Are You Being Slowly Trapped Into A Mediocre Career?

Your career lasts a long time. So feeling trapped in a career that you don’t like, that’s pretty tragic to me. That’s why when coaching candidates, I tell them to differentiate between how well they do something and how much they enjoy doing it. And, don’t be fooled into thinking you have a sustainable career just because you do something well. Because if you don’t enjoy it, eventually, you’re going to want to feel more fulfilled and passionate about what you do. You’re going to want to do something that brings out your talent and full potential. Unless, that is, these things aren’t important to you.

So to avoid this trap, I ask people to answer a few questions. For each one, to answer seldom, sometimes, or often. 

• Do I fundamentally enjoy what I do? 
• Do I look forward to the place I go to work each day?
• Do I feel engaged and challenged when I am at work?
• Do I feel motivated to become very good at what I do?
• Do I feel that what I do brings out the best in me?

If, seldom, is your answer to most of these questions, I’m sorry, but you’re facing a big, big problem. Especially if your goal is a happier, more successful career.

Are you living a slow death?

Because here’s the thing about being good at something you don’t enjoy. Your passion and energy get slowly sucked out of you, one day at a time. That’s why even worse than not being good at what you do is being good enough. In fact, it’s one of the biggest threats to your career, and life.

If you’re not good at what you do, it’s not likely that you’ll be doing it for long. You’ll decide to look for something else that you’re better at, or your employer will make this decision for you. Either way, this benefits you. Because a big reason you may not be so good at something is because you don’t enjoy it, or just aren’t that interested in it.

How you can get lulled into a life mediocrity

But when you’re good enough, or very good, at something that you don’t enjoy, you’re more likely to continue doing it. There’s no urgency to make a change, or even think about what you’d be much more motivated and interested in doing. And so begins your life of mediocrity.

Until you realize much later that what you do is completely uninspiring to you. Until you feel that this isn’t how you want to feel about what you do every day. Unfortunately, making a big career change now is much more difficult. There’s more risk. More sacrifice. So you settle for your so-so career situation, and end up living a so-so life.

Don’t end up getting trapped in your career

Actually, early in my career, I was fortunate to avoid such a situation. Growing up as an ABC, I was very good at math and science. So I graduated from college with a mechanical engineering degree and began working as an R&D toy design engineer. I’d hardly call myself talented at what I did, but I was good enough to make a decent living at it. I even got promotions every two years.

Unfortunately, I had no real interest or passion for what I did. I had little feeling towards my job or being an engineer. But for the first few years, I was comfortable. And that was good enough.

I was lucky though. It happened slowly at first, but after about five years, the feeling that I should be doing something that I enjoy started to overwhelm me. So I made a big, bold career change. I was 27 at the time. If it had been 2-3 years later, I’d have felt trapped, and even more unfulfilled, frustrated, and confused. I’d have felt that I’ve invested too many years into what I do. My salary and level of responsibility are too high for me to “start over” and pursue something new. I’d have faced a situation where, you’re scared to continue doing what you do, but also too scared to make a big change.

Learn to recognize your actual career situation

Continuing to do something you don’t really enjoy is like going out with someone that you don’t especially dislike. Three things will happen. The first is, your relationship is eventually going to end. The second is, you hold yourself back from looking for someone you may really like. And the third is, your life will only be mediocre, at best.

This is why I’m a big fan of anyone who seeks a career that has passion and meaning. I’ll always encourage people to pursue what they care about most. Not necessarily because you have to have passion and meaning in your life (although these are two great reasons!). But because the most successful people I meet are doing something that they genuinely enjoy and are interested in.

Sometimes, you’re talented, smart, or hard-working enough to be good at something you don’t enjoy. If this describes your career situation, it may be holding you back from pursuing something else that you’ll like doing much more and be much more successful at. And if this sounds too familiar to you, I’ll encourage you to face this reality sooner, rather than later. Before it’s too late.

So do you have a story of a job you left that you could do well, but didn't enjoy? If so, please share with us how you managed to escape your mediocre, slow death situation!

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不想年纪轻轻就混吃等死，你应该做这件事...

职业发展是一个长期的事情，所以，被困在一份让你不喜欢的工作里面，在我看来就是个悲剧。所以当我在指导候选人的时候，我会告诉他们要区别什么是他们能做好的，什么是他们喜欢做的。不要觉得你能把一份工作做好，这份工作就是你终生的事业。如果你不是真正喜欢你所做的事，你最后还是会为了追求更多满足感和激情而离开。你一定会希望做一份更能够充分发挥你才能和潜力的工作。除非，你觉得这些对你来说都不重要。

所以，为了帮候选人躲避这个陷阱，我会问他们几个问题，每个问题有3个选项：“很少”、“有时”、“经常”：

• 我打心底里喜欢这份工作吗？
• 我每天都很期待去公司吗？
• 我能够非常投入地去工作并且经常感到充满挑战吗？
• 我有想把工作做得更好的动力吗？
• 这份工作是否能让我充分发挥我的才能和潜力？

对这些问题，如果你的答案的选项大部分是“很少”的话，很抱歉，你的问题大了。尤其是，如果你的目标是一份开心和成功的事业。

你在混吃等死吗？

因为做你擅长却不喜欢的事，会把你的激情和能量消耗殆尽，这比让你做不擅长的事还要糟糕。事实上，这种混吃等死的状况会最大程度地威胁到你的事业和生活。

如果你不擅长做现在的工作，那你也不会在这上面耗费太多时间，而是另谋高就，去做自己擅长的事情，或者你的老板会帮你做出选择（炒你鱿鱼）。无论如何，这对你来说都是件好事，因为你做不好这份工作的很大原因可能就是你并不喜欢，或者你对这份工作没什么兴趣。

你是如何陷入平庸生活的

但当你擅长做一件你不喜欢的事，甚至是非常擅长时，你往往会继续做下去。因为没有很紧急的情况来迫使你做出改变，你甚至不会去思考什么才是你更有动力更有兴趣去做的事情。你平庸的生活从此就拉开了序幕。

等你意识到你对你所做的事情毫无激情是很久以后的事了。到那个时候你才会感到每天所做的并不是自己想要的。不幸的是，那个时候你要改变自己的职业就太难了。风险更大，牺牲也更多。所以你只能选择对你那份“一般般”的事业进行妥协，一辈子过着“一般般”的生活。

不要掉入职业陷阱

其实在我职业生涯刚开始的时候，我就非常幸运地避开了这种情况。作为一个美籍华人，我数学和科学学得很好，所以在大学里就顺其自然的选择了机械工程专业，毕业后成为了一名玩具设计工程师。我不敢说自己做玩具设计有多少天分，但是，这份工作足以让我维持一个体面的生活。我甚至每两年升一次职。

很不幸，我对这份工作并没有真正的兴趣或热情，对自己的工作或者说工程师这个工作没有一点点感觉。但在我工作的头几年里, 我过得很舒服，而这就已经足够了。

不过我很幸运。慢慢地，大概从我工作的第五年开始，我越来越强烈地感到我要去做我自己真正喜欢做的事情，所以我做了一次大胆的职业转变。当时我已经27岁，如果再晚个两三年，我大概也会觉得自己被工作困住了，工作越来越没有满足感，也会感到沮丧和迷茫。我会觉得我投入了太多时间去做我并不喜欢做的事，而我的薪酬和职位已经高到让我无法放手从头开始去追求新的东西。我面临的处境就是，我“害怕继续现在的工作，但是同时，我却因为太害怕而不敢做出改变”。

学会认清你真正的职业状况

继续做你并不喜欢的工作，就像和一个你不是特别讨厌的人约会，有三种情况会发生：一、你们俩最终会掰；二、你压抑自己，不去追寻那个你真正喜欢的人；三、你俩将就着过。

这就是为什么我特别欣赏那些在事业上勇敢追求自己的激情和意义所在的人。我为什么经常鼓励大家去追求他们最关心的事物？不是因为你的生活里必须存在激情和意义(虽然这是两个很重要的原因!)而是因为我所遇到的那一群最成功的人都在做他们真心喜欢和感兴趣的事情。

有时候, 因为你有才华，你很聪明，你也很勤奋，所以哪怕你不喜欢一件事你也可以把它做得很好。如果你的职业发展现状跟这个状态一样, 你的工作可能会妨碍你去追求你更喜欢做的事情, 进而阻碍你在事业上获得更大成功。如果你觉得这些话听上去很耳熟，那我建议你早点面对现实，为时未晚。

你曾经离开过做的不错但是却不喜欢的工作吗？如果有的话，欢迎和我们分享你是如何摆脱曾经混吃等死的状况的！