My Career Has Lost Its Meaning. Should I Reinvent, Rearrange, or Reignite?
Posted on March 23, 2017 by Carolyne Simi, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
Three powerful questions to help you get crystal clear on what to do when you feel dissatisfied with your career.
Q:
I’ve been a teacher for 15 years, and lately I find myself dreading Mondays and having to give myself a pep talk just to roll out of bed and head in to work. Up until recently teaching was challenging and interesting, and I felt like I was making a positive contribution. Now I’m just going through the motions, and I’m starting to think I wasn’t really meant for this. What advice can you give me to help move forward?
A:
It’s scary to find yourself in a place where you no longer feel excited by or interested in your work. Sometimes it’s a sign that major changes are needed, but sometimes it’s just a natural plateau and you’d benefit more from some minor course correction. First things first, you need to take some time to get know yourself better and thoroughly understand your current situation. Many people make important life decisions based on fear or frustration, current workplace trends, or what seems to be working well for someone else.
I counsel my clients to get crystal clear on three fundamental questions to determine whether they need to reimagine, rearrange or reignite their careers:
1) What first drew you to this career?
Think about why you chose your current career path. Many of us make our initial decision based on our perceptions, rather than on experience or reality. Maybe you thought teaching would give you a sense of accomplishment and a good work-life balance, but now you’re overwhelmed by budget cuts, have too many students, and feel like you’re herding cats, not educating bright young minds.
What excited you about the job in the very beginning? Can you remember how it felt, what motivated you, and what you thought you were going to achieve? Did you choose the job because it aligned to your personal values and strengths?
If you can remember a time when your work brought you a sense of purpose, meaning, and pride, then it makes sense to try to bring that spark back: make small shifts to your perspective, alter the way you approach your day, initiate pet projects, take a class to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one, and whenever possible eliminate or delegate tasks that don’t play to your strengths.
But if you realize that you wound up in your career by default or because someone else thought it would be a good fit, it makes sense to move on to a different career that excites and speaks to you.
2) Are you proud of what you do?
Do you find yourself cringing or changing the subject when someone at a party asks you what you do? Does talking about your work make you feel embarrassed or ashamed or less interesting or valuable than your friends or family? Does it align with your personal values?
Remember, it doesn’t matter what other people’s perception of your job may be— only how YOU feel about it. A job that sounds boring, stressful or menial to one person is another’s dream.
If you still have a sense of pride and accomplishment when you talk about your work but just don’t feel as excited about it as you used to, then you need to make some adjustments to incorporate more of what makes you feel alive and engaged. But if your primary emotion is shame or embarrassment, take a step back to get clear on your values and then start the process of finding work that better aligns with what matters to you.
3) Does your work align with what matters most to you?
If you don’t feel like your work aligns with your values, strengths and interests, first look for ways to adjust your day-to-day tasks to better suit who you are. Can you teach your students the core curriculum through lessons that incorporates your values and interests? Can you add service-learning projects that make you feel good about your work, like having the kids cook meals for a homeless shelter, raising funds for research on climate change, or brainstorming ways to reduce waste at the school? Get creative and seek out others who are also interested in keeping things fresh and new.
Sometimes we get so bogged down in the way that we’ve been doing something that we lose sight of the fact that we have the power to initiate change. By sharing more of the things that have value and meaning to you with your students and your broader educational community, you’ll likely find more ways to bring those values into your work.
Still can’t see a way to make your work align with your values and interests? Then it’s time to start researching other career paths that will suit who you are and support the life that you were meant to live.
Getting clarity about these important questions isn’t easy. To connect the dots, you need outside support. Take time to do the hard but worthwhile work of self-understanding, and find a mentor, friend, coaching buddy or professional who can help you see more clearly what you’re capable of and what you were put on the earth to contribute.
