Our work doesn’t only pay the bills, it also gives our lives purpose. So it can be very unsettling if you realise that you’re becoming unhappy about your career.
Maybe you’re already just living on autopilot, always longing for the weekend? Instead of approaching every day with energy and pleasure, confident that what you’re doing is important and something you truly care about.
It’s not enough just to find a new job. Go that way and sooner or later you’ll just end up back where you are now. Rediscovering your vision and direction will inspire and energise you, and point you towards work you’ll love. And when you love doing something so much that you become the best at it, you’ll always have a good income, believe me.
Start by setting aside a little time to think. Rejig your finances to minimise your outgoings, and start saving some cash, because that will make a whole lot more things possible.
Focus your thoughts on your long term future. Visualise the whole of your life, and how you’d like to be remembered. Imagine creating something that people really need, and that they’ll tell their friends about.
Think about your values, experience and personality. Identify your core skills, like your ability to communicate, organise or solve problems. What you love doing, and would do every day, if money weren’t an issue.
Think about your strengths. Like writing brilliant reports, or building great spreadsheets. What makes you different? What do you do that’s so absorbing it seems effortless? What do you really care about? What have you achieved that you’re most proud of?
Create a spare time project where you can start practising your strengths. If possible, find one that fits into today’s most promising trends, such as working globally online. Examples include coding, contracting, even international retailing via Amazon or eBay! Make sure you’re offering a saleable product from the word go, and become skilled and enthusiastic about it.
Focus on direction rather than a particular goal, and let that direction guide your decisions, and where you invest your time.
You might need to go back to school, but more likely you already know more than you think, and could move into a new area just by marketing yourself differently. Think in terms of skills and achievements rather than certificates.
Live a little of your new life every day, so that people start associating you with your new direction. And commit to your vision, because there’s far more to lose by staying put. And for sure, once you’re deeply enjoying what you do, you’ll soon find that your whole mood has changed.
Driven by your work, approaching every day as if it was the most important one in your life, and working to the best of your abilities. Until gradually you realise that your life has become deeply fulfilling.
