The Tech industry is an exciting place to work at. It provides endless challenges, a massive potential for personal and professional growth and excellent financial rewards. For people who thrive on being at the forefront of innovation and technology, the Tech space is full of opportunities to be part of cutting edge developments in digital transformation, AI, the Internet of Things, robotics and many more.

As with everything in life - there are, however, challenges that come with fast-paced and ever-changing working environments. While the pandemic accelerated the move to flexible working from home, with some governments now putting the right to work from home into legislation, the pace of day-to-day working life has not changed. The modern laptop warriors spend most of their day on their digital devices, having back-to-back meetings and are dealing with constant pressure to keep up with everything: with the workload, with organisational changes, and with industry trends.

Tech workers are highly skilled in multi-tasking, juggling an enormous amount of tasks every day, and squeezing time in to be creative and develop innovative solutions to new problems.

Working in Tech is exciting and exhausting at the same time.

In this article, we discuss five impactful questions for people in Tech to help you to pause, reflect and realign your work with your personal mission. These five questions will help you maintain a healthy balance between your personal and professional goals and offer a space for positive reflection on a hectic day.

How much am I running on? 100%? 120%? 65%?

Check-in with your energy reserves. How are you doing with your energy household?

Are you running on empty? Do you find yourself depleted at the end of a working day, with no energy to do anything else? What can you do to recharge?

Are you doing well in this area, having energy left over at the end of the day? If so, what are you already doing that helps you maintain this balance?

How much of me am I bringing into work?

Authenticity in the workplace is not just a buzzword - research confirms a strong link between being your authentic self at work and job satisfaction and general wellbeing. The more you can be yourself at work, the more happiness you will get from your job. Sometimes, some factors make us feel we can not bring all of ourselves to work. Some are internal to ourselves and could be connected to confidence, personal identity or past negative experiences. Others are external factors, for example, unsupportive work cultures, a lack of team coherence or siloed work that doesn’t offer much connection with others.

How much of your authentic self are you able to bring to work? Would you like to bring more of you? What is holding you back - think about internal and external factors? What is in your control to bring more of yourself into work?

Why?

We are motivated by complex systems that interact and influence each other. On the one hand, there is our internal value and belief system, our unconscious compass that guides how we act, what we get interested in, and when we feel we need to speak up. This is our intrinsic motivation and the reason we get up in the morning. What gets you up in the morning? And why?

There are also external systems at play, within the organisation we work and the wider society we live in. It’s a complex web of reward and punishment. Take a moment and reflect on what external factors motivate you. Maybe it’s the next promotion? Or putting in your fair share to make the whole team shine?

If I had a magic wand, what would I change?

Allow yourself to wave your magic wand and reflect on that one thing that you would change that had the most significant impact on your work, your life, your reason to get up in the morning. What is the one thing you would change with the most considerable knock-on effect on your personal happiness, fulfilment and joy?

What now?

Every good reflection session should end with the question: and what now? Learning becomes powerful only when you apply it to your life. Positive journaling always focuses on small steps you can and want to commit to.

What do you want to do with the insights you gained here today? What is a small first step you want to take to make this change? How do you want to apply your learning in your job?

If any of these reflective questions has prompted you to make changes to your routine, job or life, consider getting a career coach into your corner! Creating space for regular, deep reflection with the guidance of an expert can help to keep your work-life balance and career progression on track and aligned to your values and strengths. To learn more, I invite you to book a free chemistry session with me to discuss your needs.