Thriving in Your Career
By Tom Lane
A friend of mine recently told me about his “3 out of 5 rule” regarding his career. If he doesn’t get out of bed excited about going to work three days a week then he knows it’s time to do something else. When I asked him why he didn’t shoot for five days a week he paused and asked, “Is that possible?”
The answer depends on what expectations you have for your career. Most people’s expectations are significantly lower than being excited to go to work every day of the week. But there are also many people living their dream and doing what they love.
Unfortunately, the current economic climate doesn’t invite people to think of what they want to do with their career. Instead we are more prone to think, “What happens if I lose my job?” and then do what we think we have to do to pay the bills. But even the prospect of job loss can invite another possibility. We can instead ask, “What would I like to do with my career if I had the opportunity to do so?” Many people are answering this question and are making big changes in their careers. Some are switching companies and industries and others are making even more radical changes like starting their own businesses. One participant in our most recent Career Reinvention Course committed to starting a company that he had been dreaming about since he was a young man. Another is actively exploring going back to medical school.
We have found that one reason more people don’t have careers they love is because they haven’t been intentional about their career choices - starting as far back as high school. Here is a common example: many of us find we are “good at math” so we study accounting in college. Then we do what all the accounting majors do and we take the CPA exam and go work for an accounting firm. We pursue partnership, work really hard and along the way we life happens – marriage, family, house, cars, vacations, savings for the future, etc. Then we wake up, usually in our late 30’s or early 40’s and ask “What happened?” We come to realize that not only do we not like accounting …but we don’t like accountants!
By concentrating our focus on what we are good at, we can succeed. But we can also burn out and have an unsatisfying career and therefore a diminished experience of our lives. We recommend to clients that they find the winning combination of what they are naturally good at, what they love doing and what they are care about deeply. When clients identify these areas, some amazing things happen. First, new possibilities, ideas and opportunities appear that were not visible before. Second, the actions that need to take place to make these possibilities into reality become clear. Finally, a contagious sense of excitement, energy and enthusiasm becomes present. And in case you have not noticed it, very few people these days have a contagious sense of excitement about them. This alone can help you stand out in a crowded field.
Unfortunately, most people skip this step when it is most critical – when they are coming out of college, when they are fully-engaged in their career, or during a career transition. The reason they skip it is that it is difficult to slow down and create the space in which to do this work. Most clients tell us that when they are faced with doing the exercises we provide they find it a daunting experience. However, once they get going and they start to make progress they get very excited and energized. A few have said, “I should have done this years ago.”
If you would like to learn more about this topic you can go to our website. There you will find links to interviews I did with Mike Collins on his TV and radio shows. You can also read about our Career Reinvention Course. Of course, you may also call to talk on the phone or in person.
I hope 2009 is a great year for you and your family!
Tom