Finding Your Career Fit

Have you ever had a job that just wasn’t a fit? I certain have, and I was miserable.  Even when I truly liked the work, there were some days I barely had the energy to get up and go to the office. I wasn’t happy to be there. I didn’t feel like my work was creating a massive impact. I lost my enthusiasm and creativity. At the end of the day, I was so drained. Then, I’d go to bed and get up to do it all over once more. I felt like a hamster on a wheel and dreamed of escaping, but I felt stuck. Maybe you’re in that job now and you are miserable.

So, what do you do when you feel stuck and miserable in your career?

Figure out what isn’t working. Typically, there is one aspect of the job that isn’t working for you. It could be that the work you’re doing isn’t intriguing, you’re in the wrong role, or you’re in the wrong environment.

When the work isn’t intriguing, and you’re struggling to maintain up
Sometimes, the work you’re doing just isn’t interesting anymore. I see this a lot when men and women get stuck using abilities they’re very good at but do not appreciate using. For example, I’ve had highly creative clients, who are also organized, get stuck in project management roles. In those roles, they have to focus on details and data. But, what excites them is coming up with new ideas for products or programs and handing the details over to someone else. Working against your interests is a stressful location to be, often leading to burnout. Prior to lengthy, your enthusiasm and engagement in the job will go away. That will lead to poor performance and ultimately, you could get fired.

When you are in the wrong role, and you’re heading in the wrong direction
Your career could also be heading in the wrong direction. When someone performs well, there is constantly the pressure of looking for out advancement. But, not everybody wants that level of responsibility. When you advance up the management ranks you become removed from the work you enjoyed to managing men and women performing the work you enjoyed. It’s a quite diverse skill set that doesn’t come naturally to most folks. At some point, you have to determine if you want to advance or not, or even if you want a conventional career path. For example, a lot of men and women opt out of the conventional job progression in favor of portfolio careers or organization ownership.

When you’re in the wrong environment, and you are feeling out of place
This is a small harder to pinpoint, but it’s the trigger for a lot of frustration at work. It has to do with a mismatch of values and personality. You may possibly be an introvert who likes to get work carried out alone and in silence but are working in an environment where you’re expected to work on groups projects to get work done. Or, possibly you like to have a fun, open environment yet people are frequently working behind closed doors. Even harder is when you work in an environment where your cultural, religious or personal values are not valued and respected by your co-workers. All of those scenarios and a lot of a lot more frequently lead to misunderstandings.

If any of this describes your situation, it’s time to do something about it. Personally, after a series of bad jobs, I had the opportunity to go through a career assessment method. It was the finest thing I could have accomplished for me and my career. I already knew that I was a helper, and that was confirmed. I discovered that I need a lot of autonomy, independence, and challenge in my career. I wasn’t obtaining that in my prior jobs. I tuned in to my skills and discovered that several of them were not becoming utilized in meaningful ways. Significantly to my surprise, I also realized the profound importance of being in the proper work environment. I constantly thought that I could do work I loved anywhere. I was wrong!

If you’re struggling now and want to know how to alter your career scenario, I suggest you also take some time to reflect on your present situation to figure out what’s out of sync. Go by means of a career assessment procedure so you can have a much better understanding about how you want to use your abilities, what role you want to have and the greatest environment for your personality. Career tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Skillscan, and StrengthsQuest offer good insight. Of course, there are tons of books out there, too. You can work by way of the process on your own, but I feel it’s useful to get guidance and support from a career counselor or coach. When I went by means of my career assessment process, I had a career counselor and mentor who helped me sort by means of the reports and come up with an action plan.

What I’ve come to find out through my bad job experiences is the importance of doing work that is fulfilling, in the proper place in alignment with my career vision. Although it’s not often easy, you have to stay accurate to your objectives and dreams. For me, when I’m working inside the proper circumstances, I can make the greatest impact, and I’m happier, overall. That realization inspired me to write my career guide, Quick Track Your Career: 3 Actions for Discovering Work You Love and create my career transition programs. By sharing my experiences and the actions I’ve taken to stay on the proper career track, I’ve been able to live my career vision.


Other articles by Markell on this subject:
4 Methods to Pursue Your Passion
http://futures-in-motion.com/articles/post_archive_four_methods_pursue_passion.php

Acquiring Unstuck: 1 Action that Can Change Your Career
http://www.futures-in-motion.com/article-detail.php?DocumentId=83

The Job Seeker’s Dilemma: Is it Time to Change Career Direction
http://www.futures-in-motion.com/article-detail.php?DocumentId=77


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