~ Opinion ~

There is nothing like the garden to bring you back to reality.

Plants I thought were doing well from a distance, close up, are infested with greenfly.

My gorgeous red and orange roses have rust, and sneaky weeds have sprung up overnight.

I did a first pass yesterday – weeding, digging, cutting back and some spraying, but still not finished.

Undeterred by the rain this morning, I put on my gumboots and stomped out to finish the job.

Hey presto, weeds magically seemed to appear everywhere, and the job I thought I had done yesterday, hmmmm well, needed some major work today.

Any gardener knows that gardens don’t happen by accident.

They are work; fertiliser, compost, minerals, water, sun, and constant tending - deciding what should stay, what should go, what should be moved and what needs cut back, or cut off.

This takes time and reflection, standing back and seeing things in different contexts – the sun and the rain.

Then, coming back the next day to see something different that needs sorted, that we hadn’t noticed before.

Gardening seldom follows a plan.

Just like career development.

I have never met one person yet in my practice who has followed a straight-line plan from school to their present self and career choice.

What building a career does take, however, is critical reflection - on yourself, your world, the context you find yourself in, and continuous personal and professional development.

To build a self-made career, you need three essential skills in your life ‘backpack’; meandering, manoeuvring and the ability make meaning.

It’s good to meander – try things out (interest, hobbies and sports), give volunteer work a go, have fun and be creative.

You never know how your creativity may impact the wellbeing of those people around you and the community.

Research, network and talk to people about what they do.

Learning and skills come from diverse places.

Manoeuvring is a critical life skill.

When things don’t happen the way you expected, or you’re facing a significant change, having the ability to transfer your skills to a new area, think laterally about your next career move or cope with transition and loss is essential.

You may have to think about a horizontal career move, downshifting or even a period of not working.

And finally meaning.

What meaning can you make of your career? How does it fit into the design of your life? Do you want it to give you success, purpose or is it a means to an ends?

Actioning the ‘3 M’s’ requires self-awareness and continuous learning and unlearning.

Something like my clever apple tree.

It’s the least work in my garden and yet it is the most prolific and does its own thing – it prunes itself, dropping smaller blemished apples to the ground, that don’t fit into its design so the best ones can grow.

Perhaps we all need the ability to do this.

Jenny Bean is a professional member of the Career Development Association of NZ (CDANZ). If you are looking for career development support (personal or organisational), contact her at CareerBeanz.