Mid-career Transition: Lessons Learned
Hema Krishnan, Ph.D.
Strategy & Global Business- Professor, Board of Directors- SOTENI International
After serving in administration (as department chair and associate dean) for ten years in our business college I decided to return to full-time teaching, my real passion. I used my sabbatical period to reflect on how to manage this midcareer transition. Steven Covey’s four intelligences (Spiritual, Emotional, Mental and Physical), provided a valuable framework for my reflections which are detailed below.
Spiritual Intelligence. This is the most complex of all intelligences. During the midcareer phase, we need to reflect on happiness and well being, and what legacy we will leave behind.
Maintain a daily reflective journal and record:
- What am I especially grateful for today?
- What have I done to help others today?
- What has challenged me today?
- What is the real purpose of my career and life?
These daily musings will result in: greater clarity in one’s thought process, increased creativity and greater contentment.
We need to take charge of our wandering mind through “Mindful Meditation” exercises, which can be as simple as slow walking and mindful breathing, practiced for about 20-30 minutes every day.
Emotional Intelligence. There are a number of LinkedIn posts on how to improve EQ. From my experience, I have found that two ways to improve EQ are:
To serve as a mentor. The intangible benefits will far outweigh the time invested in this activity.
To form new friendships, and forge stronger connections with friends and family.
Mental Intelligence. Continue to hone our skills and competencies.
In my discipline, honing our teaching and research skills represents our core competencies. Online teaching, global education, and experiential learning have become the mainstay of business education, and a number of professors have already embraced this new model.
Keep current by reading books and periodicals related to one’s discipline and complementary disciplines.
Pick up a hobby that exercises both halves of the brain.
Physical Intelligence. During the mid-career phase, health may start to deteriorate The following actions may help us take charge of our health:
Get frequent medical check-ups
Get enough sleep
Stay hydrated
Take frequent 2-5 minute pauses at work to stretch or walk
Breathe deeply and frequently
Travel with friends and/or family
Get away from the smart phone and other electronic gadgets every once in a while
Engage in regular physical exercise.
I have found my mid-career phase to be very rewarding and I look forward to learning from others what has worked for them.
Strategy & Global Business- Professor, Board of Directors- SOTENI International
8yThank you for your kind comments, friends!
Education; Higher Education; Writing
8yWonderful. This awareness mightbe enhanced by the framework provided by Real Power, one that emanates, not from money or position, but connects to our inner selves. A lesson for the corporate flock, particularly. As the need to understand our higher selves and to undetstand our connection to a higher power--God, Nature what have you, emerges around mid-life as reflected in literary writings, too, yes, I am with you.
Admin Asst in the Department of Theology at Xavier University
8yGood advice Hema -- I especially like the suggestion of Mindful Meditations to slow the wandering mind.
Solution Architect @ Varis | MBA, Product Management
8yA wonderful post to everyone in the period of mid transition.
Leadership Impact Coaching. Ask me how you can generate and nurture practice ideas that can add hope, joy, and results to your life and leadership. Build your life wholeheartedly!
8yHema-- glad to hear that you are back in the classroom--being mindful about our choices is a hard practice, yet yields the most abundance in our lives. Thanks for sharing. BTW-I am sharing my insights and thoughts on EQ on July 23 at 10 am at Promark Company - It is open to th epublic and if you wish to send people our way, please do so. Information at 513-768-6500