By Khalilah Starks
“I love my job!” Unfortunately, these are words that few professionals seem to utter nowadays. I, for one, have found myself miserable at an employer or two. Every Monday, I anxiously anticipated Friday. Every Friday, I exhaled – I had made it through another week. Every Sunday, I wondered where my weekend had gone – seemed like it was just Friday. And on Monday morning, I would experience my weekly pounding headache once I was within 5 minutes of my workplace. And, once again, I was anticipating Friday. What I didn’t realize was that in addition to the physical toll that this situation was taking on my body, I was allowing life to pass me by. I was always anticipating the end of the week or frightfully anticipating Monday morning (thereby speeding up my weekend). I couldn’t enjoy the moment because I was always anticipating the future. So, what do you do when you’ve gotten to the point where you’re going through the motions on daily basis and just plain unhappy? My answer – you accept that it’s time to move on.
Change is one of the most difficult things for people to accept and initiate. Often times, it’s easier to live and work in dysfunction than it is to actually take the steps to change. There’s something about the unknown that frightens people. What will I do next? What if I’m not successful? What if my next move creates a situation that is worst than my current situation? With so many uncertainties, all of a sudden, rocking the boat doesn’t seem all that worth it. Why leave the comforts of my own insanity? And, unfortunately, many have been in jobs that have left them unfulfilled for so long, that they don’t even know what would interest them. I encounter so many professionals who are unhappy, but don’t have a clue as to what they’d like to do next.
So, what do you do once you accept that it’s time for change? The easy answer, “you dust your resume off and start pursuing opportunities.” But, that may not be the correct answer for you. Perhaps you’re interested in changing careers. Or, perhaps you’re interested in starting your own business. Or, perhaps you really don’t know what you want to do next. I was once told to make my next move, my best move. So, in addition to job search techniques, I’ll be focusing on strategies to help you make YOUR next move, YOUR best move.
I’ll continue to profile professionals across a wide variety of industries as a part of the Mover & Shaker series – traditional 9 to 5’ers and entrepreneurs. My hope is that the stories of these professionals can shed light on your own career development process and open your eyes to careers that you may not have been considering. If you haven’t seen my previous Movers & Shakers, definitely take a look. I have more interesting profiles to come!
To kick off this focus on change and moving on, I’d like to leave you with an article that was sent to me a few weeks ago about a professional who left a big paycheck for a career with less pay, but more satisfaction. I think that it’s an excellent article with some great tips for career changers. I hope you enjoy!
“Trading a six-figure salary to become a teacher”
My question for you: For those of you who have changed jobs, careers or started your own business, how did you know that it was time to move on?
i knew it was time to move on when i was given an opportunity to take on additional responsibilites and a leadership role and was like, “no thank you”. i wasn’t interested in giving any more time/talent to a relationship that was no longer fulfulfilling regardless of the “prizes” that were offered to me. i knew the new role/money would only be a temporary fix.
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