It all started great. Perfect job. Great boss. Fab colleagues. Interesting work. Then, things changed. Your organization was bought out, or evolved. Your boss moved up or on. Valued colleagues drifted off the team. The only constant is change; here are three strategies to consider when you think it may be time for a change in your career.
Sometimes, when you talk to others (network contacts, mentors, etc.) about what may seem like better opportunities, you come to the realization you're actually in the best place for you right now. Or, you learn about fantastic career options in your area of expertise. Whatever possibilities await you, go into this with curiosity and discernment. It’s not healthy working for an organization you don’t believe in, but take the time you need to get professional advice, and make a strong career decision, or you risk ending up some place even less desirable.
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There is a very fine line between being comfortable at work (secure in your expertise, wielding it with precision) and being uninspired by the sameness of it all. Boredom happens in every job, it’s a product of predictability and repetitiveness, which also happen to be two key things that can make work less stressful – it’s a balancing act. So, while you are waiting for that next challenging assignment to come through, or to help you through a slog of mundane work (we’re talking to you, COVID back-log) here are three ways to beat the boredom blues, making your work stand out in all the right ways:
While there will always be an aspect of every role that is boring, make sure to keep an open mind and open dialog with your manger so they know what types of work interest and challenge you. When your boss knows what types of problems you like to solve, you’ll find more of that work gets on your desk, making you relevant and enriching your career. When you keep yourself engaged, you show-up at work in positive and noticeable ways, empowering others to trust your work. If you've read my story, you'll know early in my career I was a huge fan of hard work. It got me to a lot of places in my career. That said, it wasn't great for my well-being (as a guiding principle it's not good for anyone's well-being). Hard work has an up-side, you get many things done with a "rush" from accomplishment (whether it is clearing off your "to do" list, or completing a project), but interestingly it is not something that proportionately contributes to being successful. What I mean by that is, hard work alone will not get you to all the amazing and fulfilling places you could go in your career and life.
It's not difficult to see how working so hard you cannot enjoy yourself puts you further away from success (however you define it). Yet, it’s easy to get caught-up in the relentless pursuit of “getting things done” (or maintaining the status-quo), without consideration to what are you trading away in life so you can feel “complete” at work. Put a different way, music is enjoyable to hear not just because of the notes, but because of the rests in between. When you cram all your waking hours with work it’s like a toddler incessantly banging piano keys; that is not music. It is an assault on the senses. How badly do you want to make it stop? Perseverance (AKA hard work) is not the same as resilience. Maya Angelou said “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it”. My wake-up call came when I realized the cost of hard work to my health, well-being, and the many ways un-checked effort reduced me. I wasn’t living, I was working, and truthfully it was easier to bury myself in work then to become accountable for living to my life’s true potential. Success is measured not by hard work, but the impact and outcomes of your efforts. Meaningful contributions. Restorative time for yourself. Connection to family and friends. What “music” are you making in your life? |
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