While things may not be back to the same, most of us have more than likely acclimated to our new normal by now. For many of us, this new normal may look like working from home full-time or part-time, having the kids home either full-time or part-time or maybe even a completely new job and career. Whatever your recently found day-to-day looks like, we want to ask: are you still taking the time to focus on the forward movement of your career? We know this can feel like an additional burden to carry when you are working hard to just keep your head above water. But we promise, keeping this in consideration could potentially lighten your other workplace burdens.

If you were to take just 30 minutes to 1 hour a week to devote solely to your professional development, what would you do with this time? There are lots of actions that could provide tremendous results for your professional development. So, let’s talk long-term thinking here for the sake of your career…

1. Schedule a 30-minute coffee with someone new every week. This could be a key stakeholder for you, a power partner, or even your employees. You never know where sitting down with someone new once a week could take you.

2. Take time to organize your calendar- and stick to it! How often have you thought, “How could I improve my time-management skills?” Taking the time to manage your time and calendar for the week could be the perfect first step in taking back your time management.

3. Attend one professional event a week. Again- this can only be for one hour per week. But taking this step to show up and engage with other professionals consistently could potentially open many doors of opportunity.

4. Talk strategy, mission, engagement goals, etc., with an employee once a week. So many employees feel they are just a cog in the machine and that their ideas are not heard or respected. If you took the time to talk strategy with a different employee every week, who knows what it could do for not only your workplace culture but the forward movement of your organization as a whole.

5. Take time to write down your goals and ideas. By giving these thoughts and feelings a place to live, it will be much easier to come back and look at them, or even take action on them, than continually thinking to yourself, “What was that good idea again?”

We know that sometimes this can feel like the last thing you want to do- especially when the kids need help, there is always a pile of laundry or dishes somewhere waiting to be done, and you are probably just all around tired from the other demands of life. But, setting aside this time for yourself to dream big and plan long-term could be the propelling force to move you into the direction you want to go- be that for you personally or for your organization as a whole.

So, we ask you again, if you were going to set aside just 30 minutes (or an hour!) each week to strategize the big picture, what would you do with that time?

The mission of the Global Leadership League is to ignite change across the global education field by empowering, connecting, and training leaders. We invite you to reach out to us here or learn more about becoming a member.