As an association/chamber professional, most days you probably are in meetings or at an event during lunch. So what do you do on the rare days you don’t have meetings or an event? If you are like me, you may find yourself still sitting at your desk trying to catch up on work, or watching a YouTube video, while eating a Lean Cuisine.
I’d like to offer some alternatives to help you grow professionally and personally.
- Lunch Date – While I haven’t read the book Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, I understand the concept of building relationships and surrounding yourself with people you can learn from. So set a lunch date with a mentor and discuss the challenges going on in your life currently; the insight another person can provide can be invaluable.
- Read a book – And I’m not talking about 50 Shades of whatever! At least once a week read a chapter or two from a book that will help you in your career. I currently have on my desk two books: StandOut by Marcus Buckingham and Building an Association Management Company by Robert Harris and Calvin Clemons. One is for me personally and the other for my organization – both will help me professionally.
- Get away and explore – The most important part of this is to leave your desk! The explore part could be anything. Depending on where you live and what your interests are, there may be hidden treasures in your town that you never knew existed (or haven’t taken advantage of due to time constraints). Maybe it’s a park, or a museum, or a cute little shop, or even a neighborhood. Whatever and wherever it is, take time on occasion to explore something new and different and you may learn something you never expected.
We are all tempted to shovel down a salad (or maybe a protein bar if lucky!) and continue working at our desks. But this does no one any good, truly. So the next time you find yourself doing this, take a moment and determine if that’s what you really WANT to be doing or if one of these options could be done instead.
This post was originally published here.
