Your Mind Your Body

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“What are you going to do after high school?”
“What does that job have to do with your major?”
“Are you changing jobs again?”

The questions we hear throughout our lives reflect some of the rules many of us have learned about careers: Make sure you find the right fit. Having to change careers is a shame. If you’re not working in your field of study, did you really need all that education? 

Even though most of us realize that “the rules have changed” when it comes to our work lives, many of us still desire to be in complete control. We often want change on our time frame and on our terms. The world of work does not look that way anymore. Change is not the exception. It’s the rule. That means our approach to work life should include the expectation for change. And it also means there are probably multiple good options for us—not one magical one that we have to find in order to be happy at work. Armed with this viewpoint, change can start to look like an opportunity, not just something to be endured.

A good question to ask ourselves every now and then goes something like: “What might be next for me?” This question is especially important when there are signs that your current work situation has an uncertain future. And in this economy, that could be true for many of us. The question is equally important as a “check-in” for your own work satisfaction and as a challenge to review goals and plans for the future every so often. An added benefit of asking such a question is that, when change does come suddenly, some thinking has already gone into answering the question, “What do I do now?” Answers to these questions depend greatly on how much we know about ourselves and the world of work. We’ll look at that issue in the next “work life” blog.

Filed under: Work/Life