Using Quarantine for Your Career
What day of quarantine are you on?
Today is about day 45 for me.
Around day 12 or so, I concluded that I was not a huge fan of COVID-19 at all.
Especially as a career development coach, I’ve had a front row seat to the never-before-seen impacts of this global pandemic on our work lives. Productivity has been replaced with confusion in thrown-together home offices. Career fairs and summer internships have been cancelled. And start dates have been postponed indefinitely. Either our own career, or the career of someone we know, has been impacted by COVID-19.
In light of these challenges, my first desire - even as a small voice in the sea of opinions on this topic - is to provide some hope. (And I say hope, in contrast to both despair and wishful thinking.) Obviously, the statistics are wide-ranging on when COVID-19 will end. And even when everything does go back to normal, we will likely see some prevalent and irreversible changes in our lives. For those of us who are professing believers, the hope we have is not banked on these circumstances, but on Christ, who has promised to make everything right. We don’t need to resign ourselves, and we don’t need to be naively optimistic. Rather, we can cling to the promise that He has not forgotten us or abandoned us. Even if all we can see in this season is hardship, we can have hope in a God who is just. And we can fight for faith to trust that He is intimately involved in this pandemic for our good.
In response to that hope, my second goal is to provide some highly practical, low-effort suggestions on how to keep moving your career forward in the quarantine of COVID-19. This post is especially for those who find themselves forced into unemployment, underemployment, or postponed employment due to quarantine. Cancelled co-op term? Delayed start date? Scheduler refusing to give you hours? This is the post for you. Even while the world is at somewhat of a standstill, I truly believe that you, as an individual, can still be active and productive for your future.
3 practical suggestions on how to develop your career during the quarantine of COVID-19:
(1) Practice gratitude.
Start simple. Listing out reasons you can be thankful doesn’t need to be complex.
You can journal your thankfulness or sing praise songs. You can go on a walk in your neighborhood and pray about what you see. (As I’m writing this right now, my neighborhood is full of gorgeous flowers and trees. I get to see a bunch of families with their cute little kids, in their cute little tricycles, giving cute little greetings. (All from a safe six feet away, of course.)) One of my favorite methods of practicing gratitude is to simply share out with a friend all of the many blessings God has given me.
Why?
By giving thanks, we are able to increase motivation, decrease stress, and stay grounded.
These benefits are typically linked. Almost all of us, when faced with an overwhelming situation, have three initial responses:
We feel intimidated by the situation and throw in the towel.
We rise up to meet the situation and tighten our grip.
Or we simply ignore the situation altogether, typically with an artificial sense of peace and happiness.
These responses come with drawbacks.
In the first response, we run into discontentment, or a hyper-focus on what we do not have. “This life I have right now is not what I want. I can’t go see my friends, my normal routine is completely blown, and I can’t even go grocery shopping without having to put on a hazmat suit.” The problem with the response of “throwing in the towel” is that discontentment robs us of motivation. “If I can’t do what I want, I probably will do nothing at all.”
In the second response, we run into anxiety, or a hyper-focus on what we cannot control. “What if I can never live the life I want again? What if I lose my job? What if I or someone I know and love gets sick? What about the economy?” The problem with the response of “tightening our grip” is that anxiety piles on stress. “I have to be strong enough to control everything!”
In the third response, we run into denial, or a hyper-focus on anything but reality. “This is all super overwhelming, so I’m just going to go take a nap. Or maybe this is just a mentality issue, and I need to talk myself into being more cheerful. This can’t really be that bad…” The problem with the response of “ignoring the situation altogether” is that denial breeds unrealistic thinking. “Why is everyone upset? We’re all literally fine.”
God invites us to live differently. In contrast to throwing in the towel, we are called to persist in doing good. Instead of tightening our grip, we ought to trust in His sovereignty. Rather than ignoring the situation altogether, we should live in this life God gave us. And yet, we can also recognize that all of these counter-responses can be tough, scary, and often painful.
Gratitude is the tool that helps us succeed. By practicing gratitude, we are able to reverse our low motivation and high stress, and we can battle the temptation to disengage entirely. We are able to highlight and focus on the blessings, privileges, opportunities, successes, and achievements we have received. We are able to see how good and strong God has always been, releasing us from the need to trust ourselves. Doing so changes our outlook and emotions, as we begin to remember and emotionally recall the best moments of our lives and what energizes us.
Target your gratitude. If you have been feeling discontent, list as many reasons to be thankful as possible, highlighting the times you experienced undeserved joy and unmerited happiness. If you have been feeling anxious, list every time you saw God act, whether in your life or in the past from the Bible. If you’re tempted to disengage, focus on giving thanks for daily and present blessings.
One final reason why I recommend gratitude: you can warm up what may have been a cold or dead network via giving thanks. If you’re quarantined with spare time, handwrite a card of gratitude to anyone who has touched you or helped you grow. Even if you haven’t talked to that person in a while, now is a great time to reconnect! If you have a specific dream or current pursuit, let that person know how they contributed to where you are now. Simply by saying thank you (i.e. no soliciting), you might be surprised at the conversation that follows.
(2) Rest and reflect.
Healthy reflection is often overlooked during busy seasons. Purposeful rest - time set aside to simply think and process about your life - feels unproductive and is often viewed by others as unproductive. But ironically, self-reflection is one of the most productive tools that my clients use to push their growth and career development.
I would recommend you start by finding a setting that works well for reflection. Can you freely get lost in thought without distractions? Do you feel at ease? Are you able to track and remember your thoughts and conclusions (e.g. verbal processing, free-writing, writing by hand, etc)? Picking the right environment is key to effective reflection.
Here are a few questions to help jumpstart your reflection:
In the last 12 months, what did you do at work? What tasks did you enjoy? What tasks did you dislike?
What went well in your last job? e.g. Where did you get results? Where were you praised by others? Where did you find that you were full of energy and excitement?
How can you incorporate more of those tasks into your current career?
What kind of lifestyle do you want to live? Does your work allow for that?
Do you feel like you can be completely yourself at work? If not, in what ways are your natural strengths hidden? In what ways are you forced to work from areas of weakness? What roles might use your natural wiring more fully?
What would you want to do differently?
How might you take constructive steps towards making work more ideal?
(3) Make sure your career materials are up to date.
Opportunities come. When they do, will you be ready to jump on them?
Use the free time you have during quarantine to ensure your career resources are up-to-date. Does your resume have all of your latest accomplishments and roles? Does your LinkedIn profile reflect who you are now? Have you bought clothes for a potential interview?
Updating these resources often takes longer than expected. Don’t wait until the moment you need them!
I hope this helps you employ quarantine for your career. If you have any questions or want professional help in updating or developing your career-related resources, please feel free to email me at megan@ryancbailey.com. Always happy to jump in with you!
Megan Koh is a Career Development Coach, with over 7 years of experience in helping others find and achieve their dream jobs. She lives south of Atlanta and is engaged to her sweetheart Danny.