It happens with all of us at different point of time and the degree of effect may vary with each of us. Short-term issues can require us to temporarily change course: If you have some personal loss in family or If you’ve lost your job, you urgently need income as you may be only bread earner in family. You may have personal responsibilities at home, if in-person schooling isn’t available, someone has to stay home and supervise virtual learning for kids. There may be some dependents in family and if you’re the primary caregiver to a family member, you need to secure flexibility for responsibilities at home. Prioritizing these short-term concerns over long-term goals, while painful, may be necessary right now. But a temporary detour from your professional path doesn’t mean you have to put aside your ambitions. You can regain control over your life and career arc with some mindfulness and introspection.

Few pointers to look into :

1. Re-frame the situation; There are always two sides of coin. Visualize the positive side of coin. Even if you’re not advancing toward your professional aspirations right now, you’re still making a difference and providing value in other areas of your life. Feel happy about it and motivate yourself for all the good things happening in life. Those good things will be stepping stone to build further better things in other aspects of your life including career directions.

2. Explore new options; The options emerge when you look for them actively. Never accept the situation without exploring all the best possible options available. For example, the WFH boom has led many organizations to provide more flexible work arrangements. Express what you want; most offers can be discussed and negotiated.

3. Allocate some time toward your goals; It may not seem significant to spend three minutes sending email or reading a few articles on a topic you’re interested in. You may watch some expert videos or pick some book to engage in between. These little investments adds up and boost your knowledge as well strengthen your path for future growth.

4. Stay in connect and build network; It may be small investment daily but to stay connected with your professional network and also others who you feel can help and guide in future in case of need. A small investment of time every day will keep alive a lot of roads for you to take in future. A small networking mail, reply to some mail or just check on call or a message will keep you connected with your network. You may even build new network by reaching out some of the people you think will be helpful to you in professional journey.

There are many dimensions of life. If one dimension is not moving doesn’t mean the whole life got stuck. The life still grows with seeding in multiple ways. There may be a temporary stall in one of the area of life, do not get stuck with that only one area but explore the other areas of your life to make them grow and with time you will grow overall in multi-dimensional way. Keep growing even if you felt it is slower or getting obstacles and find meaning in different ways to keep yourself motivated. . (Inspired from HBR Daily)