When I start working with a new client, they are often surprised that I am not more forceful in my encouragement for them to pursue a new career path!
They assume that as a Career and Confidence Coach, I believe that everybody should “pursue their passion” and find a job that “feeds their soul” (or insert any other cliche you would expect a Career and Confidence Coach to say).
To be clear, I want all of my clients to feel happier and more satisfied at work. However:
- Not everybody has a passion. I have known people to spend YEARS searching for their passion, only to discover that they have a moderate amount of interest in a wide range of things and not one burning passion they are desperate to pursue.
- I am pragmatic. Sometimes a job needs to be a means to an end. If you have a secret desire to write a romance novel, it would be wonderful to give up work and spend 100% of your time focused on writing. However, you still need to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. If you don’t have the savings to allow you to fund your passion project then inevitably you will need to keep working.
I often help my clients to shift their perspective about the job they currently have so they can feel happier and more satisfied in that role.
If you find yourself unhappy at work, here are my top tips to help you look at your current role in a different way.
1. Focus on the Positives
Ask yourself, what does my current role allow me to be, do or enable me to have? It’s likely that your current role fulfills your existing financial needs.
While I’m not suggesting you stay in that role for the rest of your life just for the money, you can celebrate the fact that it is giving you what you need for now.
What are the positive aspects of your current role? Perhaps you have some great team members, it allows you the flexibility that you need, or you get to travel to interesting places. Brainstorm all the positive aspects of your current role.
2. Decide What Needs to Change
Consider the aspects of your current role that you don’t enjoy and that don’t make you happy. What elements are within your control to change? Perhaps there are particular tasks that you need to undertake that you could delegate to other team members or that you are traveling more than you would like because you feel you should rather than it is strictly necessary.
What elements are outside of your control and whom do you need to talk to try and influence change? Perhaps you don’t feel like you have enough scope for learning and growth. Speak to your manager to agree on what needs to happen to fulfill your needs.
Some simple changes to your current role can have a big impact on how you view your job.
3. Keep Your Eye Out for Opportunities
There is nothing worse than feeling trapped in a role with no other options on the horizon. Keep an eye out for opportunities inside the organisation. Look out for a project or an internal initiative that might allow you to grow your skills and experience without having to find a new job.
4. You Are Not Your Work
Over the course of our lifetime, we will spend, on average, 90,000 hours at work. It’s a huge proportion of our waking hours and therefore only natural that our work forms a large part of our identity.
However, you are so much more than your job. Take time to think about your values and the things that are important to you. Ideally, a lot of these values will be met through your work but you can also do so by pursuing other interests. Perhaps creativity is important to you and you feel it is lacking in your workplace. Join an art class or schedule regular trips to the theatre. Do whatever is required to feed this part of you.
5. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
You have decided to stay in this particular role for a reason. Keep focused on your motivation for doing so. Perhaps the job is just a stepping stone to help you gain experience in a specific industry or specialism. Maybe you need the money to be able to pay for the deposit for a house or full school fees. Or maybe you have other things going on in your life at the moment and value the stability of working for your current employer.
Whatever the reason, regularly remind yourself of the bigger picture and that your work is a means to an end.
If you need some help to explore your career options and get perspective, then feel free to book in my diary to talk about Career Coaching – I’d love to help you – here is a link to my diary.
If you haven’t already, subscribe to my newsletter to receive more articles like this one and receive my complimentary guide “Back Yourself: Your 7 Step Plan to Build Confidence and Achieve Your Career Goals”.