Itching to Make a Change Professionally?

Are you feeling the itch?  You know that deep nagging unsettled feelings about your current professional station.  Maybe you have been doing something that has paid the bills for a long time but it just doesn’t excite you the way it did.

Well, too often we ignore that voice of discontent until it becomes so loud it’s like a 4 alarm fire.  We try to assuage it with justifications like…

• At least I have a job
• It’s better than most
• The commute is not THAT bad
• We really need the benefits for my family
• What could I do anyway after all this time? 
• I don’t even know what I would want to do next.

Then it gets louder and you hear yourself thinking thoughts like…

• Thank God, it’s only a 4 day work week this week
• How many more PTO days do I have?
• I can’t wait for vacation
• Oh bummer it’s Sunday already

Til finally you find yourself using company time to look for another job or surf the internet at social media and doing as little as absolutely necessary to just make sure you get a paycheck and fly under the radar.

Now you really don’t feel good about yourself or your job when you get to this point.

And as much as we all dream of retiring early and being independently wealthy, work is part of God’s perfect plan. He even worked.

Work is a basic human need just like food, water, rest, relationships etc. But we need meaningful work to thrive emotionally, physically and even spiritually.  So whether you get paid a lot or a little or not at all, it needs to be work you feel is significant to be doing well.

According to the Gallup poll, 85% of people hate their jobs.  That is a startling number and it breaks down to non-engaged and actively disengaged.  Either way this a very unhealthy situation all the way around.  We need work but it must be meaningful work.

How does that happen?

Determining that is very individual so it may serve you well to do some deep dive discovery work on who you were designed to be.  Because those that love their work have 5 things in common:

1. They enjoy who they work with.
2. They know what’s expected of them.
3. They make a real impact.
4. They are proud of the work they do.
5. They feel recognized or significant.

And in order to create this environment for yourself, it would serve you best if you knew you better.  So take the time to get to know you. That just maybe the 1st step to the change you are looking for. And if you do you stand the chance of thriving in our work…a divine need we all have.

Here’s to meaningful work!