Getting the priorities straightened out

Earlier this year, when faced with some job opportunities that didn't meet my needs, I started to think about what criterion I would use for evaluating potential jobs. My top three priorities were:

1. Work from home (or flexibly in an office)
2. Justify my LA lifestyle
3. Use my skills and background well

I said no to a few opportunities along the way and I feel like I'm better off for it. My gut tells me that if I can just hang on long enough everything will work out as planned. I took a leap of faith and now I have to keep trusting that it will all work out fine. That's not easy to do in this economy with three kids and a husband who has a career in about the same boat as mine.
But we've worked it through this far and we're fairly stubborn people which is a trait I'm planning to exploit now.

In evaluating my next moves about the job opening I am considering now, I've had to re-think my priorities. My career has been dedicated to the non profit sector and yet now I find myself with twenty years of experience yet unable to find a role that allows me financially to keep my family where we are now. As I see it in the present, I may have to transition our of the non profit sector in order to survive in Los Angeles. When Bill and I originally made our career choices together over 15 years ago, we were in a different space and time. He was going to be a wildly successful writer and I was going to have a fulfilling career in the non profit world where I felt I was making a difference.

I've been taking progressively responsible roles since I started working and I like learning on the job. My positions have neatly segued so far and now I am here a year after my last role ended wondering which way to go.

In 2010, with parts of our plan come to fruition and others not, and with the changing tides of the world we live in, we've had to re-evaluate what we think might work. And we have three kids under 10 years old who need us in many ways.

I recently found a piece I wrote in 1993 as if I was forty years old. I'm forty years old now. My twenty four year old self pretty much nailed it, although I think I had nicer clothes in my vision earlier and we had two kids rather than three. It was a romanticized version of exactly what I created in my life. Reading the pages where I detail out how I thought it would all turn out is very interesting for me now. I'm finding lots of clues in here about how to get myself back on course. I'm sure I'll be talking more about parts of it in blogs to come.

My twenty four year old self thought I would be getting into politics at this time in my life which is true. She thought I would be running for public office. I don't see that happening any time soon, but I would be interested in working in politics. I'm jotting down that clue for my present self. I also said that I will have won awards for my community service which is true.
I also thought I would have two best selling children's books by this time in my life.
Hunh.

In other goal work I did around the same time, I reflect that I wanted to learn how to write grants so that I could write grants for my children's school one day. My mother in law had offset tuition for her children at private schools by working for them. This seemed like a good strategy to me as a young person who liked working with kids and wanted to have children of my own.
I saw myself growing and writing grants for my children's school. That's one thing I definitely did accomplish. My children are fortunate enough to attend an amazing Charter school and so tuition has not been a factor for us, for which I feel very fortunate. I have worked for Charter schools writing grants and I consider it part of my path to help the grant world in Charter schools as much as I can. I really like empowering others to write grants. That fills my cup more than about anything else does.

One of the things that's hitting me about my career is that my "mission centered" career in the non profit world has been somewhat external to me all this time. My career, spanning educational programs, Habitat For Humanity, volunteer coordination at CSUN,program design, development consulting and grant writing has been varied and broad. As I developed in my career, I realized that I wanted to impact children more broadly that my original idea out of high school which was to become a special education teacher. I've done that in my career through the roles I've taken.

In 2010, however, I am a champion not only for broadly impacting programs but also for my own three amazing children. I put my mission centered career into how I live my life. Since I left my job recruiting and managing volunteers and became one myself, I've grown immeasurably.
I am involved in politics and impacting children broadly through my work as a parent and advocate for Charter schools. I watch LAUSD meetings for fun now and I enjoy being an involved, informed and active parent. That's giving me what me career used to give me.

That brings us back to 2010 and my need to get this figured out in the present. I'm hoping that my renewed zest for finding options turns up some interesting tidbits this week. My plan is to hit the books and puzzle out my transferable skills and what I'll willing to do about them.

I'm also looking to clarify my objectives as per my priorities outlined above. I think I need to get more specific to get what I want out of my next steps. I also have to find my zen and trust that what I need is going to happen for me. This is a delicate balance right now.