The Basics of Professional Development
(deep breath) Ah! After a chaotic, busy and hard-working year, I finally had the chance to take some days off and I couldn’t be happier. We spend so much money and energy to build up our careers and develop ourselves as professionals and by exhausting ourselves throughout the year, attending courses, studying, planning lessons, delivering lessons, etc., we end up forgetting the most important piece of this complex puzzle of professional development: us.
I’m a teacher, business owner, parent, wife, daughter and a million other things, and because of that my life is full of chores, tasks, deadlines and running errands, and you must think: “Wow! How do you manage everything?” Here is a simple answer: By accepting the fact that I won’t be able to be perfect in every single moment of my life. By indulging myself to a nice cup of coffee in between classes or taking 5 minutes a day to just unwind. By having the occasional glass of wine on a Friday night, after teaching for 6 hours straight. By texting my friends and just asking them how their day was.
What I am trying to say is that we sometimes take for granted the moments of relaxing and the moments of solitude, when in fact what we need is to embrace those moments and make them a part of our year program. You are not a machine and you will never be one, so take good care of yourself.
Planning your career is much more than just planning the courses you want to take, the events you want to attend, the books you want to buy and the certificates or diplomas you want to own. Career planning is also about breaks and vacations, and quality time with your loved ones. Grant yourself some days off, remember to cherish the small things in life, by taking simple and inexpensive actions, you will be helping all the “creative juices” to flow again, and being creative is part of the job description when being a teacher.
Accept the fact that you won’t be able to balance everything 100% of the time, but that’s OK.
So, have you finished planning your CPD for 2018? Are you comfortable with your decisions and how you have designed your life? Have you left any room for developing your creativity?
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein
So allow yourself some moments of fun.
Resources:
Work-life balance
How to make work-life balance work
Would you like to connect with me?
Instagram
Facebook
Email: karin@istudy.com.br
