Making Commitments
How To Use 3 Commitments to Reach Your Goal of Working from Anywhere in 2023
Running a marathon sucks.
At least, that’s what I thought when I started running to train for one in 2019. Every morning, I’d get up, throw my running shoes on, and go down 16 flights of stairs to run a slightly longer distance than the day before.
But after a while, my mindset shifted. I realized I LOVED running, and running a marathon might not be that bad.
I attribute that shift to 2 things:
Practice. That always helps.
The right commitments.
Today, I want to talk with you about how you can use 3 commitments to make a shift in your mindset around getting a remote job. Because in 2023, your mindset is going to make or break your remote job search.
How do I know? Because I’ve switched jobs remote once before, and now I am working on finding a new remote job. This is the mindset I’ve used and am using now.
Commitment 1: Commit to a Goal
You need a goal to get a remote job. And no, your goal should not be “Get a Remote Job”. If it is, please read the following four pieces:
What does a good goal look like for getting a remote job?
First, it’s a SMART goal, and if you don’t know what that is, please search Google. Many people have written about it better than I can now.
Second, it is in line with your professional past, the environment you want to work in, your vision for what you want from remote work, your gating values, and your communication style.
Here’s my goal for my 2023 remote job search:
Get a product or project management job by June 30th at a remote start-up that operates primarily in GMT +/-4, is in either the green tech or AR/VR space, uses asynchronous communication primarily, has managers with considerable previous product management experience, and gives me enough free time to work on my other income streams.
That’s incredible specific. You don’t need to be THAT specific, but aim for something pretty close. Write it down somewhere you can see it, and look at it at least 1 time a week and repeat out loud: “I commit to reaching my goal of …”. You will be surprised by how much of a difference this makes.
Commitment 2: Commit To Preparing
You’re not ready for the remote job you want. Accept that fundamental truth and you’ll be ready to becoming ready.
There are probably a number of ways you are not ready:
Your network is not ready. You probably need to connect to at least 100 people in relevant companies. And more importantly, your networking skills are rusty. You need to get much better at connecting and adding value.
Your resume and LinkedIn profile are not ready. Trust me, mine are not fully either. I’m working on it. This can take time, but it’s absolutely essential.
Your skills might not be ready. If you are looking to change to a specific role/company and you don’t have the skills you need, you may need to put in the time. For example, I want to join an Augmented Reality company, so I’m putting the time into learning all about Augmented Reality.
Only you can really know exactly how you need to prepare, as it’s based on your goal. Take the time to do an honest self-assessment of your situation, and start preparing accordingly.
Commitment 3: Commit To Yourself
This is the most important commitment of all. Often in life we commit to a goal, but then we let it slide because we get pulled in another direction, often by someone else.
That’s why it’s essential to commit to yourself on the day you make your goal. That self, the one who took the time to set that goal, is not the only version of you. There’s a version of you that’s lazy and doesn’t want to do the work. There’s a version of you that is overly giving and wants to support others. There’s a version of you who might thinking setting goals are for suckers!
Whatever the case, that’s not the version of you who sets your remote job goal. And it’s that version that you need to commit to and recommit to every day. Part of that comes from recommitting to your goal as mentioned above. Another part comes from understanding, to the best of your ability, why you are setting this goal, and what’s important to you about setting it.
My suggestion: Set the goal first. Then ask yourself why, in that moment, that goal was important enough to you that you took the time to set it. By taking action first in goal setting, you’re creating a version of yourself that you can then step back and analyze. Many people will encourage you to know your why first, then set your goal. But experience has taught me that you can’t always know yourself until after you’ve taken action. If that’s true for you, it’s especially important you take this step.
Action Item
Take some time today or this week to make your commitments to yourself. Trust me when I say it will pay off in time.
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