One of the things which has become an ever more common question I’ve been getting from my Clients lately is how to know whether or not you’re in the right career. And also, how to change careers if you’re not.
As Garfield once said, “Work is so bad, they have to pay you to do it!”
There are many people who do genuinely love the career that they’re in, whilst other people just see it as something that they have to do to pay the bills. But regardless of how you look at it, you’re going to be spending an aweful lot of your life doing it, so you may as well find enjoyment from it.
If you’re like most people, you’ll probably spend more time at work then you do with your own family. The old fashioned notion of working 9-5 is ever increasingly a thing of the past. These days it’s more likely to be 8-6, with a short lunch break that you don’t even get paid for.
Yes, you get paid for it, but to really get a sense of enjoyment in what you do, it takes more than money. I’ve spoken to so many people that are doing the most horrible jobs like FIFO (Fly In / Fly Out) workers who work in remote areas doing mining and so forth. They make really good money but it comes at a huge cost. And sooner or later, they all start asking themselves if it’s really worth it. More often than not, the answer is NO.
Finding a sense of enjoyment in what you do is actually a lot more important than people think. I know that I’ve been guilty in the past of doing jobs that I hated just for the money. Thinking that this is just temporary, once I make enough money I can leave. But the reality is that I never ended up making the sort of money that I wanted because hating your job is like carrying around a dead weight. It just slows you down, creates more stress, and ultimately leaves you unfulfilled.
We are designed to be happy beings, our natural state is supposed to be happy. When you spend so much time doing something that you don’t like, it’s going to take a human toll. Happiness is like the life blood that flows through our bodies, it makes everything work. When you’re not happy, it’s like having mud running through your veins instead of blood. It will slow you down, you’ll think slower, you’ll feel more lethargic. Stress will dramatically increase, which can make you more irritable, which makes it harder for you to get on with co-workers and family. Stress is also linked to lower immune health, making you more vulnerable to sickness.
In short, when you’re not happy, your mind and body don’t work properly. So it’s REEEEEEEEEEALLY just so super important that you can find happiness and enjoyment in what you do. Now, I’m not talking about some utopian concept that you have to love what you do so much that it’s your reason for being and you’d do it for nothing if they didn’t pay you. Yes, money is important, and let’s be honest, money is the ultimate reason why most of us are in the jobs that we do. Even if you love what you do, chances are that if you didn’t need the money, you wouldn’t be doing it, and that’s fine.
I’m just saying that what you get out of your job has to be more than money. I know that I’ve been in jobs before that I really loved and I enjoyed working there, but if I won the lotto and didn’t need the money, I’d find other uses for my time!
Which brings us to two important questions...
How do you know if you’re in the right career?
What to do if you’re not in the right career?
To really have the career which is right for you, it should align with your values, compliment your skillset and experience, and not create roadblocks for other areas of your life. Tony Robbins talks about having congruency. Which basically just means that all areas of your life should be consistent with one another. For example, you certainly wouldn’t want to be involved with any job which caused you to compromise your values.
Also, you should have a natural flow in what you do. The work that you do should be a match with your experience and skillset. I’m not saying don’t get outside of your comfort zone, because that’s important, and every skill you now have was once something that you had never done before. What I am saying is that even when you’re learning new skills, if it is really something that is congruent with you, then it should come easily to you. You should enjoy doing it. Another thing to guard against is doing a job which is going to create roadblocks in other areas of your life. For example, if it’s important for you to be at home when you kids come home from school, you wouldn’t want to be choosing a career which requires you to work evenings.
If your numbers come up in lotto, or Great Uncle Anushervoni from Uzbekistan dies and leaves you $20 million then you may want to quit your job, but in the meantime, you should at least enjoy your job. Money is important to live on, but it’s not going to give you job satisfaction. The things that people tend to value more than money are things like a sense of contribution. Feeling that your job has meaning. Also, a sense of community, getting on with the people you work with.
Some Points To Ponder...
When you’re old and grey, how would you describe the work that you do now to your Grandchildren?
If you like your job, then ask yourself what is it about the work that you enjoy?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe the sense of community that you feel?
Do you get on with the people you work with?
Do you feel that if something were ever wrong, your colleagues would have your back?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe the sense of contribution that you feel?
Do you feel your work has purpose?
Do you feel that other people benefit as a result of the work that you do?
If no-one was doing the work that you do, what would be the effect on society?
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your overall enjoyment with your career at the moment?
If it’s not already a 10, then what would have to happen in order to lift that score up to a 10?
What practices can you do DAILY to remind yourself of everything you love about your job?
What can you do DAILY to remind yourself how valuable what you do is to society?
How can you ensure that find a way to find please and happiness in all that you do throughout your day?
As we’ve said, when you’re not happy it affects your whole body and mind. It affects the people around you, and it lowers your immune system, making you more vulnerable to sickness and disease. Put simply, hating your work is slow death. So if you’ve found something that you love, or at least like, then cherish that!
If you’re not in the right career, then hopefully by now I’ve been able to enlighten you as to how important it is to BE in the right career. YOUR LIFE is far too important to be spending your time in something that doesn’t make you come alive. Not only will it kill you in the long run, but it will also deprive others of the wonderful chance to meet the YOU that you COULD be if you were in a job that made you come alive. The YOU that really felt like what they did made a difference. The YOU that can honestly rate how much you love your job as a 10!
Ask yourself this. If you really loved your job, if it made you feel alive, if you really believed that you were making a valuable contribution to society, then how would that person act? How would you interact with everyone? What would others think about you? Would the perception that others get about your company change as a result of feeling that way? What would it feel like to BE that person?
Obviously it’s important to note here that these questions can cause you to really think about your work and come up with ways that you can enjoy what you do. But it goes without saying that this is not going to work for everyone. Remember what we said about being congruent.
Well, there will inevitable be some people that are in the WRONG career. No amount of positive thinking will change the fact that what you’re doing now is not what you were born to do.
Remember, life is too short, and YOU are just too damned important to be spending the major part of each day in something you don’t love. So what do you do if you find yourself in this position?
The best starting point is first of all to determine what your ideal job would be? What is it that YOU would really like to do? Is that congruent with your values? Would doing that pose any road blocks? Write out, what kind of a contribution you would like to be making to society? What would be some options for careers that would allow you to do that? Another great hack is to write out a description of what you would be doing in your ideal career on a daily basis, as if you were describing it to your Grandchildren.
Now you have the building blocks to create the fulfilment and enjoyment that you are worthy of feeling on a daily basis. Take a moment to evaluate your career and how it stacks up then leave a comment below to let me know how you are going to apply this.
Also, if you found this valuable, then because this seems to be such a hot topic at the moment amongst so many of my Clients, I am now in the process of putting together an e-Book that deals with not just careers but also finding fulfilment and purpose in your LIFE!
I will be launching this e-Book in the coming weeks so stay tuned to the website for further updates closer to launch and also, if you’ve not already done so, sign up for my newsletter below so that you can stay in the loop.