You Need New Skills to Make a Career Pivot. Here How's to Find the Time to Create Them.

Iqra Ali
Wake. Write. Win.
Published in
3 min readMay 26, 2024
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Sometimes, We want to see a significant change in our career that comes with the need for new skills. But what's even more true when you brace yourself for having a radical career change?

Perhaps you have been in finance and now want to be an influential writer, You are a trader eager to expand your business, or you're an instructor looking to shift into event planning.

In these situations, it requires more than listening to a few webinars to create the knowledge for the chosen field. However, you must set aside considerable time for self-directed learning, formal training, or even a side hustle to gain the skills for a great leap.

I am sure this is not easy, but it is possible.

Here, the question may arise! How do we manage the time to create new skills to make our career pivot then?

In my personal experience, I've found these methods to be the most effective for consistently making time for acquiring thought-provoking career skills that will transform your life just by proper implementation and adaptation.

Get serious with the Time Commitment.

In the beginning, it's a parable to understand that between taking care of your personal life, Your main job, and crafting a particular skill, you likely won't have time for much else.

To see an actual career change to work, you must get ready to cut back on other areas. That may look like adding time limits to the daily drills.

For example, you can go for a run for your personal health development, but spending most of your day in the gym is definitely out of the picture. Likewise, you can get the appropriate amount of sleep throughout the weeks, but oversleeping on the weekends is absolutely on the cards. Similarly, don't forget to spend quality time with your family daily, but be ready to take a class or work on learning once the kids are in bed.

I don't suggest you make unfit sacrifices in your health or personal relationships to make this change work.

But you do need to commit a considerable amount of time and research for your desired field if you plan to get rid of your current career.

Pick Your Focus

If you have made up your mind for a quick career shift and are serious about setting aside your time, then one thing you need that will help in your area. Do authentic research on your new field. That could be an educational program that prepares you well for the certification. Maybe it could be more self-learning work for your designated field.

One relevant thing I want to add to this;

Your time and efforts are precious. However, use them in the right direction where you get a reward.

It means you must do a formal program for legal practice in your new profession. It could be any courses and applications that serve you well for your related coursework.

Never spend your time on other courses unfit for your selected field and where you are not getting credit for your doing.

Otherwise, you would delay your success period when you could benefit from other ways to develop skills and gain experience at your fingertips.

Designate time

It will be super convenient when you find slices of time in your workday to get things done.

But if you have the bulk of material to get through or the required coursework you need to complete, you will need to designate time to engage yourself in the learning.

A proper educational program can be helpful for this if they have defined class timings where you need to show up or attend virtually. It helps to make your learning consistent.

If you select a second job to learn new skills and work on certain things, that can also help a lot to be consistent with your skill development.

Conclusion

These are the significant strategies to be practical for consistently making time for acquiring new career skills.

First, Be ready for the time commitment; you may need to cut back on unessential activities.

Second, research your selected field, whether it is an educational program, independent learning, or side hustle.

Finally, designate specific times you'll dedicate to skill-building.

I hope it will serve you well.

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Iqra Ali
Wake. Write. Win.

Hi everyone. Hope you all are well. My name is Iqra Ali. I am a content writer. My job is to prevail light in the darkness of the soul.