You Don’t Have to Swing at Every Pitch

My dad took me to lots of Blue Jay baseball games when I was growing up. I am not a baseball expert, but I do understand an important element of the game: deciding if/when to swing. The pitcher throws and the batter has to decide whether it is a good pitch. It’s coming across the plate and if it’s in the sweet spot and the batter knows he/she can hit it: swing! If it isn’t right or the pitch is poor the batter won’t chance it.

How many times in our lives are we presented with the opportunity to swing at, or step back from, what life sends our way? The pitches are always coming – career opportunities, relationships, professional development, family, education, etc. and your job as batter for your life is to know what to swing at and when. To understand what your sweet spot is, what an ideal pitch is for you. A lot of opportunities come up and of course you want to swing at the right ones, the ones that get you the furthest into the outfield. Sometimes, like in the real game of baseball, you don’t get all the time in the world to decide and timing is everything. If you hesitate, you strike out; if you are too aggressive, same result.

So, how do you know when to swing? Professional ball players spend years honing their instincts to the game and they are pros because of all that practice, commitment, and skill has made what they do so well appear natural. As professionals in our own right, we need to spend time doing the same thing. Instead of swinging bats and throwing balls, we are always re-evaluating our values, visions, and goals. We ask ourselves: What do I value the most? Then we add and delete these values from our “Non-Negotiable” career planning list as our life evolves. Such a list will support you in your decisions, provide you with ready and familiar knowledge for when it is swing or step aside time. You will be ready and know what to do because you have taken the time to put in writing what it is exactly you are looking for based on what matters to you most. A non-negotiables list prepares you to recognize the “perfect pitch.”

Non-negotiables might include: hours you would like to work, work environment, and location of position. People come up with vastly different non-negotiables like: I want to be able to bike to work; I want to make ‘x’ amount of money; I want to be able to travel; I want to have creativity in my work; I want to work for a big company; I want to work for myself. Think in terms of what you want (not what you don’t want) and create your list in the positive. Our time is too important to spend on what we don’t want and neither does this focus help us clarify what we do. It keeps us thinking in the negative which is the last place it serves us to be.

Whether you are searching for a new career, job, professional opportunity, or just want to shake life up a little, start with your non-negotiables. Then get ready to swing.

Your Life and Career Role

Prior to having children I worked a lot. I was the first in the office and the last to leave. I was never without my Blackberry. I even answered emails when I was at the movie theater. Within the management team I was a part of, there was an unspoken understanding that whoever worked harder and longer won. What, I am not sure…

After having my first child I knew I could not return to working in that way. I could not work with that type of schedule and also be available for my daughter in a way that I wanted to. My husband was working in a role that demanded huge amounts of his time. It was important to us that one of us had flexibility. Flexibility then became a core work value – up until having children I had never really thought about what it meant to have a flexible work environment. Every career step I have made in the last 6 years has been following the path of career flexibility. I know that working full time in a traditional job is an economic necessity for many families. I have times when I have worked full time and times where I have worked flexible contracts. At the moment I have two jobs, one working part time as an executive recruiter and also working for myself as a career coach and HR consultant. We have made a lot of choices as a family to give me this flexibility. My husband stayed at his job long after my instincts as a career coach said he should leave because we needed one of us to have a steady paycheque.

People choose job and career paths for so many reasons. Choosing the right one for you is based on many factors. You occupy so many different (and often conflicting/competing) roles and being a worker in whatever capacity is simply one of them. It is crucial to think about and identify why you are working and what values you are looking for prior to choosing any career. The following exercise will help you get clear on what really matters to you and why.

1. Get out a pen and a piece of paper and answer the following question: Who do you admire? And what do you admire about them? Now list all of the reasons you admire this person.

2. Repeat this exercise for another person you admire.

3. The next step is to circle the words and phrases resonating the most for you. Which ones jump off the page? We all have lots of values, so this is by no means a complete list. What we want to see is a snapshot of where you are today and what is most important for you right now.

4. Now condense the list down to approximately five values. There’s power in understanding what inspires and drives us.  By naming your values you create an important avenue for identifying what you want most in the work you do.