{"id":7762,"date":"2024-11-28T13:07:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T13:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=7762"},"modified":"2024-11-28T13:49:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T13:49:01","slug":"from-silent-night-to-career-bright-finding-the-quiet-time-to-reflect-and-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/?p=7762","title":{"rendered":"From silent night to career bright: find quiet time to reflect and plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>As winter sets in and the festive season begins, there\u2019s a certain calm that settles over our busy lives. As the night skies darken and days shorten, use quiet, peaceful moments to pause, reflect, reset and turn your silent nights into a bright path forward. Understand where you are in your career journey using our automated, structured\u00a0Navigate Your Future<\/a>\u00a0activity and work out where you\u2019ll go next year.<\/p>\n

Embrace calm: winter is perfect for reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

We spend more time indoors in winter, away from the usual distractions. This natural season of looking back and thinking ahead is a space to consider what you\u2019re aiming for and plan steps and new ideas towards achieving it in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Try small steps<\/strong>: Plan in just 10 minutes a week to\u00a0review your goals<\/a>,\u00a0assess where you are now in your career<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0decide what to do next<\/a>. Even small moments of reflection can help you gain clarity.<\/p>\n

Reflect on your progress<\/strong><\/p>\n

In setting new goals, take time to look back at what you\u2019ve achieved in the past year. Did you reach any milestones, big or small? Learn more about yourself and you\u2019ll become more career confident.<\/p>\n

Try a moment of reflection<\/strong>: Using\u00a0Recognise your skills and what you have to offer<\/a>, identify one achievement and one challenge you encountered this year and what these taught you. This will help you to set goals that build on what you\u2019ve already achieved.<\/p>\n

Set intentions for the year ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time to look forwards. Set clear, realistic, actionable goals. It can help you make meaningful progress and avoid getting overwhelmed. Try our recommended tools and techniques to help you identify goals and move forwards with your career plans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Try SMART goals<\/strong>: Move forwards with your career plans<\/a>. Use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) framework to define your goals. For example, rather than saying \u201cI want to improve my creative writing skills,\u201d set a specific goal like \u201cBy April I will join a local writers\u2019 group and enter one of their competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have a fulfilling New Year<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve made use of the quiet calm of winter to find clarity and plan, it\u2019s often useful to talk them through.<\/p>\n

Try talking it through<\/strong>: Discuss your plans with a trusted friend or family member. It\u2019s also great to share and compare plans with other OU students, directly, remotely or on forums or within the student community<\/a> and online groups.<\/p>\n

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And remember, our friendly team is also here for you all the way through your studies and for three years afterwards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"OUPenny Beecroft is an OU Careers and Employability Consultant specialising in supporting students in Wales. Penny helps students navigate their futures, figure out their goals and build their confidence through one-to-one careers consultations and by designing career learning events and resources for the OU. Explore the rest of the Careers Stories page for more articles from the Careers and Employability Services team.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"X<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As winter sets in and the festive season begins, there\u2019s a certain calm that settles over our busy lives. As the night skies darken and days shorten, use quiet, peaceful moments to pause, reflect, reset and turn your silent nights into a bright path forward. Understand where you are in your career journey using our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7762"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7778,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7762\/revisions\/7778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/careers\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}