Are You Too Comfortable At Work?
Are you hesitant to dream big? Shoot for the stars? Really go after the career or entrepreneurial business growth you want?
It’s soooo easy to get settled in deep. Too comfortable in a job that isn’t a great fit or worse. Sometimes much worse. Maybe you are in a role you like that you could shine in with extra effort and elbow grease but that easy chair has become mighty cozy and there’s an unacknowledged fear of upsetting the status quo. Or it could be that your business is ready for its next leap…and that feels like a hard lift.
It may be time to go after that big career goal and believe you can have it. To allow hope to blossom.
Try this. Close your eyes and imagine your bad self in that perfect career or entrepreneurial success story. Take your time and let the picture fully develop.
What do you see? What are you doing? Who’s there with you? Where are you located? What can you smell? Most importantly, what do you feel? If you are dreaming big enough, you’ll feel a lift in your energy just imagining this great opportunity. The very worst thing if you try and don’t achieve the ultimate goal is that you may be disappointed. You can live with disappointment. We all have.
Plus, it’s been my experience that dreams can change, and they usually do alter as we move ahead. My business is only very loosely related to what I’d planned to do when I left my corporate job five years ago. It’s much better, utilizing many of the gifts that I’d tucked away on a shelf for “someday” or completely disregarded as being strong attributes. Those gifts are now at the front of my offerings and serving me extremely well. You, too, have unacknowledged gifts within you.
Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.
Try these ideas to pump yourself up.
Inventory your job history. Go deep here, listing every job you’ve had. Write down what you liked and what you didn’t like. Ask yourself why those things you liked were appealing. See what common threads run through to help map out the next steps. My bet is that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of the revelations.
Ask yourself what you want your day-to-day work life to be like in the next few years. It’s fun and I do recommend focusing on the big picture. However, our lives are lived in the day to day. Daily satisfaction is what equals a happy life. Here are some good starter questions to ponder. What work environment do you want? How much responsibility appeals to you? What skills do you want to learn? What’s the focus for your personal life?
Look at the answers from the first two items and claim your non-negotiables and your career must haves. Know your decisions and trust yourself.
Risk is the only path that leads to growth and positive change. The only one. We sometimes perceive risk as a negative when in fact, well-reasoned, thoughtful and planned risk is something you can control. It’s better to be in charge of career risks than have someone else controlling your destiny.
If you are feeling major cause for pause fears around being too comfortable, here are some tips to identify and move past them. First, it’s key to clarify the cause for pause feelings. Here are some common ones.
Money
Timing
Confidence
Fear of failure
There are more. Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.
Here are initial tips to overcome cause for pause fears.
Work on solutions to money and timing. There are always other options. Get creative and outside your normal box of thinking.
Do deep internal work on your self-confidence
Do it. Seriously Give it a chance. Take that initial step. That will begin to negate the fear of failure voices in your head.
Find a guide. Going it alone is difficult. I coach professionals in the area of career choices and have the experience and the tools necessary to help you.
If you don’t aim high, all the chances of success are reduced to zero. You deserve better. Get excited and take the next step that’s right for you.
I have a complimentary exercise to share with you. It’s “Are you Sitting (Too) Comfortably?” and gives you outstanding questions to ask and action steps to begin your next steps toward your very best career. If you’d like a copy, reach out to me at brenda@brendaholley.com and I’ll send it over. Never settle. If you are ready to move ahead with your career, contact me at brenda@brendaholley.com and let’s go.
