This post is by Sean from HigherEdCareerCoach.com.
In these trying economic times, many professionals are looking to further education as a way to steel themselves from the brutal reality of layoffs, corporate downsizing, and becoming “obsolete.”
Going back to school, however, is not a panacea. One cannot simply and magically change their circumstances through the act of enrollment; in actuality, engagement is the key to successfully continuing your professional development. And it isn’t the result of taking classes. If you’re really committed to your development, it’s clearly the other way around: the engagement must come first!
Image is author's own
What does it mean to be engaged? Engagement is a buzzword these days in higher education, but it’s more than that. It implies an intentionality of purpose, marked by an alignment of passion and practicality, idealism and action.
Moving forward with purpose
Simply put, attending a class or workshop is not enough to ensure forward movement in your life or career. If you expect education to be delivered unto you from on high, then you have no business going back to school.
But if you embrace the possibility that studying a topic will help round out your skill set, introduce you to new perspectives, or teach you practical skills—and you are ready to work practically and emotionally to approach the endeavor with ferocity, determination, and single-mindedness—then you may be ready to pursue further study.
Education doesn’t just happen to you
Education is not a passive activity. It cannot be something that happens to you; it is something that you must engage in! Before you apply to an academic program, ask yourself the following questions:
- When did your interest in further education begin?
- Was it the result of burning question you’ve held close to your heart, or of enjoyment of a particular task or activity? (i.e. Is it more about your passion for a topic than anything else?)
- What do you hope to learn?
- How do you hope to apply it?
- What are you willing to sacrifice in exchange for it?
If you can’t answer these questions, then it is not time for you to return school. It is time to return to your passions, to pick them apart, and to take practical action.
Are there other activities that might allow you to learn new skills and apply them?
For example:
- Are there opportunities among your current tasks at work or at home that might allow you to pursue your passions without sacrifice?
- Do your current circumstances allow you to apply the knowledge and skills you are seeking?
- If so, why aren’t you pursuing those options right now?
- If not, what are you willing to do to pursue other opportunities?
You must be an active participant in your life and career. View it as a great adventure: your adventure. You choose the destination. You set the course. And when you are truly ready, you’ll look forward to the next opportunity, ready to engage.
Have you ever needed to re-engage with your work? How did you do it? Did study have a role to play? I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments.
Sean Cook is a Life Purpose and Career Coach from Athens, GA, whose practice is geared toward assisting individuals pursue purposeful careers in higher education. Read more from Sean at HigherEdCareerCoach.com.
About Guest Contributor
Thinking is such a pleasurable activity it seems sad that education isn’t always presented as something which one WANTS to do.
Having splashed out on an Ivy League degree I often question the merits – what has the extra cost and cache brought me? Was it worth it?
Leigh,
Thanks for reading and for your thoughtful comments. I totally agree. I talk a lot with clients and groups about the difference between doing what you are good at, what other people say you should do, and what you can make money doing, versus doing what you are *meant* to do. We spend so much time worrying about the approval of others that we end up living other peoples’ lives. And we suffer for it.
Going back to school can be a band-aid or a cure. If the problem is that your soul has been slashed open by the needs for money, stability and of others, that’s a gaping wound, not a tiny scratch. It’s best to take your time to first assess the need, and then find the appropriate remedy for malaise. Because band-aids can’t close wounds and heal like a good solid cast.
Great advice. I have too many 30-something and 40-something friends who talk about going back to school either because (1) they didn’t finish or go as far as they originally planned, or (2) they hate their jobs. Mid-life, going back to school takes real time, energy and money – you have to know why you want it.
I also find people go all-or-none. Why not just take a class or pick up a couple of books and see how you feel about a subject? If you’re passionate, you’ll know it, and then continuing your education may make sense. If you’ve been talking about a subject for 5 years but haven’t done anything about it, more school isn’t going to magically energize you.
Thanks Dr. Pete,
In my case, I loved parts of my job and other parts were killing me. I ripped off the band-aid really quickly once I got a plan together and got serious about it. Oddly enough, my own application to a top doctoral program (and rejection from that program) were catalysts for my career change.
I didn’t realize that I was applying for all the wrong reasons until they told me I was. It was hard to get that kind of feedback, but also it gave me the reality check I needed. I couldn’t do my job effectively anymore, because my heart wasn’t in it. I quit and moved to Athens, GA because I imagined myself living there and being happier, for reasons directly related to improved quality of life for me and my family, and proximity to our extended family.
I left at a weird time and took a huge leap of faith that many would find kind of reckless, but I had been talking, oddly enough, for about 5 years, about moving to Georgia, getting certified as a career coach, and assisting higher ed job seekers and college students with their career planning and job searches.
Things didn’t happen on the timeline I had hoped for, so I ended up staying into the Fall 2009 semester at my job (Assistant Director of Residence Life at Penn State) and then made a concerted and quick plan to get certified as a life and career coach, find a house and move. More education may be on the horizon, but it will be in a different specialty, and I may return to work in a more traditional role at a college or university. I do kind of miss it.
But if I had gone back to school, none of this would be happening, and I would still be stuck, emotionally and practically, in a life and a professional role I had grown out of. So for me, formal education wasn’t the right answer. Practical education, experimentation, risk-taking and hard work have been the things that keep me moving forward, and the ability to choose my next course of study or my next experiments in business or in life are what keeps me going in the right direction.
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