You are in one of the worst possible spots in your career. You have not been fired. Nor have you lost your job due to a mass layoff. No, you still have your job. But you have become discouraged. Your work is in front of you, but you can’t find the energy. Worse yet, you can’t find the meaning in the work that you do. You don’t see the point of your job, because you feel you are getting nowhere. In short, you have lost dedication to your job. You are stuck, and you can’t muster the energy to reconnect in a meaningful way with your work. How can you find a way to rededicate yourself to your work, and your job?
As a starting point, realize are not alone. Most professionals who have been working the same job for some extended length of time may lose some energy, and some sense of purpose if their work. If you have ever felt “I have a thankless job” – you have experienced some loss in dedication and energy. You probably continue to do the work, but you feel you are just “going through the motions” of the job. In the back of your mind you are probably experiencing doubts about your abilities for the job, or worse, wondering if the work has any value. At a high level, if you feel disconnected from your job. According to a new survey of more than 1,000 American workers with smartphones, commissioned by enterprise mobile messaging company Cotap and conducted by Kelton Global, 78% of the survey population feel disconnected from their jobs. This survey underscores that if you feel disconnected from your job, you are part of the majority, no a minority.
Still the question remains, if we are disconnected from our job, how can we rededicate ourselves? Below are some suggestions that you mind find helpful to reconnect with your work.
MEASURE YOUR HELPFULNESS: My first suggestion is to take block off some time to do some reflecting. Block off time, and have a pen and paper, or some other way to create a list. Start by considering who you honestly felt you helped in the last week – right down the name(s). Then expand that out and write down who you helped in the last week, and the last month, and write down those names. Now consider who you helped in the last year. Again, write down the names. You can go back even further in time if you like. Now go back to your list, and write down the action you took to help the person, the next step is to write down the outcome of the action you took. For the final step, look over all the names, and all the actions, and the outcomes you have recorded, and circle those that you feel good about. My guess is that you will feel really good about over 50% of the items, and probably closer to 80% of the items. The purpose if this list is to document in a concrete way that your effort has truly helped people. In a black and white way, you can see your work has meaning, and many people have benefited from your effort. If you go through this exercise, I expect you will see that indeed you have had a positive impact on others, and your help is meaningful.
CONSIDER OTHER OPTIONS: If you are feeling that your job, and your work has little meaning – consider your other options. At this point I need to call out that a career professional such as a career consultant, or career coach can add great value. A good coach will ask open ended questions and help you really flesh out what other options are good ones for you. But let’s assume that right now you don’t have the time, or funds to work with a professional. You can still go through the exercise. Make a list of other jobs, and careers that you feel might have interest for you – that might be more meaningful. Write these options down, and state why they would be more meaningful for you. Having finished the exercise, you actually may consider a change in career, or change in jobs. But the key point here is that this transition will take some time, and some effort over the coming months. But in the short term, you will probably come to see that it is in your benefit, as well as others, to keep doing the work that you are doing, and doing a great job of it. In a practical perspective, it helps to have good job references, and it helps to not burn bridges when looking to make a change. So, in a practical way, it will help you in the long run to do the best you can with your present job. The other possible outcome is that by doing this exercise you come to see that you are actually working the best option right now. By process of elimination you have come to see that the work you are doing IS the most meaningful you can do – maybe not in an idealistic perspective, but in a practical real-world perspective. And in the process, you may find you have refocused on your job, and rediscovered your dedication to your job.
SUCCESS CARDS: In this third exercise you will need some index cards, and a pen or pencil. Consider successes you have had over the last week. Then write down on success on one index card. Now go back and think of successes you have had over the last week, and the last month – as above, write down one success per card. Now consider successes you have had over the last year, and the last two years. Again, write down one success per index card. You can go back even further if you want to. Consider successes that positively impacted your team, your department, and your organization. Think of successes that demonstrated your competency, and good judgement, and dedication. When you feel, you have captured all the important successes you can remember, put the care away in a safe place. The next day take out your index cards, shuffle them, then start reading them. Try to read them all. When you have finished, some successes might seem small, not that consequential, but I expect that many of them, probably most of them will feel like significant wins to you. After reading through your success cards, you will most likely feel more positive about yourself, and about your work. Keep these cards in a safe place, but realize they are there as a tool to help re-energize yourself. We all have had some successes – we just need to remind ourselves from time to time that we did, and that many of our successes were significant.
Most of us at one time or another get discouraged in our jobs. We feel disconnected from the work we are doing, and we seem to lose our sense of purpose in our job. By reviewing how we have helped others in our job, and recognizing our successes, we can reconnect with the sense of purpose we once had in our job, and re-energize ourselves. If we go through an exercise to weigh out other options, we may come to see that we are doing work now that is meaningful, not in a theoretical perspective, but in a very real-world perspective. Recognize that in evaluating options a career professional, such as a career consultant, or career coach can provide great value by doing deep dives into your options, and coming up with creative new options to improve your sense of value, and confidence. A professional can help you assess whether your slump is a temporary one, or if you are truly better off making a change, and mapping out how best to make the career change.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional career coach, and business mentor. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
As a starting point, realize are not alone. Most professionals who have been working the same job for some extended length of time may lose some energy, and some sense of purpose if their work. If you have ever felt “I have a thankless job” – you have experienced some loss in dedication and energy. You probably continue to do the work, but you feel you are just “going through the motions” of the job. In the back of your mind you are probably experiencing doubts about your abilities for the job, or worse, wondering if the work has any value. At a high level, if you feel disconnected from your job. According to a new survey of more than 1,000 American workers with smartphones, commissioned by enterprise mobile messaging company Cotap and conducted by Kelton Global, 78% of the survey population feel disconnected from their jobs. This survey underscores that if you feel disconnected from your job, you are part of the majority, no a minority.
Still the question remains, if we are disconnected from our job, how can we rededicate ourselves? Below are some suggestions that you mind find helpful to reconnect with your work.
MEASURE YOUR HELPFULNESS: My first suggestion is to take block off some time to do some reflecting. Block off time, and have a pen and paper, or some other way to create a list. Start by considering who you honestly felt you helped in the last week – right down the name(s). Then expand that out and write down who you helped in the last week, and the last month, and write down those names. Now consider who you helped in the last year. Again, write down the names. You can go back even further in time if you like. Now go back to your list, and write down the action you took to help the person, the next step is to write down the outcome of the action you took. For the final step, look over all the names, and all the actions, and the outcomes you have recorded, and circle those that you feel good about. My guess is that you will feel really good about over 50% of the items, and probably closer to 80% of the items. The purpose if this list is to document in a concrete way that your effort has truly helped people. In a black and white way, you can see your work has meaning, and many people have benefited from your effort. If you go through this exercise, I expect you will see that indeed you have had a positive impact on others, and your help is meaningful.
CONSIDER OTHER OPTIONS: If you are feeling that your job, and your work has little meaning – consider your other options. At this point I need to call out that a career professional such as a career consultant, or career coach can add great value. A good coach will ask open ended questions and help you really flesh out what other options are good ones for you. But let’s assume that right now you don’t have the time, or funds to work with a professional. You can still go through the exercise. Make a list of other jobs, and careers that you feel might have interest for you – that might be more meaningful. Write these options down, and state why they would be more meaningful for you. Having finished the exercise, you actually may consider a change in career, or change in jobs. But the key point here is that this transition will take some time, and some effort over the coming months. But in the short term, you will probably come to see that it is in your benefit, as well as others, to keep doing the work that you are doing, and doing a great job of it. In a practical perspective, it helps to have good job references, and it helps to not burn bridges when looking to make a change. So, in a practical way, it will help you in the long run to do the best you can with your present job. The other possible outcome is that by doing this exercise you come to see that you are actually working the best option right now. By process of elimination you have come to see that the work you are doing IS the most meaningful you can do – maybe not in an idealistic perspective, but in a practical real-world perspective. And in the process, you may find you have refocused on your job, and rediscovered your dedication to your job.
SUCCESS CARDS: In this third exercise you will need some index cards, and a pen or pencil. Consider successes you have had over the last week. Then write down on success on one index card. Now go back and think of successes you have had over the last week, and the last month – as above, write down one success per card. Now consider successes you have had over the last year, and the last two years. Again, write down one success per index card. You can go back even further if you want to. Consider successes that positively impacted your team, your department, and your organization. Think of successes that demonstrated your competency, and good judgement, and dedication. When you feel, you have captured all the important successes you can remember, put the care away in a safe place. The next day take out your index cards, shuffle them, then start reading them. Try to read them all. When you have finished, some successes might seem small, not that consequential, but I expect that many of them, probably most of them will feel like significant wins to you. After reading through your success cards, you will most likely feel more positive about yourself, and about your work. Keep these cards in a safe place, but realize they are there as a tool to help re-energize yourself. We all have had some successes – we just need to remind ourselves from time to time that we did, and that many of our successes were significant.
Most of us at one time or another get discouraged in our jobs. We feel disconnected from the work we are doing, and we seem to lose our sense of purpose in our job. By reviewing how we have helped others in our job, and recognizing our successes, we can reconnect with the sense of purpose we once had in our job, and re-energize ourselves. If we go through an exercise to weigh out other options, we may come to see that we are doing work now that is meaningful, not in a theoretical perspective, but in a very real-world perspective. Recognize that in evaluating options a career professional, such as a career consultant, or career coach can provide great value by doing deep dives into your options, and coming up with creative new options to improve your sense of value, and confidence. A professional can help you assess whether your slump is a temporary one, or if you are truly better off making a change, and mapping out how best to make the career change.
Author: Brian Kail, MBA, CPC is a professional career coach, and business mentor. For more information see AscendProCoach.com
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