“I feel stuck!”
The last time Felicia met with her mentor, those were the exact words that summarized how she felt about her career. She did like her job, and wanted to get ahead. Yet, underneath her apparent good performance and how well she got along with her team and manager, she felt “stuck”. As in locked in the same position, with limited opportunities to grow and develop the fulfilling career she’s always dreamt of…
Does Felicia’s story feel familiar to you? Have you, or are you, as you’re reading this post and actively nodding, feeling trapped in that thing you’ve stopped calling a career a while ago?
If you come to work with zero inspiration, sub-levels of motivation and a deep desire to understand how you can combine coconut flakes and brownies into a new revolutionary dessert, you may have hit a career wall. Hard.
Many of us hit that career rut wall at some point or another in our careers. On a positive note, it means your career has a pulse and you’re not just some robot mechanically motioning through work. On another positive note, it’s a sign you may need to put the moves on your career, like…now!
Yet, even before you decide to make a change in your career (and figure out what you need to do), you’ve gotta ask yourself some questions. Some pretty tough questions, if you ask me. Yet some essential questions, whose answers will help you understand yourself, and your career, better.
Who Am I?
I know what you’re thinking. This is the quintessential existential question no one wants to really answer. Who wants to spend the afternoon pondering about their identity when you could catch the latest shoe sales? Seriously…
Yet, to live your best life, and have the best career you’ve always wanted, isn’t just a matter of degrees, competence or even personality. How many have excelled at the wrong career, only to wake up one day and realize their career needs a 360.
How you define yourself affects how you define your work, and ultimately your success. Knowing who you are is the first step to accept it, and ultimately be happier.
Are you a business person, or more of an artistic one? What are your strengths? What weaknesses do you need to work on? What are your dreams?
Every time you hit a wall, in your career and life, you may be prompted to take a good hard look around and re-evaluate your current situation. Start with you.
As part of answering this question, define and list those characteristics that make you who you are. What makes you unique? How would you describe yourself?
What Makes Me Happy?
Studies have shown that the happier you are, the more productive and fulfilled you are at work. Instead of piling on the caffeine and Twix bars, why not instead ask yourself what makes you happy, truly happy?
Yes, we all need jobs. And sometimes, even most of the times, necessity doesn’t really reconcile with the stuff that makes us vibrate.
Yet knowing what makes you happy will allow you to at least know what to go after. It may not be a part of your career now, but it could be part of a side project or an aspiration you work towards. Many “corporatepreneurs” report getting so much joy and fulfillment out of their side pursuits that it affects their careers positively.
Even if it only means making more time to do do those things you enjoy, whether it’s gardening, golfing or traveling, it can make a world of difference for your career.
On a piece of paper, make a list of the things that make you the happiest. Keep this list, it will be a part of your career recharging process.
What Do I Want?
There is another one of those tough, existential questions that leave most people wanting to drown in a tub of Haagen Dasz ice cream.
We all want fulfilling careers that put enough money in our pockets and leave us enough free time to live life to the fullest. Yet most of us also have bills to pay, kids to raise, student loans to eliminate, and a whole shabang of things we have to do.
Yet everyone we lose sight of what we really want out of life, we get into this passive rut zone where our motivation dwindles, our focus disappears and our productivity sinks.
Do you want to create processes? Or are you more drawn towards a career in the sciences? Do you want to have a career that allows you to have more free time or a shorter commute?
List the things you want in order of priority, both in your career and life. It will be the starting point to re-energizing your career.
What’s the next (small) step?
It may not be easy to answer the first three questions, let alone determine a plan of action. And the good news is, you don’t have to define an entire career plan right off the bat. What you can do, however, is start with the next (small) step.
What’s one thing you can do today to recharge your career, based on your answers to the first three questions. It could be as simple as taking a class in a field you’re interested in, or purchasing a book, or even reaching out to someone in an area you may have questions on or interest in.
Start today with one simple, small step. Write it down and follow it through.
What questions do you ask yourself when you find yourself in a career rut?
PS: Want to know more about recharging your career? Join our “Recharge Your Career” month challenge HERE!
