Before You Jump Ship, Try This

Does your job leave you frustrated and exhausted? So much so that you find yourself walking out the door at the end of the day, never wanting to walk back in?

Do you have imaginary confrontations in your mind’s eye that end with you slamming out of your boss’s office declaring, “I quit”? Alternatively, have you recently lost your passion for what you do?

Sometimes, a career change is necessary to preserve a healthy work-life balance. Often, however, a change in your current position is all that is needed to rediscover joy in what you do. So, if you find yourself at your limit and ready to abandon ship, before you do, consider trying these strategies:

#1 TAKE A STEP BACK

Proximity can skew perspective, and moving forward can often start with a step back. Are you taking life - or work - too seriously? Take a moment to revisit your values. Are you living these out? What about your strengths? Seek new opportunities to develop them. There is so much more to life than current troubles at work. Give yourself a moment to process, and make sure it has not gotten bigger than life.

#2 TALK TO YOUR BOSS OR HR

Suffering in silence is not a virtue. Let your boss or HR manager know what you are facing. They may be able to suggest or approve some changes that would make all the difference for you. Do you need more resources or personnel to get the job done well? Is a change in policy required to improve workflow? Maybe getting out of the office or a work-from-home day would increase productivity and morale for you or your team. These are all conversations best held with your boss or appropriate party. Schedule a meeting today!

#3 CONSIDER WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

Have you experienced an addition or loss in the family? How is your health? What is the state of your important relationships? Have you moved recently or run into financial troubles? There are times when frustrations at work have little to do with work itself and more to do with a culmination of life’s pressures. Take some time to assess the difference. It could be that a little intentional self-care could unravel a majority of your work troubles.

#4 REORGANIZE YOUR WEEK

Stuck in a rut? Try something different! Do you typically answer emails in the morning and make calls in the afternoon? Shake it up! You may find that conversation comes easier for you in the morning (results may vary, depending on the strength of your coffee). This is just one example of the little changes you can make that may have a significant impact. Routine can be an incredible asset, but lack of variety can also get stale. What’s one adjustment to the schedule you could make this week?

#5 USE YOUR PTO

Could burn-out be clouding your judgment? Before making a big career decision, take a break to get perspective. Sadly, Americans as a whole tend to leave vacation days on the table. This leads to some issues such as low performance, fewer promotions and raises, and worst of all, the unavoidable stress. On the upside, something as simple as a vacation can affect the opposite with higher morale, greater production, personal fulfillment and improved health.

#6 RE-ENGAGE YOUR HOBBY

What’s your hobby? When is the last time you enjoyed it? If you do not like your answer to either of those questions, this may be a chance to reprioritize your life to include a hobby. Merriam-Webster defines a hobby as “a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation.” The value of hobbies include improved quality of life, health benefits, and wait for it—increased productivity and satisfaction at work.

#7 HIRE A COACH

An athlete at the top of his game and a world-class musician have two things in common: a moment when they wanted to give up and…a coach. Is success eluding you? Feel like quitting your job? It may be time to hire a career coach. A coach can help facilitate the fresh perspective, encouragement, and confidence you need to move from drudgery to delight in your work.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

As Earl Nightingale says, “We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we have established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.”

Take a moment to picture your current attitude towards your work, colleagues, direct reports, and supervisor. Are you happy and fully engaged? Now picture how you would like your approach to be. What’s the difference? What’s one thing that you can do in the next 24 hours to move toward your preferred attitude?

Then, as Nike trademarked, “Just Do It.”

Change Your Perspective, Change Your Life

Have you ever looked at yourself in a distorted funhouse mirror? One where your legs appear to be two inches tall and your neck looks to be five feet long? Your eyes are seeing this - but you know that this is a false representation of what you look like and who you are.

And have you ever tried on someone’s glasses?

The world that once looked bright is now blurry, out of focus, wrong. But if you looked through those glasses every day, or in that distorted mirror, you might honestly believe what they portrayed. Your eyes and your sense of self would eventually adjust, and you would believe in these false outlooks.

Having a toxic outlook on life is like constantly looking through lenses that are blurry and cracked. 

You’re looking out, and everything is skewed and disturbing. Soon, what your eyes see your heart believes. The lenses of our perspective are formed through our past experiences, our cultures, our family roots.

For example, if you wake up every day and think, “I’m so tired. Life is hard,” then you will go throughout every day feeling heavy, unmotivated, and finding an unnecessary struggle in everything you do. Because you believe this day is out to get you, it will. The work you once loved will become irritating, your coworkers will become intolerable, your lunch won’t taste right, and you’ll leave dragging your feet. Home will be your relief.

But soon, this toxic perspective can sneak into your personal life. Your house, car, and clothes will never be good enough. Your kids will seem too loud. Your marriage won’t fulfill you. Your perspective has taken over, and it has sown some deathly seeds. It is shocking how something so intangible - your mindset, your perspective - can control your life.

Think about it this way - nothing is wrong with the world. Nothing is wrong with you, your house, your family, or your career. What makes us believe that something has gone wrong is our perspective on it. Certainly, there are outside forces that can interrupt or influence our lives. But these forces are not what causes us to fail or succeed. Truly, it is the perspective that aids in failure, and in success.

This may sound radical, but you could wake up every day believing that everything has gone right. Believing that you have the perfect house, you have the right relationships and the right career. Gratefulness for every big and small thing can increase, simply by the acts of mindfulness, awareness, and focus.

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in your mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau

Does this way of living sound unattainable to you? Do you believe that you simply aren’t made to think that way? You may believe you’re too much of a pessimist, inherently. Or a hardcore realist. This may be true. But listen close, you don’t need a personality transplant to have a healthy perspective. This transformational way of thinking is a learned practice.

For example, one practice that could change your life is self-talk. Constructive self-talk is about changing your inner dialogue. Instead of thinking, “My house is too small.” you can think, “I remember when we bought this house, we were so excited. It’s still perfect for us.” Instead of waking up thinking “Life is hard,” you could bounce out of bed thinking, “My life is so good! I’m going to go to work and do my job well today.”

Researchers have found that one of the main patterns in people that deal with depression is negative self-talk. That goes to show that the way we process life through our perspective is a powerful, powerful thing.

I was once naive as to how powerful my point of view is. Maybe you were too before you read this blog. But now that we know, we would be fools to ignore the call to constructive self-talk, a healthy perspective, and choosing to better our lives.

Join in with me to learn to see through the lens of gratefulness.