How To Make Good Use Of A Bad Circumstance

This may or may not come as a surprise to you, but you are going to change employers more than once over your career; this is the reality we live in today.  Sometimes that change will be by choice and sometimes that change may be unexpected or out of your control (i.e. your job is made redundant or the organization you work for closes it’s doors, etc.).  Unexpectedly feeling like you have to look for a new job (or suddenly having to) is a difficult circumstance, one that is both stressful and demanding.  For some it is indeed a crisis. Yet, there are opportunities hidden in this circumstance that allow you to take stock of all that you have and all that you are, giving you rich context to inform what to pursue next in your career.  Take heart, doing this requires courage.
 
Often when we are looking for a new place to invest our skills it is from a place of discomfort; there is a need to find the next role quickly and return to an acceptable balance the levels of comfort and control you want in your working life.  But what if instead of putting your career eggs in the basket of “doing something” by immediately shopping for that next job, you stayed here for a moment and sat with your discomfort, easing into a period of contemplation to inform your next career step?  As Zen Teacher John Tarrant said in his article It Would Be a Pity To Waste A Good Crisis “The beauty and nobility of your life may be more visible to you if a dark contrast is available”.  What does thinking about what is uncomfortable have to tell you about what you need?  How can it allow you to make much stronger choices in where you go next?  Here are some examples:

• Fear that you may not find a job like the one you have (or had) can hold you back from being objective about your job search. When you are open and curious about what type of work is available you will be more able to see opportunity and make an informed decision about where you invest your skills.
• Rationalizing what is happening in your working life right now means you may be making an unhealthy compromise (staying at an employer who may not meet your needs) or you may be holding on to the past and unable to step into your future through your job search.  Its human to want to re-frame the past in an effort to cut off emotions you’d rather not feel (vulnerability, anger, disappointment, etc.), but that doesn’t mean those emotions go away or that you are then able to be clear headed about what to do next.  Face the reality of what is with awareness (rather than resignation) so you are able to step into the unfamiliar in support of securing work that allows you to be your best self.
• Being a martyr for your career (or employer), working long hours and always making yourself available for work can also cause great discomfort: you lose yourself as an individual. Balancing your sense of security in being able to devote yourself to your work while also cultivating a rich personal life is important because when these things are out of balance neither work nor home are happy places to be.  What would you need in your next career move to have more balance?
• Are you able to use all your gifts, talents and abilities in your work today?  What would it look like if you did?  It is hard to feel like this is an opportunity if you are looking for your next opportunity, but the time between jobs can be used to reflect on what you may have outgrown in your working life.  Often we mature past things without life explicitly providing a view of what is calling to you or what you should look for in your next role, so take this time to think on what you’d like to do next to ensure you know what to look for.

 
There are many other examples of ways that discomfort comes to visit us in our working lives, you probably have a few that came to mind for you as you read that list.  Objectivity plays a keen part in figuring out what your next step should be…listen to yourself, what do you have a yearning to do that you aren’t able to do at work today?  Or maybe it has more to do with the communication or leadership style you prefer… either way, you can’t do a thing about it until you sit and identify what you need moving forward.
 
Without knowing what you need in your next career move (or place of work) your ability to engage with (and be motivated by) your work is diminished.  However, giving yourself the time to digest what you have experienced in your career so far, and listen to see where you would really like to go next allows you to be intentional in both what you look for and how you approach finding your next career opportunity.  Give yourself the gift of time when looking for your next career move; it may feel counter intuitive, but it is time well invested (and the only way to make good use of a bad circumstance).