Feel Good Again: Purposeful Work

 

Need career help? Ready to make a career transformation but unsure of how to get there?

Is life happening to you or is life happening for you?

I've watched so many women,

and men for that matter, spin and spin in place,

complacent, not really going anywhere in their career,

leading a very passive work life existence,

unsure of the next step,

complaining,

complaining about the audacity of the things happening to them,

relegated to their lives, waiting for success meaning contentment and someday to happen for them.

Have you ever considered what drives you to make career decisions in life?

Do you even have a career plan?

Many of us don't stop to think about why we do the work we do and what we could change to feel more successful or to feel more of a sense of purpose.

And not thinking about it leaves us like unmoored ships.

We're out there in the wind.

We shift around, sometimes chaotically with the choppy storms,

frustrated, fearful of change.

And then in calm waters we sit and we burn in the sun.

We are so listless and bored feel that we're going nowhere.

Having intentionality in your career path can change everything.

Those who examine their purpose in life, who really think about what they want to accomplish,

why they're here, and what they hope to get out of life,

can get through those same shifting weather patterns and prosper.

When it gets stormy, they go inward.

They reflect patiently, waiting for the winds to die down while they're planning their next steps.

The storms become temporary obstacles or challenges to overcome. The calm waters, the those are great. They're a chance to experience rest and opportunities that change presents.

When we think intentionally about our purpose in life, we're driven forward by more than just fear,

moods,

outside influences,

expectations and obstacles.

But how do you find your purpose when it comes to your next career move?

Purpose can be found first through self inquiry.

You have to look inside.

Today I'm going to share three ways to figure out your next big career move and make sure it's one that's sending you on the right path to find more purpose in your life and more success.

First,

by examining your passions and natural gifts.

What do you actually care about and what have you maybe cared about for a long time?

Look all the way back to the beginning Since I was a young kid, I always loved reading and writing. It just came natural to me.

I remember these Richard Scarry visual dictionaries.

I've been seeing them posted on Instagram a lot lately and it just brought me back.

But these visual dictionaries just spoke to me deeply. For some reason,

I used to pour over Scholastic book club orders. I loved those. I'd circle all of the books that I wanted.

I spent summers reading lots of library books and played teacher to invisible students in my basement playroom.

Starting at 10, I was babysitting. Then as I got older, I was a camp counselor nanny.

I enjoyed working with kids, so obviously I was drawn to those early jobs and I wasn't thinking about what I should be doing.

So it's no surprise that I actually started my adult career as an English teacher in middle and high school.

I'd followed the flow of that passion for reading and writing and my natural gift of working with kids as a mentor and coach.

This passion gave me purpose for quite some time.

I was able to do something for work that I actually enjoyed doing with people that I liked doing it with.

I naturally excelled at it because I was willing to put in a lot of natural work because of my passion.

So what have you naturally gravitated towards in your life? Have you always enjoyed something, maybe playing music or being outdoors?

Have you always excelled in building things or doing creative projects?

These are the signposts of what is clearly meaningful for you.

And by looking to those,

we can understand what the next step in our career should be for our own personal happiness and meaning.

Next, let's look at the skills and expertise you have.

These could be life skills, work skills. What do you know a lot about already and what do you want to learn more about?

As a teacher, I had so many students and papers to grade that I really didn't get to do enough of what I enjoyed most and that was designing learning courses, curriculum lessons, activities.

I'd base learning units and projects on a required reading that they had to do.

Combined with different activities like critical thinking based writing prompts.

Bring in some pop culture things that interested the kids or that were important in the news at the time.

Topics like social justice and other things.

I love this challenge of creating unique learning experiences.

It was both tied to the standards that they had to learn and content that I needed to teach. But I got to be creative.

I didn't have as much time as I needed though.

So I looked for a way to do more of what I love and less of what I didn't more designing learning experiences, more creativity,

less standing up in a room of 35 kids, five to seven classes per day all year long,

less discipline in paper grading and more teaching.

This took me to the corporate world.

I became an instructional designer.

Essentially, that means I created learning experiences and live teaching experiences, sometimes for adults.

But how does one break into a competitive workforce without direct experience?

It's hard.

It's competitive.

In order to take a new career path, I knew my resume had to demonstrate the capabilities that these companies were looking for in the job postings and I had to be on par with other more traditional applicants.

I did have a great foundation of education and behavioral psychology, but I knew that I would need to develop learning tech and tools to get my foot in the door.

I'm not going to go through my entire resume, but the bottom line is that I spent time getting the education and technical skills tool skills that I needed to be successful in this new field.

I took some short certificate programs, took some college courses,

and self taught myself a few key authoring tools.

I'm great at learning things fast, so I capitalize on that existing background and strength that, combined with new skills, catapulted me into a reality where I could get the job that I wanted.

But it didn't come easy.

I ended up in a different field than I would ever have imagined.

Medical technology.

Now, I've never been super passionate about science or math, like at all.

But through my work in this field I was able to learn a lot about the products and the people we were selling to,

the related anatomy and physiology,

disease states of patients and so forth.

And it was interesting because the more skills I acquired in this area, the more expertise,

the more purposeful it actually felt.

I was becoming an expert in something I'd never dreamed of was possible,

nor did I ever have any inherent interest in. But it felt really good to know a lot and apply my skillset alongside my passion for teaching and learning,

reading and writing, etc.

In order to find purpose, you have to do some work on yourself,

on your skills, because getting a job you want isn't necessarily going to fit in with the skills and expertise you have now.

And you never know what new learnings are going to enable you to find purpose.

You can look in places that you might not think are cut out for you and find meaning there, surprisingly.

Let's do a quick work inventory.

We'll look at what you want more of and what you want less of.

So looking at your current job, your current role, what is it that you enjoy Most about it.

What skills do you apply on the regular that you really enjoy and want to take forward with you in your career journey?

So list them out.

On my list I'd include things like making presentations. I like the creative aspect of that, the organization of ideas and designing learning curriculum. That's a given.

I like solving problems,

big problems that require strategy and so forth.

And coaching, developing and mentoring individuals.

Now maybe you're starting to think of skills and tasks that you wish you did more of or that you wish you had.

Maybe you wish you got to develop strategy, but you're stuck doing development work.

Well, add the items that you wish you got to do, the ones that you want more of, to that same list.

What would it take for you to be in a position where you could do more of the skills and tasks you actually enjoy?

What would you need to develop in terms of skills?

Leadership skills?

Maybe you'd need a master's degree.

By looking at the skills and gaps that you have in relation to the place that you want to get next,

you can understand what you need to do to get there.

Because getting to where you are today takes different skills than getting where you want to go tomorrow.

After you've listed out what you enjoy about work, list out what you do not enjoy about it.

Think specifically of the tasks and skills that you have to do that you cannot stand.

My do not enjoy list would definitely be the financial and budgetary tasks that I have to do, such as, you know, requesting POs to get projects recorded and invoices.

Those databases are Greek to me.

There's no personal meaning for me and very limited skills to do I have in navigating the technical forms and things like that.

Are you naturally charismatic and extroverted? But maybe you're working as an individual contributor during spreadsheets at a quiet desk job.

Well, you should be out there working with people.

Maybe you don't really care about the products you sell, but you really love science and healthcare.

Maybe you just need to transition to a new industry.

By looking at the skills and tasks that you do most, you can identify what about it specifically is or is not a fit and learn more about the direction you should be moving in.

What type of work will allow you to flex more of your skills that you enjoy?

If you don't see any skills that you enjoy doing at this point in your job,

this might require a bigger conversation.

Reach out to a friend who knows you really well,

or spend some time working with a coach.

I'm always available.

Let's review your resume together and figure it out.

Now at this point, hopefully you're seeing symbiosis between the items that you're really passionate about and then the skill set that you get to use on the job.

Because combining your passion and expertise in your career is the best case scenario.

There's one more area to look at though.

How you relate to people.

How do you enjoy relating best to others at work? In life? What type of interactions do you prefer?

There came a time as a teacher when it became clear that I needed a change.

I tend to be more introverted than extroverted. Ambivert I guess, if you will.

I enjoy talking to people, but not all day every day. It was emotionally draining for me.

I wanted less time teaching up in front of a class all day in other roles as a tutor, people manager and coach,

I found I really loved working in smaller groups or with individuals.

When I had the opportunity to coach, teach and give advice in a one on one environment,

I was able to find the same meaning, but in a way that much better suited my preferences for interaction and for energy expenditure.

This makes sense given that in my personal life I'm the same way.

I'm more of a homebody than somebody who's out socializing 24 7.

No wonder I needed to leave the classroom.

I appreciate a smaller group of friends over maintaining a wide social network.

Ultimately,

being aware of my preferences for working with people and how I best maintain energy helped me move forward to find more purpose in a way that was going to be sustained sustainable for me.

It just wasn't sustainable for me to be in front of a classroom all of the time.

All of this inquiry over time brought me to coaching.

I've been able here to combine my passions in teaching, learning and writing with my skills in creating and designing learning experiences and coaching.

And I get to interact with individuals in small groups doing what I love.

So I hope this activity was useful for you. It is available as a free download on my website.

All you have to do is subscribe and you will get access to any future downloads as well as this one that I put up on my members page.

So if you would like free downloads then go to www.theboldlife.coach and complete a subscribe form.

So it took me time, effort and lots of self reflection to make it to a point where I can say I'm really clear on what my purpose is.

When I look back at my career,

I couldn't always say that each job was a perfect fit, but there were enough elements of passion and skill to carry me forward even when I didn't know exactly where I was going.

Until my career path was revealed to me, I started noticing where I had flow in my life.

I followed the flow of opportunities based on passion.

I listened to my inner voice urging me that it was time to put in the work and grow to get to the next level. But I had to identify the skills that I was missing to get there.

I put in the work to build my skills to intentionally move towards the next goal and I listened to myself when I felt a need to move away from something.

I listened to my inner voice telling me when it was time to go,

time to say no.

I didn't always know my purpose,

but looking back I can see that it was there all along.

The expectations and demands of the world make it really easy to get lost at work in drama,

pettiness,

darkness,

lack of clarity, confusion. We all get lost from time to time,

and then our purpose gets lost too.

We're not listening to ourselves. We're not looking inward.

We take the wrong path to get away from painful experiences,

unresolved trauma,

and sometimes we just stay there because we don't think anything else is possible for us.

We have placed ceilings on our own expectations of ourselves.

Yesterday's happiness can become today's discontent as well. That's normal.

Just because you're discontent where you are, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily on the wrong path.

It might mean you're just ready for more,

to make some adjustments to evolve into the next version of you.

Or maybe to pack your bags all together and move on to something else.

Our time on earth is limited.

Listen to your gut. Do what lights you up.

Play off your best skills and get new skills to get you to the next steps.

Because if you're living half awake,

sleeping, or worse, seething through life,

unhappy,

angry,

unfulfilled,

you're not really living at all, are you?