Assess your habits from week 1: how did you spend your time this past week? What was effective in your habits? What could be more effective? What steps will you take to make that happen?
I dont think I was super effective in maintaining my habits this week. I've found it hard to re-adjust into the inning after a two week break and find time slipping away quicker than I want it to! I am working on more strictly timeblocking my schedule to force myself back on a track a bit and give me space to start practicing the other habits I wanted to pick up. I did do a pretty good job at trying to get in at least one pom plank every day!
Write a draft of your professional story here as 1-2 paragraphs. Focus on answering the questions who are you, why are you here, and what’s next? Consider how to talk about your motives and values, the turning points that led to your career change, and what you envision for yourself going forward.
I am social, innovative, involved, love working with people, and I am driven to create and share. Coming from the restaurant industry, I worked in places where I was quickly promoted to management, given further responsibilities, and told to embrace my innate leadership skills. I wasn’t, however, given much guidance in how to do that. The learning curve was steep and the growing pains were harsh. I failed to meet my own expectations over and over again, but wouldn’t have traded that for anything. I learned more in 6 months being unceremoniously pushed into management than I had at any previous job, and that information is indispensable to me now, for managing myself and my own time, to helping others manage theirs, to managing a team and/or navigating collaborative efforts, and for creating boundaries for myself.
I am at Turing because, due to covid, I was forced to take a hard look at my life. The combination of forced time off and isolation gave me a chance to look critically at my current lifestyle and decide if it was where I really wanted to be. I had already thought a lot about finding ways to change careers, but never felt it was the “right time”. Quarantine gave me the opportunity to examine my life, and come to the conclusion that I needed to make distinct steps towards a new path. After a family friend mentioned that I should explore coding and specifically Turing, I found that the way I think meshes well with coding, and I felt a level of exhilaration at finding a new skill I could both enjoy and make a career and healthy lifestyle for myself.
My goal is to find a role that gives me an opportunity to make a more lasting effect on the world and the people around me. I want to have the freedom to live the kind of life I want - one with financial stability and job security, and a career that allows and encourages creative expression and growth.
Update your LinkedIn profile with the following: updated photo/headshot, headline, summary statement using your story, and Turing added to your experience and education sections. Include a link to your profile here in the journal. Remember the guidelines and tips from the lesson here.
What other steps will you take this week to update your branding or practice your story?
I think my story still needs refinining and I hope to continue doing that as I move forward in the program and realize more connections my new skills have with my old ones.