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Every Sunday I bring you an article, an interesting quote that has been on my mind, and a journal prompt, all related to working and living better.
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How Your Success Keeps You Stuck: And How To Break Free
While it is still officially summer, for many people (myself included!) the first week of September marks a moment of transition. The night air is cooler, the angle of the sun is lower, and the kids return to school. We leave behind the slower pace of summer and get back to our “normal” routines.
Like any period of transition, this time presents us with an incredible opportunity. We can choose to hit the “reset” button and change our habits and routines to lead us towards the improved version of ourselves. Of course, we can decide to do this at any point in our life, but there is something about leveraging naturally occurring transitions as a starting point.
Like many other aspects of life, a career also has seasons, and people in mid-life are often facing a critical junction in their careers. If this is you, you’ve probably:
- Achieved some success
- Developed expertise in your domain
- Built a solid reputation as someone that delivers quality work
- Established some financial security
These are all amazing! But the very things that have helped you achieve success thus far in your career might now hold you back.
What happens when the day-to-day grind feels less like a series of triumphs and more like an unending race from one challenge to another? Or maybe you’ve got a gnawing sense that you could do something more, that your biggest contributions are yet to be made – and yet you aren’t making them.
Your success leaves you feeling trapped.
The biggest reason people don’t change up their lives is fear. Fear of:
- The unknown
- Looking like a fool
- Failure
- People judging them
- Losing relationships
- Loss of status
- And even fear of success.
Fear paralyzes, especially regarding making significant life changes.
Most of us over-dramatize the impact of a potential failure. We imagine ourselves living destitute and alone, sleeping under a bridge or something. But the truth – there are few failures that are truly that catastrophic.
But what you need to be truly afraid of is not fully living.
It’d be a genuine tragedy if you were to die, never having made the contributions that only you can make. That is what you need to be afraid of.
The Unlived Life
We’ve all heard stories about people on their deathbeds regretting the things they didn’t do, rather than the risks they took. When you’re caught in a cycle of discontentment, make some time for reflection. Ask yourself, “Am I living the life I want, or am I merely existing?” This moment of introspection can serve as a catalyst for transformation. The discontentment you feel is a clear sign it is time for change.
Realigning Your Path
Reassess your career in terms of passion, contribution, and fulfilment. Are you doing work that you enjoy? Does your work empower you to make meaningful contributions to the world? Can you learn something useful from the work you are currently doing?
Don’t forget the most important question – does my work align with the type of life that I want to live?
If your work no longer aligns with these core elements of what is important to you, it’s time to deviate from the well-trodden path of the status quo.
Fear will attempt to deter you, projecting all kinds of worst-case scenarios. However, it’s crucial to remember that every day spent in a role that no longer serves you is a day not lived to your fullest potential. Don’t rush out and quit your job to follow your passion; that is terrible advice, even if it is common.
Small Steps, Big Impact
You don’t have to quit your job tomorrow to make meaningful changes. Just start, and do it today. Not tomorrow. Not when you have more time. Because taking small action towards big, scary goals is how you accomplish them. Or find out if it is even the right goal for you. There are baby steps you can take, and those are the ones to start with. Even a tiny amount of progress can give you a glimpse of what a different future might look like.
Final Thoughts
Change is scary, especially when you have so much invested in your career. But you absolutely cannot afford to let fear be the guiding principle that drives your career. Rather than fearing the unknown aspects of a career shift, fear a life not fully lived. When you’re older and look back on your life, it won’t be the risks you took you regret; it’ll be the opportunities you didn’t seize because fear held you back.
You are capable of so much more than you think. You owe it yourself – and the world – to fully live out your potential.
Quotation that I have been pondering
Workplace stress is pervasive in our current culture. Our identities are so tied up in our work that if it’s not going well, it means that our lives aren’t going well.
That concept had me thinking about this quote from Simon Sinek;
“Working hard for something we don’t believe in is called stress.
Working hard for something we love is called passion.”
There will be hard work either way, but you can choose to work hard for something you care about, or you can work hard for stress.
Choose wisely.
Journal Prompt
Most people try to advance their careers by adding more; taking on an extra project, developing a new skill, or adding new network connections.
Often the way to higher quality work is by doing less.
Which leads to this week’s journal prompt:
What can I let go of?
Try setting a few things aside and not worrying about them. Then watch what happens to your progress on the things that matter.
Had some career success, but feel that work is devouring your soul? Feeling like your job is keeping you handcuffed and you need to “put in your time”, like it is some sort of prison sentence?
I’ve been there. It sucks.
You need to introduce changes NOW if you feel that way; staying in that space for long has scary outcomes that you would rather avoid.
I won’t tell you to quit job and “follow your passion”. Promise.
I will work with you to help you craft a job that is perfect – for you. You can (and should!) design your work so it perfectly fits with the lifestyle you crave.
