In-House Counsel

4 Ways To Reimagine Your Summer Motivation

Make the best you can out of the second part of the calendar year.

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With the world finally re-opening and travel ramping back up, the weeks leading into June feel different than last year. You may even have a little bit more pep in your step as you begin to think about planting your feet in the sand at a well-deserved (and much-needed) beach getaway. As summer quickly approaches, it’s also an ideal time to reflect on the first half of the calendar year and make your plans for the second half. Whether you are considering a summer job search or thinking about ways to step out of the pandemic rut, here are four ways you can reimagine your summer motivation and make the best out of the second part of the calendar year.

Write Down Your Short-Term And Long-Term Goals

Many of my conversations these days revolve around what job seekers and professionals are planning for their careers post-COVID, both in the short-term and long-term. The past 15 months of the pandemic have taught us the power of resilience, adaptability, crisis management, social networking, and gratitude. Yet, the pandemic has also reaffirmed and reminded us about the stress of feeling cramped in makeshift work-from-home desk spaces, an inability to distinguish between work start/stop times, and an overabundance of Zoom calls that could have been emails.

Summer is a great time to think about what you want from your career in the short-term as well as what the next 5 to 10 years look like to you. If you have plans for relocation to a new city or state, now is a great time to begin thinking about the move. If you want to redesign your home office, summer is ideal for putting those plans into motion. Writing down your goals enables them to become more concrete, and you are more likely to act on them.

Create Accountability

I am a big proponent of looking inward and asking how you can improve yourself and be better than you were yesterday. I do a self-audit every six months as it allows me to see where I need to make changes and take massive action to get back on track if I have taken a slight detour. Begin thinking about how to cultivate motivation from within. Create accountability through a routine and schedule you can stick to. List steps you must take to make the progress you desire. Remember, it all starts with action — perhaps it’s a walk every night after dinner or a quick 20-minute ride on your Peloton bike. Let summer be the rebirth of your own internal energy.

Focus On Personal Growth

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It’s easy to scroll through social media and look at someone’s “highlight reel” and feel sluggish, stagnant, or uninspired. Take a pause from social media and spend the summer focusing on your own personal growth. Have a desire to delve into move privacy work? Sign up for the CIPP/US certification. Want to learn about a new area of the law? Sign up for a few CLEs and make it a goal to speak with three attorneys who specialize in that practice area. Remember, progress happens when we step outside of our comfort zones.

Update Your Career Documents

As I mentioned in a prior article a few weeks ago, you should always have your resume, LinkedIn, and other career marketing collateral ready to go. Keep track of your accomplishments from the first six months of 2021. Update that deal sheet with recent transactions, add a few relevant new LinkedIn connections, and be sure to update your skills and endorsements section. Having things ready to go allows you to be prepared in case opportunity knocks.

There is no time like the present to look back and move forward in your goals for the second half of 2021.

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Wendi Weiner is an attorney, career expert, and founder of The Writing Guru, an award-winning executive resume writing services company. Wendi creates powerful career and personal brands for attorneys, executives, and C-suite/Board leaders for their job search and digital footprint. She also writes for major publications about alternative careers for lawyers, personal branding, LinkedIn storytelling, career strategy, and the job search process. You can reach her by email at wendi@writingguru.net, connect with her on LinkedIn, and follow her on Twitter @thewritingguru.  

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