This week I had a dream about my first job with IBM. I have written about how I celebrate the anniversary of leaving IBM before.
In my dream, I was really bored with my job. That is ironic because while I worked at IBM, there was almost always more work than I could do during regular office hours, so I worked a lot of overtime. That was one of the many reasons I didn’t like working for IBM.
My dream made me think about what to do professionally when you don’t have a lot to do and what to do. when you have too much to do.
For most people, it’s almost never the perfect balance of just the right amount of work. If you find yourself with not having enough to do, take advantage of that time for learning and professional development. Here are a few suggestions:
- Ask your manager for a special assignment. Take on something that will stretch you while helping you learn a new aspect of your job or profession
- Job shadow others to learn to increase your understanding of different jobs in your organization
- Find a professional development conference or industry convention to attend or offer to work a trade show with your organization’s sales or marketing team
- Offer to give a presentation at a company or department meeting
- Start and lead a book club on a leadership book or on another career related book
- Offer to check-in with some customers to understand how they use your product or services. Ask questions to determine how your organization can better serve them
- Become a mentcareer-relatedor to a junior colleague and find a senior co-worker to mentor you
- Test the waters. Research other jobs that interest you and consider applying for one of them to find out your true worth in the marketplace
But perhaps, some of us have the opposite problem. I will offer some suggestions next week about what to do when you have too much to do. Happy New Year!
