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Work/Life Balance

Trapped In A Career Rut? Try This Releasing Strategy

After 15 years or more in the same job, you may assume that you know what you’re doing with your career. But do you really?

Recognizing when you are stuck in a rut

An interesting study by Harvard Business Review found that highly experienced professionals need help if they want to avoid being undervalued and overworked.

It specifically found that people in the age group from 40 to 48 were most likely to make work decisions that led to ineffective outcomes. This was partly due to the pressures of keeping up with daily demands and feeling stressed about making changes.

Here’s the thing. Employees that have a long-standing history in the same company or doing the same job often become “trapped”.

What does that mean?

> They are caught in a routine they don’t question anymore. It may go like this: get up – go to work – fulfil your duties – go back to your personal life – resume those duties the day after – have a little fun at the week end – start over.

> Their salary is too good to even consider a job change. Especially for people who have dependents and mortgages to repay, the notion of keeping a secure and safe job is unbreakable.

> They think their path is marked and no other option is available. They just keep saying to themselves: ‘it’s too late’: a very common self-sabotaging belief.

> They are too ingrained in their company culture. They simply can’t imagine what it would be like to work elsewhere and therefore passively choose not to leave.

💡 In all these cases, people are stuck between the need to change something and the fear of being penalized if they took risks that didn’t produce substantial gains.

This is because the more experienced we get, the more we expect higher rewards in terms of job title, remuneration and position within society. Therefore, any decision to change jobs must be backed by the near-certainty that the new one will be “better”.

Of course, each situation is different and should be addressed individually.

But, if you think you are heading into a rut or are already feeling stuck, you should take some actions to shake things up! I propose to you a two-step strategy to feel “released”.

typing on a laptop with a notepad on the side

Step 1 – breaking out from fear and boredom

The first step is to implement an action plan that you are willing and able to take to break the two negative elements that are holding you back: 1) fear 2) boredom.

Try all or some of these suggestions:

1> Focus on strategy. Identify how to best upgrade your present career without losing the positive elements of your job which are important to you. Think about the purpose and impact of your work and look for opportunities to influence and inspire others.

2> Ask for feedback. Reach out to old and present colleagues to learn what they value about you as a professional. Use the insights you gather to think about how else you could enhance your professional performance.

3> Cultivate your network. Warm up old contacts and reach out to new ones. Schedule one coffee or business lunch a week. Join committees at your professional association and networking events. A new opportunity may actually come knocking at your door!

4> Find a mentor. Find someone you can trust with deep expertise in the areas that interest you. Remember that mentoring can be helpful at any stage you are at – you could also reach out to a Career Coach who will act more as a “mirror” of you as a professional.

5> Continue learning. Sign up for training sessions or certification courses in relevant areas within your desired line of work. Subscribe to industry publications and discuss them with your colleagues. You could also learn a new language and explore the idea of doing your same job in a different country.

6> Consider a lateral move. Explore opportunities to change to a different but equivalent role with a similar level. Your job responsibilities will be different but they will give you new opportunities for professional growth.

7> Practice deliberately. Apply all your ongoing learning to your daily work. Set goals for increasing your productivity and accomplishments. When you gain the feeling that you are developing professionally, you will put in motion a virtuous circle of self-growth.

8> Review yourself regularly. Evaluate your career at least once every six months – both through formal appraisals of your company and through self-assessments. Update your CV/resume and social media profiles. Set specific goals to strive for. 🎯

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Step 2 – Creating your work/life balance 

As a second step, you’ll need to work on your own formula of “work/life balance”. This is usually the biggest missing ingredient for most experienced professionals who report a feeling of being stuck.

 Try any of these suggestions for achieving more balance:

1> Practice self-care. You’re more likely to have a successful career if you make your personal wellbeing a top priority. Identify what self-care means to you, break it down into its components and make a plan to gain them one by one.

2> Strengthen your relationships. Spend time with family and friends. Build a network of support with loved ones who know you and care about you. This will boost your positive mental attitude to face your day-to-day challenges.

3> Maximize your leisure time. Use your hours outside of work wisely. Develop a hobby that both challenges and relaxes you. Participate in cultural activities and team sports. Nourish your mind, body and soul – as you prefer.

4> Work smarter. Free up more time and energy for the things that matter to you. Plan your week in advance and coordinate errands. Leverage technology to complete tasks faster. Figure out the times of day when your performance peaks and use those hours to focus on your top priorities.

5> Start a passion project/a business. You may have cultivated a hobby for years and even gained expertise in that field. If I told you that there’s a way to earn money from your long-standing hobby, how would you feel?

6> Deepen your spirituality. Connect with something larger than yourself. Clarify your values and purpose in life. Meditate regularly and read inspiring content each day. Surround yourself by people who share your beliefs.

7> Lighten up. It is possible to enjoy life while taking work responsibilities seriously. Take frequent breaks from work and try to see the humour even in difficult situations. This will relieve the sense of burden you may feel in relation to work.

Key takeaway: it’s never late to make changes to unstuck your situation.

Even after 15 years in the same job, you can find a way to learn and grow. You can make dramatic changes like changing jobs or starting a new business or make smaller adjustments in how you approach your current position and daily life.

The choice is yours. 🎯

Chat To Me.

If you are ready to see some changes in your career or business, let’s chat!

Categories
Work/Life Balance

The Key To Pursuing Your Own Vision of Success

Having a rewarding career depends upon pursuing your vision of success – do you know what that means for you? Here’s my take on it.

How to define your own career success

We all know that success itself means different things to different people. For some, it’s a matter of earning more money and climbing the corporate ladder or stretching their skills. For others, it’s more about having a big family or contributing to society.

When I was a Performance Coaching trainee, I learnt that Success is a concept rooted in our personal values and beliefs which are shaped early on in our life as a way to be accepted within our closest social circles. Yet the meaning of this concept does evolve over time, especially during our years developing our professional skills going from one job role to another.

The way we feel about our work – our relationship with our job, if you like – stems directly from what is important to each one of us in life: e.g. on one extreme it could be the safety given by a high-paid corporate job and on the other, the feeling of excitement given by starting new business enterprises as an entrepreneur.

It’s very common in our career history to hit a point when we revisit all our accomplishments to date and become conscious that what we thought we wanted from our job no longer makes us happy.

So, here’s how to self-check what YOUR definition of success is. Try ask yourself these questions:

  • What gives you JOY in life?
  • What would it take for you to get up from bed in the morning every day with a smile in your face?
  • If all the jobs in the world had the exact same salary associated to it, what would you be doing?
  • If you could choose directly how to spend your day, how many hours per day would you work? And what would you be doing in the other hours?

Just by answering these simple questions regularly and checking on your answers, you will get an idea of where YOUR PRIORITIES lie time after time.

Here’s the thing: success is made of different components which all contribute to our sense of fulfilment and happiness – we just need clarity on what their priority order is.

Gisella Casolaro_advice on career success

What is your definition of Work/Life balance?

In my experience as a professional Career & Business Success Coach, I can report that by far the no. 1 goal that everyone seeks – in varying shapes and forms – is Work/Life Balance.

That’s the key to Career Bliss… when you feel good about how you are splitting your time, energy and resources between your paid job and your personal life activities.

Even high-powered senior executives in busy corporates have said to me that they would trade a zero in their 6-digit paycheck to gain back more free time for themselves, to be able to do all the things they cannot do now.

I also 100% relate to that. In fact, I want to share with you my own interpretation of Success.

You see, I am an almost reformed workaholic who has only recently changed her definition of that S-word!

Before, my definition of success was something like: “to feel rewarded by knowing I was making a difference for my company and our clients by growing their businesses and leading effective marketing strategies and communication activities for them, while nurturing the professional development of my direct reports… while earning a salary within the market price associated to my role!”.

Last year it evolved into: “to feel at peace and deeply fulfilled by making a difference for other driven professionals who want to achieve their own definition of career and business success… while earning the sufficient amount of money to live with a good degree of comfort”.

So, over the last 10 months I have been on a journey to gain my Work/ Life Balance – just like I would encourage all of you to do.

What most people find challenging is knowing how to get there though, when there are seemingly so many barriers made of: bills to pay, other people interconnected to their lives and negative feelings such as fear or anxiety.

This is exactly what the coaching technique helps on: to make it very clear how you can personally get to the end point you set as a goal for your own success.

That’s how I finally got to my balanced state (hint: picture of me in the studio where I practice yoga twice per day)!

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How to start planning for Career Success

If you want to take the first steps towards your own version of career success by yourself, here are my 8 nuggets of advice.

1. Own your journey.

Repeat to yourself this affirmation: “Taking care of myself IS MY NO. 1 JOB”. You are the person who determines what you want in your life, no one else is responsible for doing that.

2. Set your definition of success.

Define one big goal (e.g. Work/Life balance) and also all the small objectives that will motivate you and allow you to evaluate your progress towards your end point. Give yourself realistic targets that are challenging but feasible.

3. Identify your strengths.

Think about your talents and how you can apply them. Do you like working with numbers or do you have a passion for design? Browse online for aptitude tests that will suggest careers that suit your personality.

4. Address the obstacles in your path.

You may find that you need some additional resources or tools to complete your goals. Figure out what’s holding you back right now and then plan how you’ll overcome it, step by step.

5. Work on your personal and/ or business brand.

What makes you unique? Understanding your personal brand will help you to market yourself. If you are aiming to start a business, you’ll need to work out what both you and your business stand for.

6. Put your career plan down on paper.

By writing down your plan in any way – e.g. scheduling, journaling or visualising a mood board – you’ll be more likely to keep your strategy in mind instead of letting it get buried under daily micro-events.

7. Review and update your plan regularly.

Career planning is an ongoing process that requires more than keeping your CV or resume’ updated. Review your work occupation status regularly to decide if it’s time to make a change.

8. Key takeaway: plan your career not just rationally but also emotionally.

Build accomplishments that you can be proud of and that will contribute to a deeper sense of fulfilment. Otherwise, you may spend your days living up to the expectations of others or mindlessly drifting from one job to the next.

Chat To Me.

If you are ready to see some changes in your career or business, let’s chat!