In my previous post, I discussed how changing your mindset and being open to new possibilities can change your work outlook. Let’s explore further how you can make this a reality.
Talk to people who have jobs that you find interesting. If you have any interest in a field, it’s worth taking fifteen minutes to speak to someone. Hearing a happier perspective will automatically open a whole new world, or at least you will feel less fatalistic and stuck. Once you let people know that you are exploring new possibilities, people will want to help you. They won’t know if you don’t tell them.
If you can’t leave immediately, a wise career counselor told me that we should make it a routine to ask “How can I serve my clients and colleagues today?”. This gives you something to focus on when you get to work and makes any situation more bearable. We aren’t left feeling miserable and unable to contribute because you are intentionally focusing on benefitting our colleagues and clients.
Believe that the process may not be linear and it most likely will take a few tries before you connect with an idea or passion. You may just need to tweak your role or change departments, but it will take you being proactive and having the confidence that you can learn new things. If there is fear, that’s normal and you can learn something new at any age.
You can decide what is the most important part of work for you. Maybe money doesn’t motivate you anymore or you have a long held dream that you wish to explore from your younger years. I’ve always wanted to be a writer and expressing my ideas through this blog has brought me joy. I’m grateful to this space where I can connect with people who I may never meet. I had to overcome my fear and thinking that my opinion wasn’t important. All I care about is that I can help someone with my experiences or from something I’ve learned along the way.
Maybe you can start small and volunteer and start small with something on the side. Working on something that brings you joy for a couple of hours a week will motivate you. It’s also a much smaller leap into the unknown.
You can also draw a line in the sand and state that you will never stay in a toxic or abusive work environment again. You will recognize the warning signs much earlier and have zero tolerance for this behavior and higher standards for your workplace satisfaction-because it’s a matter of life and death.
