The Grind Continues

The grind of work and daily life continues.

Everything’s good but I think it could be better. It all comes down to this job thing.

Longest Time in One Job

What I’m currently doing for work is the longest I’ve ever been at one place. 10 years and counting. Which is crazy for a variety of reasons. Time sure does seem to fly by.

I can see the benefit of changing companies every couple of years. In fact that’s apparently supposed to be how you get more money for your skills.

The problem is, my current job can’t really be swapped to anything else. Let’s say it’s super specialized and is only done by one group.

The Problem With the Job

There’s a couple of things that I now have problems with, some major, some not so much.

1. The job is going away. It actually ends the middle of next year. Redundancy is on the cards at that date. I’d rather be doing something I’d like to be doing then rushing to find something before money runs out.
2. I’m over the hours and the amount of days I work in a row. There are benefits to them, but after 10 years it’s becoming a grind.
3. There’s a bunch of underlying stress faced on a daily basis. Just part of this job.

What Does This all Mean?

It means it’s time for a change.

Which I’ve mentioned before has led me to read What Color is Your Parachute – Update

It’s also led me to believe that it’s not going to be easy.

The Challenge Ahead

I’ve always been jealous of people that seem to know what they want to do. Especially on the work front.

These people seem to be happy in what they do. Have careers that seem to be working for them. This is the impression from the outside looking in.

For all I know they could be miserable and depressed.

That’s my challenge. Working out not only what I would like to do. But also what do I want to throw my time at.

Because there’s the thing.

Whatever it is I want to do. I’m most likely going to have to do some sort of training or course or something so I can just get an interview.

I might have a wide range of skills and abilities. I know I have.

But that means shit all when you don’t have some sort of qualification or a bunch of experience behind it. Which is tough when you want to change industries or roles or do something new.

Learning Some New Things

While I’m still working out what I would like to do I’ve decided to do some free courses.

Just to get into the practice of working on something like a course. And more importantly to finish it.

I have a real problem with finishing courses.

I’m not sure why. But it’s a thing I need to work on.

Over the years I’ve been put into leadership or team leader type roles. It’s not something I really feel comfortable in doing. Maybe others see something I don’t. Maybe I’m just the better option out of a bunch of people.

When asking people advice on what I should do for a new job a few people amongst the “I’m not sure, I can see you doing anything” was a couple of responses, or maybe a manager or team leader suggestions.

Again, not something I like to relate too much usually.

But… with my new role helping out with Misty Flicks Film Festival as Event Co-Ordinator. I thought I better look into some courses. In fact 2 different ones.

EDX – Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles

I found this course while having a look through the EDX website. It’s got some interesting courses on there.

This one is free. But you need to pay to get access to some of the assessments and I guess to get a certificate at the end. Not sure if I will pay the money for that.

My Thoughts So Far

I’m about 1/3 of the way through this course. It consists of watching some videos and answering a couple of questions. Not too taxing.

But it does change the way I look at leadership and how people interact with it.

Which is good.

I still have to see how the rest of it goes. One thing I am doing it taking a bunch of notes as I go through it. That way I can g over it again and break it down if I need to.

Open Polytechnic – New Zealand Certificate in Business (Introduction to Team Leadership) (Level 3)

This is another free course. It doesn’t start until next month so I can’t comment on that yet.

But… It’s just another resource I can use to help me better when it come to team leadership.

It’s made up of 3 papers. You could do all 3 at once. I’ve decided to just do one to begin with. Then I’ll see if I do the last 2 together or not.

The Next Step

I think I’m going to have to do some sort of qualification or something around standard office programs.

I’ve seen how shit a lot of people are with these.

But unless you have it that you know how to use them, it’s a mark against you when looking for a job.

There’s some you can do via LinkedIn. Or there is some Open Polytechnic courses that would work as well.

I’ll look into that more once I’ve finished the ones I’ve signed up to.

So back to the grind. A different kind of grind.