Four Cures to Conquer a Career Crisis

For the last month, I've been mulling over what it means to be "all in" at work.

We hear it all the time, be all-in, grow upward (in the org) or grow outword (leave the org), or my personal favorite- give 110% at work. {eyeroll}.

Over the last few weeks, I've studied and challenged this concept in search of a better catch-phase. Here is what I've found.

Where do we hear the phrase all in?

Poker

Poker is the classic all-or-nothing example of going all in. When players commit their entire chip stack to the pot based on the hand they are dealt, success is determined by how well that hand measures up compared to others who are betting the same amount as yourself.

The Business Definition

All in once referred to a scenario in which someone either wins a hand or loses everything in a flash, now it means that a person is simply generally enthusiastic or fully committed. It's everywhere these days—business jargon, marketing catchphrases, sports mantras, and the idioms of religion and self-help.

Interestingly enough, all-in is in the dictionary. I had no idea there were two definitions.

Two Definitions of All-in

1. Tied, Exhausted

Synonyms: beat, beaten, bleary, burned-out (or burnt-out), bushed, dead, done, drained, exhausted, , jaded, knackered [British], limp, logy, played out, pooped [slang], prostrate, spent, tuckered (out), washed-out, weary, wiped out

2. Fully Committed/Involved.

Synonyms: all-embracing, all-inclusive, broad-gauge (or broad-gauged), compendious, complete, comprehensive, cover-all, cyclopedic, embracive, encyclopedic, exhaustive, full, global, in-depth, inclusive, omnibus, panoramic, universal

My Interpretation

Isn't it interesting how "tied/exhausted" was placed before "fully committed?" I'm a big believer in being committed to a cause, and we should associate ourselves wholeheartedly with those causes, even to the point of fatigue. Ideally, the companies we work with further those causes as well. That said, too few of us open our eyes to see the causes we support and often get lost in the busyness of life.

The Warning

Even if at one point you feel aligned with your career and your identity, business will take everything you give it. Your time, talents, energy, passion, etc... If you are not constantly heat-checking your life's direction, your career will lull you to sleep for weeks, months, and even years of your life. It's like in classic sci-fi space movies when astronauts go into a deep sleep, and the ship veers off course, they wake up hoping to be in the right place. Sometimes they are, sometimes they are not. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up in a cold sweat, questioning the direction of my career.

You are headed toward a career identity crisis if you are not constantly checking;

• The direction your career is taking you
• The commitments outside of work
• The natural passion you have

Hello, career identity crisis.

What is Career Identity Crisis?

A career identity crisis can occur at any time.?You might feel as if you've outgrown your dead-end job, feel like your job is about to be eliminated, feel like you are not providing any impact, or are unsure about the next step. Or, you've discovered some new skills that could take you in the opposite direction from the career path you've been working towards.

Four cures to conquer a career identity crisis.

A career identity crisis begins when you allow your identity to be dominated by your career. Don't suffocate your life outside work as you grind your way to the top. You need to align, align, align, align!

Cure 1-> Have you ever heard of putting all your eggs in one basket? Don't allow your career to be your identity. One of my favorite questions to ask people when I first meet them is, what do you want to accomplish outside of work? Most will be puzzled. Dream big-folks.

Cure 2-> Separate yourself from a career mindset to a professional mindset. I define a professional mindset and being able to express your professional brand as a combination of your current company's and personal brands.

• Company Brand: Most companies have an "about us" tab on their website where they lay out their "mission and vision." Ask yourself how well you align with the mission and vision? How ALL in are you? What direction will your company's brand take you, and is that a direction you want to go?
• Personal Brand: I wrote about this in a previous post; in short, your personal brand (or lifestyle) equals the difference between your values and the sum of your goals and commitments. Lifestyle = Values - (Goals + Commitments).
• Professional Brand: Now align how your current company enables you to achieve your ideal lifestyle.

Cure 3-> Boundaries. You need to set boundaries with your manager. Boundaries are based on trust, and these boundaries should be based on trusting:

• what is needed from you
• and what is needed from your company

for you to be successful. It would help if you were proactive in setting boundaries to SET MUTUAL EXPECTATIONS and to create an environment where you can thrive. Your boss can only be as open and honest as you are.

Cure 4 -> How to go from where you are to where you want to be.

• Blossom where you are planted. I don't care how much you hate your job; find a way to win at it. Showing you can figure it out will give you a lot of leverage and trust in making a move at your org.
• Then work on being efficient. How can you remove yourself from the equation and have sustained results?
• Then pick up extra curricular that play to your strengths. Now that you are efficient and can do your job in under 40 hours, proactively pick up side hustles within your org in areas you want to develop.
• Make a move. As soon as those extracurriculars provide more value than your day job, you have a solid argument for skip level into that role.

The new catchphrase

Don't be all-in, be intentional.

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