Month: May 2018

Planned Preoccupation PSA

Cori CasnerLeave a comment

A new job, a new city, a new diet, meeting new people… I have to do lists, alarms, peer-accountability and tracking apps for days. I’m exhausted from living up to my own expectations. So I’ve decided to take a no-tracking-weekend. I’m taking off my Fitbit, silencing my phone, and enjoying myself.

This is going to cause me to break my Friday Friends and Metabolism Monday streaks, but these habits and my blog are supposed to help me reach my goals, not stress me out so much that my hard work becomes counterproductive.

Hopefully, on Monday I will be reenergized and can evaluate my goals with a fresh perspective. Until then, I will delight in my adventures first hand!

Career Cliques

Cori CasnerLeave a comment

One of the easiest ways for me to meet new people has been at my new job. I’ve only been there a month, and there are plenty of new faces around.

There are RTE and Agile Communities of Practice (CoP) at my office. The RTE community is still fairly small, so I have gotten a lot of face time with the other RTEs at the company. The Agile CoP has a much wider audience, and by attending their bi-weekly sessions I have met most of the other agile practitioners near me.

My office also has a Women with Drive group. I went to their session about Negotiation, and there was a fantastic networking game at the end. They also have a book club element to the group which is exciting. I liked it so much I signed up to volunteer with them.

I’m also a member of my local Project Management Institute (PMI) chapter and have attended a few of their breakfast meetings. They don’t have high attendance at breakfast, but that allows me ample opportunity to interact with the speakers and network. The agile manager at my office and I will also be attending an agile professionals meetup in a couple of weeks. I’m excited to bring someone else along with me on my networking adventures.

Joining these groups have allowed me to meet a lot of new people. There is also great content shared in these meetings. There are so many intangible benefits to getting out of your comfort zone so I’m excited to keep my momentum going and to find new groups in my city.

What is your favorite way to improve your professional network? Please share your experiences in the comments!