How to Achieve Ultimate Career Happiness
It's Monday afternoon. You just started another work week and you're already dragging, counting the hours until Friday. And you're miserable. You spend at least a third of your day (and half of your waking hours) working. If you don't love what you do, that's a ton of time to to spend on something that doesn't bring you happiness. Are you ready to take back control of your happiness?
You're not alone - many people feel like they're working toward something that isn't fulfilling. However, most people don't always know what makes them happy and fulfilled in their careers. Not everyone has an innate sense of where they should be headed or what they want out of a job. But there are things you can do to get your career happiness back on track! In this post, we'll walk through ten steps for getting unstuck and making progress towards your ultimate career bliss.
Step 1: Take time to reflect on your career.
Look back to the beginning of your career. From then until now, did you plan your career or did it come about by chance? Unsurprisingly, most people answer yes to both. It's impossible to plan every step of your career because opportunities and challenges can create detours. Sometimes, the opportunities can be amazing but they can also introduce aspects that make you unhappy. Additionally, what you want now may be very different than what you wanted then. This evolution can eventually create a large disconnect between career happiness and your current career path. To combat this, you need to get back to a clear vision of what you want in your career.
Step 2: Figure out what you want (and what you don't want).
We'll start with the concept of energy. In life (and in a job), some things give people energy (in the form of happiness, excitement, and productivity) and other things take energy (in the form of frustration, exhaustion, and stress). We want to find what brings you energy and what takes it away. Think about an ocean riptide. If you get caught in one, your best option is swimming with the current instead of fighting against it. The same concept applies to your career.
The most critical part of this step is to focus on the inputs, not the outputs. Inputs are the actions you take or experiences you have in your job each day. Each of these actions or experiences will affect your energy. Outputs are a result of how well you perform your actions; they affect your job performance, title, and pay. Even if you achieve your dream title and pay, you may hate every second getting there. Additionally, the more energy you have in your career, the more likely you'll be to achieve your output goals. So grab a pen and paper (or your laptop) - you're going to start making a few lists.
List 1 (things that give you energy): Look at a typical day/week/month/year in your past few jobs. What experiences did you enjoy having and doing at work? Did you like creating a vision of the future for your company? Or did you rather enjoy creating a detailed plan and executing on that vision? Did you enjoy spending time talking with new customers or working across large teams? Or did you prefer to sit at your desk and work on detailed analysis by yourself? Did you like focusing on one thing for a long period of time or many things over the course of your day? Also, what experiences have you not had in your day to day job that you really love outside of work or wish you had? Capture all of these on your first list, no matter how small you think they are in the bigger picture.
List 2 (things that deplete your energy): Now switch to the things that you hated to do every day. What are the activities that you do that are mind numbing? What are the ones that gave you the most amount of stress? Did speaking in front of large groups of people terrify you? Or did you get bored or unengaged in meetings? Does thinking creatively make your head hurt? Or does repeating the same type of work sap your energy? What do you really dislike doing outside of the office on a regular basis? Write everything down.
It's important to remember that your career happiness is about what you want, not what someone else wants. You’ll notice a lot of people around you giving advice on what job they think you should do (or what cultural norms prescribe for you). Many people follow a career path based on others' opinions and end up unhappy. Assuming you have no financial or personal constraints to achieving career happiness, you should be defining your version of happiness.
After you have completed your lists, look for common themes across both lists. Summarizing those themes can give you something easier to digest and internalize. Set the two lists aside for the moment - we'll come back them shortly.
Step 3: Identify your strengths.
Identifying what you want is only half the battle. You also need to consider how your strengths match with your interests. To determine where you have strengths, start with a self assessment. Write down the types of activities and actions at work that you think you do well. Then reflect on where you have gaps in your performance. Your own perspective is important but it's equally important to think about feedback you have received during your career, especially in recent years. This will either confirm your own assessment or help you understand where you have blind spots. Write your strengths and weaknesses down on two different lists to capture them for the next step. We also discuss a more in-depth way of assessing your strengths and gaps in our article focusing on career advancement. In that article, Step 2 gives you an understanding of how to capture your strengths and development areas and could be helpful to you.
Step 4: Match what you want with your strengths.
Your passions and interests aren’t just a hobby; they are your path to happiness. To find career bliss, you need to pair what you love with what you can do. If a job doesn't come naturally to you, then it will feel like work—and nobody wants to work when they could be spending time doing things they love.
Take the lists you put together in Steps 2 and 3 and start matching the activities you really enjoy with the type of work at which you excel. If you love dreaming big and you have developed really impressive visions of future businesses, that's a great match! If you really love moving a project along through a series of defined steps and you have executed well on prior projects, that's also a great match! However, if you really love public speaking but have had a really hard time presenting well, that should be a question mark. You might be able to develop this skill over time. However, it could also be something you have tried repeatedly and just don't think you have the potential to get there. Only you can decide whether a mismatch is something you want to fix but you will have to think carefully about if and how you want to address it.
Capture your matched strengths and interests and keep them for Step 7. And if this seems too restrictive or limiting, think again! We all have multiple interests and talents—it's just a matter of finding the ones that match up with available jobs. So don't worry about whether or not there's room for every single one of your passions in your chosen field (for example: if someone loves art but also loves accounting, they can still get paid for making art on the side).
Step 5: Consider working with an executive development advisor.
Working with an executive development advisor can be a great way to get clarity about what you want out of your career and to get inspired about taking action. Advisors help you set goals, develop strategies for achieving them, and keep you accountable along the way. It's similar to working with a mentor but with some important differences.
An executive development advisor is a professional who works with individuals or small groups to help them make positive changes in their lives; they focus on the client’s current situation (not just their past). Unlike therapists who aim to foster insight through exploration and understanding of emotional issues, advisors (sometimes called executive coaches) are more goal-oriented. They can also work as catalysts for change by challenging clients' thinking patterns or behaviors. Coaching sessions typically last between thirty minutes and an hour per week over several months.
Leveraging an advisor during this process can help give you an objective perspective and get you to a solution path faster than you might on your own. Do your research and if you decide to use an advisor, select one based on trust and background experience. You'll want to look for one who can combine insights into your long term opportunities with operational experience on the ground (e.g. a past executive) to give you the best chance for success.
Step 6: Identify and manage your constraints.
So far, we have talked purely about you; your passions and capabilities. You also need to think about your constraints. You probably have people depending on you, maybe a family or a significant other. You might also have a tight financial situation. These are things to consider as you are working through your pivot plan to a new career. Ideally, you continue your current job while planning the next phase of your career. If that's not possible, then you'll need to consider how the transition will affect your financial situation and impact your loved ones. The best thing to do is to share your thoughts and plans with them early in the process. They might also offer helpful insights into your interests and capabilities that you may not naturally see on your own!
Step 7: Identify career opportunities and their potential fit.
You know your passions and strengths, so what's next? Continue by identifying potential career paths that will fit your preferences and strengths. If you're reading this, you likely work in some form of business, which means you have a lot of potential paths to explore. Choice is a good thing but it can be overwhelming. Each organizational area (e.g. marketing, operations, strategy, finance, etc.) and function (e.g. program manager, analyst, product lead, etc.) in the business world has a different set of day to day responsibilities that could fit your interests and capabilities. Start with the functions first as they typically span across multiple organizational areas. For example, you could be a program manager in either a marketing team or an operations team, still performing the same types of activities but on different types of projects. Research functions that may look like a good match and start capturing the roles in a broader list. If you're not familiar with a function, start looking at job descriptions online to get an understanding of the day to day responsibilities and work. Make sure you cover a variety of different postings as some roles have the same title but different responsibilities. Work your way through each function that may be a fit and then capture potential roles on your list.
If you are in a business career but realized that you might want to pivot into another type of work, this exercise will still be the same but cover a broader set of potential career paths. For example, if you currently work in a service based function and like helping people, but really dislike the other aspects of your career, working in the medical field as a doctor could be an alternative path. Regardless, the process is still the same.
In both scenarios, your next step is to prioritize the career paths you want to short list and further investigate. Narrow it down to 2-3 options and then dig deeper on each career path. Searching "What it's like to be a Director of Program Management" will yield a wealth of information beyond a typical job description. Your goal is to build a broad enough understanding of the function and your expected day to day experience in it. Take this a step further and look through your work and personal networks to find people who are currently in that function. Reach out to them (offer to buy them a cup of coffee!) and dive deep into their world. During your conversation, make sure they are elaborating on the things that they both like AND dislike about their job. Incorporate all of this into your notes.
Step 8: Make a decision and then build a plan to pivot.
Pivoting doesn't have to be scary. That initial unease is often fear of the unknown, so the more you know about next steps, the easier the decision. If you're sure you want to change careers, then start building a plan to pivot to your top option from Step 7. In your plan, consider whether you can do a soft transition to your new career. Do you have the option to build some aspects of your new career path into your current job? If so, trying it out first before leaving your current job will reduce risk, in the event that you find you don't like the new option. If that's not possible, then plan out your transition in stages to manage the impact on your life and career. Ultimately, having this plan in place before you take the leap will reduce your stress through the whole process.
Step 9: Summon positivity, even if you don't feel that way now.
Regardless of preparation, there are going to be days where you are feeling nervous and unsure of the change; you should expect that and understand the feelings are natural. If you experience this, do the following:
Focus on future happiness instead of current unhappiness or worrying about obstacles in front of you.
Remember that being positive will give you the energy to move forward more easily than being negative.
Remind yourself that you have gone through this before when you finished school earlier in life, but now you have a wealth of life experience to rely on during the change.
Reach out to your family, friends, mentors, and executive advisor to help encourage and guide you through the process. Gathering support can be just the burst of energy you need to get you through the tough spots.
Step 10: Execute the plan & check in with yourself along the way.
Along the way, you may find that things don't go as smoothly as you'd planned. Don't be discouraged by this! Remember: You're just getting started. Keep going and keep learning; change is inevitable in any career. As you continue to execute your plan and check in with yourself along the way, it's important to remember that fear can be motivating—but it also has a way of holding us back from taking action and achieving our goals. Learn how to deal with fear so it doesn't hold you back from pursuing your dreams.
Conclusion
You don't want to have another Monday morning, wishing it were Friday. Your career should ultimately excite you and provide fulfillment beyond just a paycheck. Listening to your mind and making the adjustments necessary to bring yourself happiness will lead you to a more fulfilling life, regardless what path you choose to follow. As always, if you are feeling uncertain through the process, Crux Advisors can offer you support and guidance every step of the way until you find your career bliss!