer” season: This is a job where you have been in that position for some time. You know the job well you can do it in your sleep. If this is your season then, you are a pro and an expert at the job and you are probably at the top of your game.
A Professional Career that is in the “Fall” season: What do you think this professional career looks like? Well, in the fall we think of bringing in the harvest of the summer of growth. We also think of things slowing down and taking a rest for a season to regain strength. A career that is in this season may just be reaping the benefits of all of their hard work. This might also be a woman who is “thinking” about her life after work. I also think of women who are in transition. Perhaps they have had a child and are taking a couple of years break to raise that child or they are going from one career to another career.
A Professional Career that is in the “Winter” season: This is a very special time in a professional career. Perhaps this is a woman who has actually exited the stage of the day to day grind and is enjoying some very needed vacation or retirement. As women we never really retire we just spend more time on one of our other jobs. A woman may be sidelined due to health reasons and this is her time to sleep much like the sleeping bulbs under a blanket of snow, resting and regrouping for spring again.
Each season in the life of a woman in a professional career is important and we all must and will go through all four seasons in our lifetime. Many of us will go through these seasons multiple times.
Here’s another way to view this whole idea of a career in the seasons mindset: How do you act, write, behave, run a meeting, handle a client, get your work done, in each season that comes through the year?
Do you spend more time at business lunches outdoors and seem to have more business deals in the “Summer” than in the “Winter”. Perhaps you do all of your “sowing” of new business deals in the “Fall” and harvest in the “Spring”. Think about what you do and how the seasons affect your own mindset in your professional career.
I would love to hear your story of the impact of the seasons on your professional career or a story about what season of career life you are in and how that has impacted your life.
