Career Education

We all have keys to success. These are time tested and reliable when we need to succeed. They also are our biggest blind spot. If they are so reliable, how could they be a problem? Here is a client who relied so heavily on her keys to success, she had to take medical leave.

Are you feeling unhappy and unfulfilled in your job?

Would you like to find ways to increase your job satisfaction and fulfillment? As a client satisfaction coach, I can help you understand your unique situation and goals. We can work together to develop strategies for improving your work experience.

This past winter, I returned from a sailing trip to the Bahamas as a crew member with a desire to do more sailing – and now I have bought a boat to live aboard!

Let me tell you how I got here.

Do you look forward to your summer vacation? It’s time away from “work.” A chance to enjoy yourself. Are you getting most of your joy away from work?

Do you envy your friends who enjoy their work, or even thrive at what they are doing? They don’t need their vacations to recharge. Why isn’t that you?

Are you a card-carrying member of the “Resigned to Work” club? Why do we accept such a low expectation for our jobs? Working 40 hours a week is one-third of our waking hours; one third of our lives we are willing to be content showing up to a job. The nasty truth is if you are accepting this at work – that it’s something you have to do, not something you want to do – the rest of your life will likely have similarly low expectations.

Why in the world does a pessimist buy a lottery ticket? He knows he won’t win because nothing ever works out for him, so why purchase a ticket? Because even though it’s a long shot, he believes it is probably the only way to change his circumstances. That glimmer of hope of maybe 1 chance in 302,575,350, is better than his current perspective of there being no other possible way of succeeding. 

When you hear the question, “What is your job telling you?”, what is your first thought? What are you thinking Monday morning? How would you answer this question at noon on Wednesday or end-of-day Friday? Is the answer different? If it is, do you know why? 

Are you listening? 

Why is the answer to this question useful?

My client, Carrie, a pseudonym, is the type to document her resolutions for the year, and unlike most of us, revisits them annually.

She engaged me as her coach after she realized “change jobs” had been on her list for at least four years. Carrie was disciplined about her work and her life and was perplexed about the lack of progress towards this specific goal.

Another year is ending; a new year is just around the corner. As an employee, you know the drill: managers need to have development plans in place for you for the coming year as measuring sticks for possible bonuses and raises.

Part of the trajectory in life is building our reputation -- through our own eyes and through the eyes of others. Pure experience adds to our wisdom and compiling successes increases expectations of everyone aligned around us: managers, employees, spouses, children, and community. 

There are few things more depressing than feeling you are going nowhere in your job; feeling you have no future, no prospects, no interest, and nothing is enjoyable or redeeming. It’s a spiral many people experience sometime in their career.

Which cycle is present for you right now: the seasonal, business, or school calendar? Or perhaps it’s the daily cycle of the sun and moon? Maybe weather is of greater importance to you, or the chronological or celestial calendars.

You are cracking open the computer after dinner and squeezing work into the weekend after putting in a full week. How did this happen? You were going to enjoy this summer. Is it that you didn’t get your work done during the day because of the church’s bake sale, or the cheer team’s fundraiser? What is certain is you are busy, tired, and irritable. You haven’t had a chance to recharge this summer.

June and July are unique months. School years end, summer arrives, vacations are planned, and there are only two months until fall.

Did you tense or suck in a breath realizing how close fall is? Maybe you felt some tension push aside the joy and relaxing thoughts about vacation and summer.