Following up on my blog post “The Satisfaction Equation”, today’s blog is on working with the roadblocks in our way to achieving the career we want.
A number of years ago, I was in a highly stressful job. I enjoyed it, or aspects of it, but I was quickly becoming clinically burnt out, and I knew that it was not where I wanted to ultimately be. I knew where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do, but there was no way I could leave my position, and what I wanted to do didn’t pay well, if at all.
I took a career planning course over several weeks. We did all kinds of aptitude tests and Myers-Briggs tests. I knew my personality, and the aptitude tests, well, I knew I was good at certain things, but that didn’t mean I liked doing them. The tests either gave me bad options or they didn’t asked what I preferred, they asked what I was good at. The results were predictable and not what I wanted.
I spoke with the instructor privately, telling her what I really wanted. She suggested I pursue it. I said, great, but I can’t afford it. She said I should keep my job. And I said, great, but what do I do in the mean-time? She had no answers for me.
Several years later, and a few changes of jobs, and I am finally doing what I love.
The change in the right direction was a very deliberate one. Recognizing it would take time was the beginning. Giving myself a deadline of 12 months to get out of that job was a close second.
Are you looking to make a major change? Is it something you can make happen right away? If it isn’t, make a list of the roadblocks. How will you overcome each of those obstacles? How long will it take for you to overcome them?
Last week I saw Jillian Michaels on her “Maximize your Life” tour. Something she said is very true for this situation and I will paraphrase here. Think about the change you want, the end result. If it is worth it, you will tolerate the how for the why. Meaning, if the change is something you really want, if it is worth it, you will tolerate and push through and overcome the obstacles and the possible years before it is realized.
It hasn’t always been easy. There have been a lot of ups and downs and I’ve questioned my decisions many times. But the end result has definitely been worth the rest.
What change are you looking to make? How will you overcome the obstacles toward that change?
I must admit that your post is really interesting.
I have spent a lot of my spare time reading your content.
Thank you a lot!
Your story sounds so much like me – gotta get out of this job, can’t afford it, etc. I agree on those aptitude tests – I think they only give you suggestions on what type of office you should work in. What type of cramped little box you can best be crammed into. How many people do you think would get a result that says, “You madam, you should look into flying aeroplanes, you’d be good at that.”
I think my biggest hurdle was a combination of realizing what it was I wanted to do, and realizing that it wasn’t just a whiff of smoke pipe dream that could never happen. Once I get my mind set on a goal, I’m can be very stubborn and determined.
In High School, we had to do the aptitude tests, and mine came up blank. So I think I learned how to manipulate them to come up with an answer, even if it is an unsatisfactory one. It’s refreshing to know that we don’t have to go by the results of those tests.