Time for some 'Professional Development'

Each day that I am unemployed I plan to:

• Read (at least) 2 professional articles or posts
• Watch (at least) 30 minutes of video at Lynda.com to learn something new OR Attend one live webinar or web class
• Write (at least) one blog post
• Apply to (at least) 2 jobs

The first three bullets on the list above are things I should really have been doing the entire time I was employed.  Like so many people I know, I never made the time for them. Now time is what I have - and only time will tell how badly I have fallen behind in managing my career...and how quickly I can refresh my knowledge and skills sets for the interviews that will land me my next paid challenge.

Because let's face it, career management may be critical, but it isn't always easy.  In high school I knew that job security had gone the way of the dodo bird. Career Management was a skill that was explicitly taught in the mid 90s when I graduated from college. American - or at least Californian - culture had accepted that employer and employee loyalty was dead: 'At Will' was King. And the new King demanded those 40-80 hour work weeks in exchange for the privilege of bending to his will...oh, and a paycheck.

For the moment, I AM KING!
It feels pretty great to have that crown...but my kingdom feels a bit small. Maybe some of my fields and forests are overgrown. Maybe a few castles are in disrepair.

In this stretch of my unemployment, whether long or short, if I want to work on my "extracurricular" projects (feasting, hunting, jousting) I plan to hold myself ransom until my "work" is done. I hope that this will be easy, since I have a pattern and habit of working 8-10 hours a day, breaking for meals, tea, and exercise. It has become a question of re-defining what my daily "work" is and making every task count twice (or maybe 3 times): once for my job search, once for my professional development, and lastly for my personal development.

Do you try to do things everyday that count in all three categories? What do you do and how do you do it?  Watch for daily posts, and I look forward to your feedback!