You may work 40 hours a week with a family at home, but there’s more to life than just those two components. Helping out people and organizations in your neighborhood are fulfilling hobbies that should be practiced more often than not. It’s a fact not frequently discussed that volunteering on a regular basis helps you in the workplace. Explore these reasons behind this connection.
Calms and focuses your mind
Living for your job equates to putting blinders over your eyes. You only concentrate on work and its stressors, ignoring everything else in your life. By volunteering, you’re opening up your mind to different experiences. You fulfill a need in the world, and that fact makes you feel good about yourself. When you return to work, you’ll have a calmer mind. Fresh focus on your work is possible because you’re fulfilling other needs through the volunteer opportunity.
Offers new skills
Your current job requires certain skills that are practiced each day. However, you want to gain experience in other areas. Seek out volunteering opportunities where you’ll learn new skills. You won’t receive formal training, but the hands-on experience is just as valuable. Add those skills to your resume or offer them to your current employer. Increasing your value as an employee leads to promotions and better positions.
Broadens your horizon
You’re likely curious about other jobs in the world, but you can’t just pick up and quit your current position. Volunteering gives you a view of the world that may be a mystery otherwise. Try your hand at retail as you sell items for a charity. Fix a car to help out a church’s pastor who drives the elderly around town. Try these tasks to understand their scope. You may discover a new calling.
Creates a wider network
Your office may have a dozen people within it. This small world is your only connection to possible promotions through networking. Volunteering helps you in the workplace because you’re expanding your networking opportunities. Meeting people from various industries who have a common passion at the charitable organization means that you have a chance at a different future when promotions arise.
Selecting and sticking with a particular charity or organization tells your supervisor that you have a passion in life. That passion can translate into a promotion when the employer sees an opportunity that you’d be perfectly suited for. Keep up with a fulfilling life because it will pay off in the long run, likely in ways you never imagined.