What causes people to gravitate towards their career? We know that there are numerous factors including socio-economic status, location, age, academic inclination, mentors, and parental influence. For many years, centuries it seems, it was common for children to follow in the footsteps of their parents—daughters following mothers, sons following fathers. Given how we used to […]
I had the opportunity this year to attend the SHRM National Conference for this first time this year. This year’s event brought nearly 16,000 HR professionals to Atlanta, GA for four days of learning and connecting, and I was honored and privileged to be among them. For our readers who were not able to attend (and even for those who were) I wanted to share my observations and take aways from the experience.
I quickly realized that at a conference as large as this one, it is simply not possible to do, see, and learn everything that you want to, so my strategy became focusing on finding a few gems of wisdom to bring back. Beyond the speakers, sessions, and nuggets of wisdom, the thing that struck me the most about being in attendance at SHRM was incredible feeling of being in the presence of so many fellow HR professionals with a passion for what we do.
I’ve started journaling. I know, I know. The idea of journaling sounds a little hokey and geared toward someone with plenty of time on their hands and not something for working women like you and me.
In fact, if you are anything like me, you gave up on journaling sometime around 9th grade when you read through your 8th grade journal entries and discovered how theatrical you sounded. Hindsight helped you realize that spilling your soup in the Jr. High lunch line really wasn’t the end of the world.
Aside from having and mothering two very spirited girls, this is one of the best things I have done in the past few years. Here are 4 reasons why.
I used to think I needed to find passion in work. But as far as feeling passionate every single day? Nein. I don’t come to work every day because I feel passionate about my work; rather I come to work every day because I have bills to pay and prefer to have a roof over my head.
We can’t keep expecting change to magically happen because we’ve come up with the next great “best practice.” Model behavior. It’s that simple.
Do you spend time doing what you love? Hint: it’s not all about work.
Why do you work? If it’s for fear of something, you are missing out on a lot.
You are with the people you work with more each day than anyone else including family and friends. Do you know what’s important to them?
I have a strong belief that people should pursue activities that give them energy and then find a way to pursue that activity in their career aspirations.
So now I’m asking you, the Women of HR community, “What do you do and why do you do it?”