How To Have Two Successful Careers At The Same Time
Successfully juggling two careers requires all the flexibility and a lot of planning. For most people, closing hours starts once the clock strikes 4, but not for everyone. For some of us, 4 pm is when we get to start with our side hustle.
Picking up two careers or jobs as the case may be is not all that surprising. It could be a need for a financial boost, getting to start up one’s own business, or wanting to gain experience in a completely new industry. But tackling the early hours, late nights, stringent schedules, and cumbersome responsibilities with great finesse and ease such that you can maintain a balance between both careers without affecting other areas of your life is the focal point of this article.
Here are a few tips that could help you handle more than one career successfully;
Keep an organized to-do list
A to-do list helps us know the things we have to do per day or weekly. Personally, what I like to do is write out my goals for the week then every day, I try to break down those goals by looking at how I can accomplish them. Creating a to-do list for the day is creating plans to reach those goals.
So ask yourself this question; What are my goals for both careers? Do I want to be more focused on one than the other? How can I focus on one without hurting the other?
After answering these questions, deliberately break them down into action plans i.e things you can do daily to achieve those goals.
It is as simple as that and it helps you to be more organized and eventually achieve more.
Stick to a schedule
Sometimes, we get lost in doing one thing and neglect the other. That’s normal, even I am guilty of that, especially when I am getting the hang of things in what I am doing. But is it okay to do one thing at the detriment of the other?
Having a to-do list is one thing but following through with your schedule, is another. Consciously sticking to your schedules will help you accomplish a lot.
If you set out to probably code for five hours a day, and research on new recipes for two hours a day, stick to that. Or if you have decided to do your 9am-5pm job during the day and handle a thing or two relating to your other career at night also stick to that.
Stick to whatever schedule you have and I assure you, you will accomplish a whole lot more by doing that.
Don’t take more than you can handle
Yeah, yeah, I know we all have our inner superhero moments when we feel we can speed up and save a whole lot of things at the same time or same day. Is this possible? Probably. Can we be consistent with this? I don’t think so.
I know you want to accomplish a lot and 24 hours seems like it is not enough, still don’t bite more than you can chew.
Take for example a fashion designer who has a lot of customers and doesn’t have an organized pattern of how customers collect their clothes. This will lead to the designer taking up jobs that she cannot finish in due time.
When you handle a lot of things at the same time, sometimes you might be unable to complete most of your tasks. A way to handle things better is having a time frame to accomplish certain things like a course or learning a skill in relation to growth in your career.
Limit your commute
Juggling two careers is already hectic, then imagine juggling between two careers where the distance between both places are far. The distance from your home to your workplace and to probably a different workplace should not be so far, as time spent on the road can be draining.
I’m not saying you don’t love your work but sometimes you get stressed at work. So, you might be trying as much as possible to reduce the stress at work. Why add the stress of being on the road for long hours?
Take up careers that require different strengths. Believe it or not, we all have different strengths that we have not even noticed yet. For me, although I love reading, I never saw myself as a writer until the opportunity came.
Exploring different skills can help us know our strong points and know what we should not even delve in.
Knowing your strengths can help you know what skill to leverage on. It will be helpful if your different career paths accentuate different skills, this makes you enjoy your jobs more as you don’t get bored doing the same thing over and over again
Look out for easier ways to fix life task
Having different careers can sometimes leave you feeling like you don’t have a life. You might not have enough time to engage in other tasks like cooking, laundry, even exercising.
Therefore, finding an easier way to handle these extra tasks will be helpful both personally and career-wise.
For example, getting someone to cook for you or cooking in large quantities, so you don’t have to spend so much time in the kitchen. Going for a 15-30 minutes walk or picking out a day to do your laundry.
Give yourself a break
This can’t be overemphasized! Try to relax and take your mind off work when you leave. Give yourself a break, get your nails done, visit the bar with your friends, just do something else apart from work.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that you should engage in these fun activities every day, you could pick out some days in a month or week to relax.
I’m sure you know that even a machine reacts when it is overworked! Take out time to take care of your mental and physical health. It revitalizes you for better performance at work
Conclusion
Yes, the extra income is good and it is also great to explore different career paths but not being consistent at them is detrimental to your career.
I once heard a story of a farmer who wanted to cut down a big tree and every day he went to the farm, he hits the tree at the same point with his cutlass. One of those days, he went to the farm, hits the tree on that same spot with his cutlass and the tree fell. This story is just to let you know that consistency will lead to growth.
So knowing the career path(s) you want to work is you taking one step but working at it consistently, is you gradually taking several steps forward to become better in that career.
