Recently I had the pleasure of hearing Nancy Wollen, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Kaiser Permanente Colorado, speak at a Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The life lessons she shared really resonated with me, so I started thinking there must be a way to tie them to my work in social media – which has become so much a part of life for so many people.

 

1. Do Work That You Love

Nancy has been in the field of health care all her life and truly walks her talk when it comes to this lesson. She elaborated on this point by stressing that our work needs to be in harmony with who we are or we will never be completely happy.

Social Media Connection: If you aren’t doing the work you love, use social media sites, especially LinkedIn, to explore other possibilities. Once you identify areas that seem like a better fit than what you’re currently doing, join groups that relate and read the posts and follow the conversations, check out the sites and publications mentioned, and invite interesting people whose posts intrigue you to connect. Keep researching and connecting until you figure out what a career doing what you love might look like, then use those new connections to find a job that you truly love.

2. Be Deliberate About Your Career Development

When Nancy was in her 20s, working and simultaneously parenting three small children, she went back to school to get the bachelor’s degree she’d deferred earlier. She knew she needed that degree to advance in her career. Being a working mom, it took her eight years, but in that time she earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s. The decision to power through and get her degrees consecutively paid off in terms of the career opportunities that later came her way.

 

Social Media Connection: Once you identify where you want to go professionally, find out what others in your field or those in the field you aspire to be part of are doing to advance their careers. Is an additional degree or certification required for advancement? Are people contributing in strategic ways through service on community boards and related activities? You can learn this type of information from people’s LinkedIn profiles. Then you can reach out to the ones you have connected to and learn more about what they are doing and what recommendations they might have for you.

 

3. Take Care of Yourself

The life of a busy professional can become very stressful, and most of us also have families that need what little time we have left. Nancy shared the way she has made time for exercise, meditation, and journaling – not as ways to pamper herself, but as necessities that help her maintain the balance necessary to create a healthy life. She also pointed out the importance of simply doing things we enjoy as a way to nurture ourselves.

Social Media Connection: Looking for ways to de-stress your life? Join a group on Facebook that relates to a hobby you enjoy, search Pinterest for ideas about exercise and/or nutrition, follow people on Twitter who live a healthy lifestyle and begin to integrate their choices into your own life as you are able. There is a whole banquet of information out there for you to taste – look around, sample things, find the ones that nurture you and keep them.

How About You?

Are you doing the work you love? Are you deliberate about your career development? Are you taking care of yourself? How are you using your social media tools to help you with these three aspects of your life?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business professionals, small business owners, nonprofit organizations, retired people, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.