Do you know what it is that you actually want? Are you on your way to getting there? One of the biggest challenges that many people face is actually figuring out what it is that they actually want. This is even more true of parents who place the needs of the child ahead of themselves and can lose sight of their own goals and aspirations. As work forms such a big part of how we spend our time, doing the work that you want to do has a huge impact on our happiness, our sense of ourselves and our self-worth. However in challenging economic times it is not unusual to hear people being advised to “take anything” “get in somewhere” and the rationale behind that advice is easy to understand.
However it is really interesting to look at the various things that can happen when an individual takes on a role that does not match what it is that they think they want. It is equally good to look at the various elements of our work and know what is working well for us and what could be improved. Here are some possibilities that you may have experienced yourself or that those close to you may have experienced:
- love the new role and change what it is that you want
- love the people that you work with which keeps the work tolerable
- find the work OK but work hard at it and keep busy in the hope that you will find a way out
- like the money and focus on how to spend it
- avoid thinking about the job but just keep busy doing it and get on with things
- tolerate the job but stay focused on what you really want and keep working towards that goal
Whether or not you drift along for years in a role that you may not particularly like is hugely influenced by how you process the situation in your head. If your brain is focused on the social elements of work, or keeping so busy that you do not have time to think, then it is more likely that you will stay in the same role. If you wait for the opportunities to come to you then you may miss other opportunities that are out there. If on the other hand you have a clear goal and a plan for how to get there then you will increase your opportunities to achieve success.
One way of looking at what elements of work, are working well for you is to use a variation of a life balance wheel. The idea as you will see from the wheel is to take time to assess how happy/satisfied you are with the different elements on a scale of 1-10. For the parts that you are unhappy with then you can start looking at what you would need to change in order to make a change. The concepts at the end of the spokes of the wheel are examples only. They can be changed to reflect the elements that are important to you. For example if your work involves night work, or split shifts then sleep disruption may feature, if you are on the road a lot then levels of driving may be part of your wheel.
When you are clear about what makes you happy or unhappy you can then use that knowledge to change your situation. When you are aware of the elements that are important to you, then you can direct where you look for new opportunities. Equally if you decide that you are going to stay in a role that you do not love you can still take some of the elements and change how you deal with them to make your situation better.
Like us on Facebook and Twitter.
Mary Corbett is a founder member of Parenting Club, author, life and business coach and mother of 2 busy children aged 12 and 17.
Parenting Club 