Taking the plunge
Lara Morgan
Career Coach + Female Empowerment Mentor | I help growth-minded people thrive in their careers through holistic career coaching, mindset coaching and team workshops | Championing your greatest potential
If you’re reading this, you might be one of the 80% of people who is dissatisfied, bored, or even burnt-out at work. You might be wondering, how many more months can I continue like this??
How many annual leave days do I have left??
Can I really go on “burn-out”??
Is this it??
Do I want to climb the ladder??
If so, is this the ladder I want to climb??
Am I even on the same continent as the ladder?
Am I the only one in the world who feels this way?
At this point there are several roads you can take:
Or, you decide enough is enough, and plunge into the depths of unemployment, reflection time, and if you’re lucky - self realisation and growth.
See, those murky waters of unemployment don't have to be so scary. Unemployment, once a dirty word, doesn’t have to be a space of fear and shame. Actually since Covid-19, the emerging recession, and continuing waves of redundancies, making our unemployment escapades known on LinkedIn/ social media is often celebrated; many people are receiving hundreds of likes, and even job offers as a result of this new type of self–promotion.
I must refer back to the classic Maslow and his famous hierarchy of needs - as old a model as it is, it’s really relevant here.
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Basic needs must be met before anyone could have the great privilege of considering a career break by choice. And yes, it is a huge f*cking privilege. But how often is it those who do have their basic needs met, who are the ones most unhappy, dissatisfied and burnt out in their careers? These are the very people whom it’s within their control to change things for themselves, and the rest of the world too. When we’re in our power, living in alignment with our purpose - thats when we are in the best position to help others.
It’s the position of not taking action in alignment with our values, when we get stuck in the victim triangle (I don’t have a bias towards triangles, I promise).
There are various ways one can show up on the victim triangle (see here), but the point is that victim mentality can leave us trapped in victim, rather than in creation / action. Does this sound familiar?
Everyone (who has their basic needs met); has the power to change things - even if they find themselves at any one of these corners. It is often those who are the most comfortable, who are most resistant to change, even if they are unhappy.
And what are the consequences? Relationships, family, health, the company you work for, and there are consequences at a macro and societal level too. Think about people in powerful positions who are unhappy - how does this affect others around them, the decisions they make, what consequences could this have for the people their decisions have power over?
Besides, it is scientifically proven that people are far happier, healthier and more effective when they are doing something they feel passionate about, is meaningful for them and is just the right balance of challenging and ease (known as flow state).
Every human has the agency to find what that is for themselves and get into creation. If you harness a creation mindset, you understand that you have the ability to make decisions that serve your higher good. You not only listen to your intuition, but you act on it too.
The thing is, many of us have been so deep in our chosen (or accidental) careers for so long, we don’t even know what we want anymore. We have lost who we are in being someone we think we have to be; and only a period of separation and reflection will allow us to discover our true purpose - our unique way we can contribute to humanity.?
There are many ways to “take the plunge”. From safest to riskiest:
Is it too late to change careers? Never. Will it be worth the dive?
Most definitely.
Co-Founder at Empactivo | Digital Culture & Employee Experience Enthusiast | Sustainability & People Engagement ??
2 年Thank you for your heartfelt and inspiring sharing Lara ???? I hope this post reaches more people who feel stuck and sheds light on them to boldly move forward in line with their own values. I especially loved this part of your article…
Inside Retail's Rising Stars of Retail Shortlist Nominee 2023
2 年Brilliant article Lara!
Co-Founder of AQUA GLOW - It's Glow Time!
2 年Lovely article and really well written! Who knew you had those skills too! But seriously a lot of truth in this. The one bit that I would add and you will understand this as a "Laker - Always a Laker" that even if the work is hard, burnout is real and sometimes you wonder if you can do the job for another 5-10 years, if you have the right people around you it can make all of the above easier so I can't emphasize enough the importance of choosing the humans you will work with over cash/brand/ego. I think what you are doing is great and getting under the hood to understand what is really important for people in their careers is key. Often we get caught up focussing on the wrong stuff. Been there and got the t-shirt! More than once