The industrial age was one of external direction. Individuals were directed away from a life of entrepreneurial existence, a barter system that exchanged goods for services and vice versa. The introduction of the industrial age witnessed individuals working the same hours, for the same pay, at the same location, performing the same tasks. While there was a perception of security today we realize this did not exist. Weekly we hear of companies closing and pension plans disintegrating without any warning to those who had given years of service.
Today’s workplace allows us the freedom to replace work with meaning and satisfaction. It allows us to move beyond the necessity of the task and provides us an opportunity to be of service to those around us.
Noticing the relief you feel on Friday contrasted by the anxiety you feel on Sunday evening is a sure sign it is time for a change. But where to go from where you are, can not only be confusing it can be fearful as well. There are so many careers to choose from today and there remain so many more that have not even been identified that career changers can be paralysed by too many choices.
8 Suggestions On How to Move Forward
- Know Thyself. This wisdom from the ages and has never been more relevant than it is today. Being able to identify your values, strengths, areas for improvement, temperament, preferences, and innate skills provide a beginning point. The secret to living a life of fulfillment is in understanding your why. What is your core motivation behind a life of purposeful intent?
- Feeling Scared. Understand that fear and confusion are normal feelings. Recognize that it will take courage to move in a new direction. I say courage because this emotion, fear, is what most likely will stop you from finding work that you really enjoy. Financial worry and limiting beliefs need to be identified and cleared in order to find the confidence needed to move forward.
- Meditation. You could miss the road signs along the way because your mind is too busy. Your internal voice is desperately trying to reach you, using a variety of creative mediums. A line or word in a song, the caption on a billboard, a scene in a movie, the plot of a book. The list is endless, but if you are too distracted to hear, the message is wasted. Meditation is an ancient tool for connecting with your inner voice. A quieted mind can detect the softest of whispers in the silence.
- Time. You must be willing to give yourself enough time to sort through the information. Society can make you feel guilty for focusing on yourself and therefore you tend to rush what you consider self-indulgence, however as you are receiving the flight safety instructions who does the flight attendant instruct you to put the air mask on first. The answer is you because you are unable to assist others if you have not taken care of your own needs first.
- A List. Begin by creating lists. Lists of what you like to do. Lists of what you prefer not to do. When does time fly? When does time drag? While this starts with a brainstorming session, void of editing, be sure to put a star beside your initial thoughts. The first thoughts that come to mind are usually the truest, before our logical brain has time to convince you otherwise. Once your list has been compiled you will need time to sort through the data and sit with the ideas, realistic or not, and let your emotions surface. How do you feel…really feel about the items on your list and then return to your meditative state and listen.
- Action. Reading, workshops, speakers, etc. are all solid initial steps but knowledge does not apply itself. If you can drive a standard car, you will remember how you struggled to find the balance between the clutch and the gas. The only way you could learn this skill was to apply the knowledge others had given you. Bunny hopping and stalls were all part of the learning curve. Just like riding a bike. I’ll bet now you can’t understand why this skills was so difficult to learn, but listening to others talk about how to balance is no substitute for falling down a few times. It is the courage to get up and try again that separates those who succeed and those who do not. Consistent, persistent, focused attention and action produces results.
- Dreams Materialize. This is the time of the dreamer. Imagination is the key to identifying and manifesting the life you want. But you must be confident, you must clear worry, lack, doubt, and fear. Finding work that is fulfilling is dependent upon your thoughts, for the world within creates the world without. Your thoughts create your reality and so you must release the idea that success is only for a chosen few. That you don’t deserve happiness. That you won’t be successful.
- Service to Others. Human nature encourages you to seek meaning and significance in your life. Wanting to know that you have made a difference and that your life mattered. You not only want to grow and improve your life but you want to help others, make the world a better place. Contribute something of value. Look around you. What is making those around you unhappy? Is there a service, a product, technology that could help someone turn their life experience around? Be creative. Don’t limit yourself to what has already been done. There is abundance for all. Your new workplace is full of opportunities if you will just open your minds to the possibilities that exist. While you are helping yourself onto the path of growth and satisfaction, your new career could be doing the same for someone you haven’t even met
Please visit my website https://intuitiveunderstanding.com/ for more information on personality assessment, coaching services, a step by step career EBook: Bring Yourself to Work and Enjoy the Work You Choose, and so much more.