Have you ever felt stuck in your career? Employee burnout, and stress, can account for alot of dissatisfaction in your life. After all, you spend 8 hours or more each day at work. That is 1/3 of your day if you do not count sleep. That is a long time to be dissatisfied.
If you are feeling stuck, here are 6 great ways to seek out your ideal career:
1. Brainstorm on a sheet of paper – We have talked about this before and it’s a strategy we suggest you use all the time. Take a pad of paper and write down at the top your objective in question form. Then, simply list out 20 answers to your question. For example, you will write “What should I be doing with my time and life?” Then stay seated for a half hour to an hour coming up with answers to that question. The key to this exercise is coming up with 20 answers – do not quit until you have 20 answers. You can repeat daily until you get the answer you seek.
2. Ask 3 close friends – Sometimes our friends know us better than ourselves. While meeting with a friend, mention you are at a crossroads in your life and career. Ask what they think you would enjoy doing. You might be surprised at how easily they will help you zero in to your strengths and skills and point out an ideal job area.
3. Ask your boss and coworkers – much like your friends in the example above, your boss and coworkers most likely see you in a way you do not see yourself. In fact, they are likely most familiar with your strengths and weaknesses in the work environment. Compile all the answers you get from them and see if there are any common threads to explore.
4. Call a headhunter – If you are searching in your career, it is likely you have a resume. Sometimes you will catch a headhunter or recruiter during their slow times and meet with them to pick through what you would possibly be good at. After all, if you do not get paid, they do not either. The ideas they suggest may help you brainstorm further.
5. Take a career assessment test – There are several sites on the Internet you might be able to take one of these tests for a fee. But using our ‘headhunter’ tip above, many headhunters have this software and do not mind you taking the test in their office. These tests usually take an hour or two, but they are thorough. They ask you to answer a series of questions about what you are good at, what you like to do, what you prefer doing over what you do not. If you are taking one, you will likely see some new exciting areas to explore in your life.
6. Keep a journal – Do you keep a journal? If so, read through, searching for common threads in your writing. Keep your eyes peeled for trends and activities you like as well as do not like. In fact, finding examples of what you are do not like and what frustrates you is equally as important as finding what you do like. For example, if you dislike an overwhelming boss, you would probably like a self-directed position. If you dislike nosey coworkers, you will probably prefer your own office.
Discovering what you really want to do with your life is the most important decision you can make. We spend 1/3 or more of our lives at work. So, selecting the right career is vital to keeping that 1/3 of our lives happy and productive.