Passion in your work… embracing your future
There is nothing more sexy then getting up
in the morning and feeling joyful at the thought of going to work, meeting
kindred spirits at the morning coffee pot and embracing a day’s challenges
ahead!
I know it!! You know it!!... So why does
nearly every survey done on workplace engagement show a less then 40%
engagement rate for high functioning employees? For example, in the United
States, Employee engagement overall is at 31.5% (*2014 Gallup poll, see credits
section of this article), which represents the best overall rate of employee
engagement since 2000. Why are so many leaders and managers getting so little
engagement from their staff?? Is it money, power, prestige or something a
little closer to home??? As the old saying goes “when you love what you do, you
will never work a day in your life!” So what can be done as employees rather
then as leaders to get into that sweet space where you love what you do?
Firstly and from experience, don’t wait
until you are at a cross roads in your life to evaluate your happiness, do it
now and be honest with yourself based on the following questions and a happy rating scale of 1 (unhappiest) to 10 (happiest):
What do you do in detail for a living? List
them; then rate the following questions from 1 to 10:
- What elements of your work make you happy stirring passion for what you do (1)?
- What elements of your work don’t stir passion or actively make you sad, suppressed, angry and/or disengaged (2)??? [i.e. very unhappy should gain a near 1 score.]
- What role does your working environment (3); company culture (4), team (5) and immediate leader/supervisor (6) play in your happiness level within the workplace???
- Does your current salary make you happy (7)?
- What would be your salary if you stripped away the unhappy elements (below a score of 4)? Would you still be unhappy (8)?
- Would you be happy if you ‘up skilled’ in other areas that made you happy in addition to your existing happy elements (9)?
Add all nine 1 to 10 scores and divide them
by 9 to see what you overall score is as a simple average. If you are above a
score of 7, you are happy but need to work on keeping that happiness indicator
up given that the above variables change with time.
So for the rest of us who are disengaged
and/or just ‘happy’ to draw a paycheque, we can continue like this if we wish
until we retire but what do we miss out on when our passion is not stirred for
what we do in the workplace? It’s an opportunity cost that will lead to regrets
in our old age when we have nothing but the ghosts of our past to keep us
company, which is why the time is now to be brave and move into the happiest
possible job/role for us. We may take a temporary or permanent pay cut, we may
not be a billionaire nor a famed member of society, but isn’t being happy in
what we do the goal in life? I think so, maybe you will do when you think of
that last time when you were passionate about a project, how you engaged with
it, achieved a successful outcome and felt immense pride in the accomplishment.
Steve Jobs once said “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to
bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
It matters to me too! So how do you change even with financial dependencies
on your employer? I would say that if you can get your employer to support you,
you should do so but make sure the mismatch felt in the work place is fixable
by the employer (e.g. Moving from Finance into IT where there is a different
sub culture vibe and a role that excites passion). If after careful
consideration your employer cannot help, then leave them out of it, plan your life
your way!
I would recommend the following as a good general direction to
head in when thinking career change and the goal of becoming happy in your
work:
- a) Self reflect, understand exactly what is not making you happy (see above)
- b) Develop an understanding of what stirs passion in you, write them down, research them, rank them in the happiness scale of 1(unhappy) to 10(happy)
- c) Bring your existing happy elements (see above) into the list with your new happy elements and map them out into a new career description
- d) Rate each happiness ranking and give them a happy impact weighting of 1 (least impacting) to 10 (most impacting)
- e) Rate the new career description in terms of overall impact weighting score. Play with alternatives where each element has one or more alternate choice (e.g. I was caught in my career move between software development and data science)
- f) Review from highest weighting score to highest ranking down seeing what “feels right” for you.
- g) Choose that one and research industry, educational requirements and job opportunities
- h) Research pay averages for junior to senior level, industry culture and company culture in the leading industry companies
- i) Research the ability to transition in a timeframe you can afford based on your financial position, incremental finance available through a transition (staying on at your job, part time job, living of savings, etc) and time to job in experience years where you can sustain yourself without additional financial support. This break even point (V finishing up a college course) is what you should budget for in a transition
- j) Develop a digital brand using social media, get your real self out there and network through your new industry meet ups on meetup.com and other networking tools.
- k) Be prepared for setbacks, difficulties leaving your comfort zone and stay focused on what matters through exercise, meditation, balanced healthy living and regular sleeping patterns
When times get tough, as they sometimes
will, remember the old saying “all good things comes to those who never give
up!” I have also come to appreciate another old saying, “what doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger”; so if a new dawn in my third career can take place for me this
very year, it can also happen for you. If you never stop searching for that
place where you belong and never give up, you will never stop being happy if only
on the updraft of hope for a better day to come!
Sources/Credits:
Pics;
Credits;
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