Here at Now What?® we’ve seen that immersing yourself in a hobby is a great thing to do when feeling stumped about your next move. It can help get the creativity flowing again. The author of today’s post has some additional observations about hobbies and careers.
Blog
-
Today’s Quote: Playing it Safe
“To play it safe is not to play.” Robert Altman
-
Online Career Research
Check out this list compiled by Forbes of the 100 best websites for your career. While we agree with the author’s caveat that the most important part of your job search is meeting people face to face, these online resources can certainly be helpful and may serve to spark an idea or two.
-
Today’s Quote: Let Your Heart Sing
“What you’re really supposed to be doing is whatever makes your heart sing.” Barbara Sher
-
Lost In Reality
by Now What?® Coaching Founder, Laura Berman Fortgang
Once upon a time, we had an idealistic notion that led us to a certain career path. It made so much sense and it made us feel good.
Fast forward five, ten or twenty years and we are not happy doing what we do. What happened?
It became work.
It’s likely that you lost of sight of WHY you were doing it, got so far away from what you thought it would be about or you just outgrew the whole thing and stayed too long at the fair. Now What?
There are FOUR courses of action to consider.
1) Cut your losses and run
I know it sounds very tempting to just quit and find yourself but unless there is some serious money in the bank, read on.
2) Keep the why, change the details
Let’s say you were attracted to a law career by the notion of fighting for justice and now all you do is shuffle paper and work with uninspiring cases. You need to revisit the WHY. If you still love your original WHY, keep it but get into a new area or firm or organization where you can do what matters to you.
3) RE-engage
Sometimes we just forget the WHY because the daily grind wears us down. Sometimes it’s enough to wake up everyday and remind yourself that you are in it for more than a paycheck. Spend two weeks making your WHY the first thing you think about as you start your day. One of two things will happen:
You’ll get your mojo back and keep going
OR
You’ll realize that it was a ‘that was then, this is now’
situation and start working on a transition
4) Redefine work
Finally, not everyone wants their work to be an all-consuming mission, their purpose or that meaningful for that matter. Many people redefine work to be the bill-payer around which they build an extraordinary life.
I am currently working with a client who decided to stay with her job to allow it to pay for the things that matter to her more: charity work, world-travel, an active social life and time with her kids. It was no longer torture once she reconciled that the WHY was everything else in her life.
How will you keep your mornings dread-free and full of ‘get up and go’?
If you can guess which course of action I’d go for, you may win a FREE session with me. Respond in our comments section. The first three people to guess correctly win. You’ll receive a private email.
And if you need any guidance on this topic, let us know.
-
Today’s Quote: Forget the BUTS
“For growth to happen it is necessary to get your BUT out of the way.” Jay Perry
