I officially start working for the family business on Wednesday, and I am anxious to get started. I always tell my peers to take a week off between jobs, but when it comes to my own transitions, I rarely leave time to breathe.
This time I have four days between one job and the next. I’ve tried to be intentional about how I spend those days. It seems like the time before a new job should be fertile ground for good thinking–but I can’t seem to think about anything but practical matters. Grocery shopping. Doing the laundry. Taking down Christmas decorations I’ve forgotten about for too long.
There are five productive/meaningful ways I know I’ll be spending my time before starting with the new company:
- Updating all social networks and contacts. This seems like a no-brainer, but as I started to work on it today, I realized that updating social networks is almost as tedious and time-intensive as when I changed my last name.
- Splurging on a new piece of office/career equipment.
If I am going to be toting my laptop around more than ever (no desktop for me at the office), I don’t want some curmudgeony old case. So I bought the lovely red case in this photo, “designed for the tech savvy woman”… for a nicer price than what Sumdex advertises, too. And, no, I won’t be dressing like this woman just to match the stylishness of my new case. But I hope to look just as happy with my purchase. (Or maybe this woman is reveling in the notion of the term “nerd” being replaced with something as polite and sophisticated as “tech savvy woman”…) - Getting a massage. A wonderful Christmas gift from Mike, the hubby, that I haven’t had time to use until now.
- Starting this blog. I don’t think every new job deserves a new blog, but I think more young people should start blogging as a way of charting their own professional development. The world is increasingly autonomous but highly connected… it seems like a blog is a very independent way of connecting learning, people, ideas, and questions. The perfect platform from which to start a new career, new opportunity, etc.
- Refining Google News Alerts settings/keywords. I don’t know why more people don’t rely on these to have the web do their homework for them. Not that New Alerts alone will suffice for research, but it’s a great start. Every new job, career shift, and personal exploration is probably worthy of a few new alerts.
Except for the massage, I’m a bit disappointed at how tactical these are. Some people probably spend their time being very introspective before launching into a new position. Any ideas on what kinds of questions to ask and ways to prepare when heading into a new opportunity, especially as a young professional?
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