How To Regain A Sense Of Purpose In Your Career

If you’ve been feeling like you’ve hit a plateau in your career where work is no longer a challenge and you’ve been finding it harder and harder to get motivated, then it could be a sign that you’ve lost your sense of purpose. It could also be a sign that it's time for a change. The question is ‘what kind of a change?’

Transcript

If you've been feeling like you've hit a plateau in your career where work is no longer a challenge And you've been finding it harder and harder to get motivated Then it could be a sign that you've lost your sense of purpose.

It could also be a sign that it's a time for a change The question is what kind of change?

As a coach,

I've helped many people find jobs with companies that are a better fit I've also helped people change their careers altogether and in some cases The only change that was required was a change in their attitude while working on some side projects In the end the process was the same find out what's most important to you and then find a way to make your professional aspirations align with that And once you do this or begin the process of doing this you're going to find that sense of purpose coming back to you so really that's what this is about it's Recognizing when you may have lost your way in your career things aren't feeling so aligned anymore Or maybe they were never feeling terribly aligned to begin with but you found yourself In a nice little groove where it was challenging enough interesting enough paying you enough money where it was okay But inevitably as time goes by unless you're you're really staying Aligned with a good vision for your career.

It's going to get stagnant.

It's going to Not feel good anymore So what you have to do is start to figure out What is the ideal career for you?

What is the ideal job or company look like?

What are the talents and Skills and knowledge and experience that are really in your wheelhouse That you want to start using in your career And so I'll give you a few different examples From some of the clients that I've worked with to give you a sense for for how this works so one client We'll call her Samantha.

She was working as a recruiter for many years and it was okay she likes helping people she's Strategic and she's good at getting things done The problem was that she was working for a company that wasn't appreciating Her her talents or her efforts.

In fact,

They were it was a pretty negative At times toxic environment for her and all the while.

She had this passion for writing that was Kind of withering as a result of being in this negative environment so I took her through the self-discovery process and What we discovered was that she she likes recruiting She's good at it and she enjoys the the pay and the income that comes with it Even though this isn't where she wants to be long term The solution was to find a company.

That was a better Fit for her a better match So she went through this whole job search process and she ended up identifying the ideal company to work for and She was very successful in the interviewing process so she got the job she got started and lo and behold It was a much better experience for her overall So she had regained the sense of purpose that she had lost because she started caring about her work again She started to feel like she was being appreciated that she could show up and and really use her talents to the best of her ability to Advance herself advance the interests of the company and ultimately help the people that she was recruiting for and At the same time she never lost sight of her true passion Which was for writing and storytelling so over the course of our work together She was able to start investing more time and energy Into this side project.

She was working on a novel that she wanted to get published And so the more energy that she put into that the more energy that she was getting back and she also Understood how this recruiting job Was supporting her in this endeavor the income that she got the flexibility in her schedule The the mornings and evenings that she could carve out to do her writing was all that she needed to feel on Purpose her work was supporting her ultimate purpose and passion which was to become a professional writer So in this case,

No major career change was was needed to resolve the stagnancy and complacency now for another client of mine Brian He ended up requiring a career change Altogether he was working in IT sales and he was not liking it He did not like making cold calls.

He did not like trying to sell people on a Soft service that he really had no Personal interest in or enthusiasm for himself and it was just a negative environment as well So it wasn't going to be as simple as finding him a better job with a better company doing the same thing Because his interest and his passions were around real estate and real estate investing and managing Properties and he also loved working with people.

He's a great people person and he loves to interact with people face to face And he also enjoys autonomy so He was able to discover His dream career in the form of working as a realtor and a property manager He ended up landing the perfect job with a contact that he found through his networking efforts and then over the the course of starting this new line of work,

He just came to life and And his whole life was changed as a result of feeling like his career now had a purpose he understood Why he was waking up each morning to get to work because he enjoyed it because he was good at because he was financially rewarded for it because he was Challenged by it because he had the autonomy that he really wanted in life so That took care of it for him and it required a full change in role now the third example with Daniel is a case where He lost his sense of purpose because work just wasn't a Positive experience for him anymore and he didn't know what else he wanted to do He considered a career change and he just couldn't make up his mind about it He wasn't excited about just getting a better job at a better company So we spent some time understanding what matters to him the most and for him.

He just wanted to Be a member of a solid team where he was able to Work effectively with his clients and with his peers He was experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety in working with his clients as a consultant He just was never quite in the right headspace to be dealing with Difficult clients are making difficult demands And all the while he also had some entrepreneurial interests in real estate himself.

So In his case he ended up working more on mindfulness and Reducing his levels of stress and anxiety and understanding had a better Work with his clients and how to communicate with his boss about some of the other roles within the organization That might be better fits for him and he started to Have a meditation practice and exercising each morning while also starting to have conversations with his wife about investing into some properties and So over the course of a few months of making these changes Daniel's Energy started to shift He was no longer feeling anxious and frustrated all the time he was starting to feel pretty lit up and Excited because he actually liked where he was working He liked the people he was working with and he was able to form a better relationship with his work That allowed him to feel good about About each day that he was putting in time and effort to advance the company's interests and it also of course helped that he was able to channel his passions for real estate and investing on the side So guys this is what it means to find your purpose in your career and Really?

It's about Understanding what is most important to you and then aligning your professional aspirations To that so all of this work that I talked about Here in all of these different domains of life to find purpose in your life Which then allows for a sense of passion and enthusiasm to come in have everything to do with getting your life into alignment with who you are and what you're about and what matters to you and the domain of the career is a really important one because it takes up so much of our time our Energy is our livelihood our income our self-image our identity in many regards and so When this has been out of alignment for some time All sorts of problems arise and it leads to this feeling of stagnation Like you just hit a plateau Where in the early years where you're cutting your teeth in this new line of work and you're still learning it You didn't have the time or the luxury to think so much about how aligned you were Or how much purpose you're getting because you were preoccupied and and that might have come with a certain thrill To it may have come with a certain level of satisfaction Because you're enjoying the challenge and you're mastering these domains But what happens once you've ramped up and you've reached a certain level in your career where now you're at this associate level you this manager level this whatever level and That you know growth cycle isn't so present anymore and What you're left with is this sinking feeling of oh shoot?

Is this all there is?

You know,

Maybe maybe you're married at this point and Starting a family or whatever and you're you're just looking at your career track right now and you're seeing that well,

This is this is it then and And It's it's kind of losing that sense of aliveness Because it's just not doing it for you anymore That can be really difficult Feeling you know,

I experienced this when I was In sales working for tech companies in San Francisco once I graduated to the level of mid-level sales rep I I started to look around me and and think wait,

Is this my life?

Is this how I want to continue living for the next five ten fifteen twenty years It wasn't and it sapped my energy until I figured out how to bring that back into alignment.

So Again,

If this is you Go through this self-discovery process Work with somebody like myself work with anybody that can help tease out of you What is most important to you?

What are your top talents?

Your skills your interests your passions your values What is your ideal workplace environment?

What are those subjects and topics that you just keep on reading about and studying about?

All of these different things and Assess where you're at Is your company aligned with your values I Enjoyed sales,

But the nature of the work wasn't aligned with my values So Once you do this process you can start to understand what changes need to be made maybe these are just internal changes shifting your attitude coming up with a side project that can give you an outlet for some of your passions Maybe it does require finding another company all together.

That's going to Have values that are more in line with your own that are going to Challenge you more At the level that you're at Where you're gonna feel more appreciated for your talents and what you're bringing to the table or Maybe it means that You need to find a new role all together.

That is a good match with your whole Essence of who you are Because when you do these things again That sense of purpose comes back and you don't have to get the new career get the new job Get the new side project off the ground In order to start feeling better You just need to come up with a plan and you need to maintain a vision for Where you're headed the ideal life that you're wanting to create for yourself and getting really clear on why it's so good and exciting and enticing to you and Then starting the process of putting one foot in front of the other In starting to realize that vision as soon as you make that shift That sense of purpose comes back if I work with somebody Over the course of three or four months to help them specifically change their career That sense of purpose typically comes back within one or two months at the most Because as soon as they start to understand Their new reality is on the way.

They're golden so my message for you is to Take action Don't delay if you're feeling stagnant in your career Don't delay if you're really yearning for a greater sense of purpose begin the work get support Do this process start this process on your own of understanding what matters to you the most and start making these changes Because once you do You're just gonna start feeling a whole lot better and that's the whole point