What exactly is stopping you from going for the career of your dreams? Not everyone is doing something they love; one recent survey suggests that nearly 40% of people aren’t happy with their current employment and would be interested in finding alternative employment that better fits their passions and skill sets.
That being said, not everyone is able to suddenly quit their jobs and embark on a journey of self-discovery to find out what their goals are, where their passions lie, and explore the meaning of life. But everyone can make changes to their life, even in small ways that can lead them in the right direction for a more fulfilling career that helps them enjoy life and get more from their job than a paycheck.
Who Are You And What Do You Want?
Every single person is unique, and as such, what works for one person won’t always be best for someone else. This applies to every aspect of life. Learning more about yourself, what you like, and dislike, what makes your heart sing, and what sucks the soul from your body are all good places to start. Sit down and really think about what you want, what you need, and where you want to be in 5, 10, or even 20 years down the line. Take a strong interest inventory test to find out what job roles and careers will suit your personality, your passions, and what you are best suited to. This will, at the very least, give you a starting point as to where to look for career satisfaction.
Check Your Skills
Not every job role needs years of intense education and training, such as going into the medical field or practicing law, for example, but they do need skill sets in different ways. To further or even change your career, you need to know what skills you need and how to develop them.
Let’s say you are climbing the ladder through a sales job. Salespeople need excellent soft skills such as listening, communication, empathy, problem-solving, critical thinking, being able to think quickly, having excellent time management skills, and remaining calm under pressure. This will help you to deal with clients easier, handle any type of situation, and build a genuine relationship and rapport with prospective and current clients to meet your sales targets.
It doesn’t matter what skills you need for your career; find out what will benefit you and get to work on improving your skills or learning something new such as a different language that will serve well going forward.
Get Confident
A 2019 study indicated that 79% of women and 62% of men regularly felt under confident in their job roles. If this sounds all too familiar to you, then you need to work on boosting your confidence. Identify what it is that is knocking over your confidence and make a plan to change this.
Is it a comment someone made to you one time that is stuck in your head? Then look at how. You are giving this so much thought, and if the comment was just. If so, change things so they won’t be true again; if not, Find something positive to focus on when thinking of this incident and replace it, e.g., a time when you felt particularly proud of your work. Or maybe it is an overpowering colleague who constantly belittles you. If so, work on improving your interactions with them so they no longer have this effect on you. It isn’t a quick and easy fix, and boosting your confidence both inside and outside of work can take time and perseverance, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Ask For Help
If this seems like a massive mountain to climb, you need to ask for help. This can be from a mentor or your boss, whom you trust to help you through any issues. Or it can be a friend or confidant outside of work who will have your back and support in any way you need them. Share your fears, goals, aspirations, and more, and ask them to help you find a way to support reaching your career goals and get to a place where you are truly happy and content.
A more fulfilling career needn’t be elusive; it can be achievable if you know what you want and what to do to make it a reality. Take baby steps, be consistent, and keep plugging away until you reach your goals and get where you want to be.
