When pursuing a better and more fulfilling career as a single parent, you must think about how you will be able to balance your career with your desire to spend quality time with your children. Many single-parents are the sole breed winners for their household and they fall into careers that are not family-friendly, have grueling 9-5 work schedules, and at the end of the day it leaves them with little or no time for themselves or their family. Here, we examine five tips to avoid these pitfalls.
Pursue Higher Education
Whether you have a lot, or a little, your education is never complete. Updating your education regularly is critical to remain relevant and cutting edge in your field. In fact, if you have reached the pinnacle of education in your career, consider how your current skills and education can be transferred to other areas of study. For example, a medical receptionist with little or no formal healthcare training, but who is exposed to the medical field on a daily basis, may choose to take a healthcare course. You can obtain more information on healthcare courses as well as other courses by visiting Stevens Henager College. In addition to the economic advantages of higher education on your ability to earn more income, there are other benefits as well.
Determine What Career is Right for You
For many people, the more money you make, the better the career, but that’s not always the case. If you’re a single parent, your children’s best interest is most important, and you know that they will inevitably have parent-teacher conferences, or extra-curricular activities to attend during the year. If you have a rigid career, and cannot leave the office or attend your children’s important functions, then perhaps it’s time to examine whether that career is right for you.
Get Creative
If your career does not provide the flexibility you need, perhaps its time to think about reinventing yourself and your career. Determine whether or not telecommuting or having your own home-business is right for you. If you already have a career and are working for a company that does not offer the flexibility you desire, then suggestion to your boss the idea of taking Fridays off, or having minimum-work days, anything to give you the satisfaction of loving your career, while continuing to have quality time for your children.
Family Time
Whether you’re looking, starting, or are in a longtime career, family time is imperative to keeping your career enjoyable and fulfilling. Given that we offer so much of our self to our careers during the work week, it is imperative that we spend quality time with our children, and that this time be completely off-limits to any work related activities.
Quality Time for You
As important as it is to spend quality time with your family while pursuing a better and more fulfilling career as a single parent, we cannot forget or underestimate how important it is to have quality time to our self in order to focus on our internal, core goals, and to re-energize our thoughts and creativity. This should be time for you to completely unplug from work related activities and other distractions.
Further education in the pursuit of a better and more fulfilling career as a single parent is critical to your career success. In today’s modern careers, flexibility, and incorporating family-friendly work schedules are becoming more popular, and having the right balance between your career and family life is achievable.