Hate your job or really burnt out?
A pre-pandemic report from Robert Half UK stated that over 4.3 million employees in the UK are unhappy at work with stress being a key contributor. That's 1 in 10 of us spending over a third of our lives doing work that makes us unfulfilled, frustrated, dissatisfied, miserable, stressed.
Are you one of them?
From my experience working with a range of clients over the past years as well as navigating my own career change journey and as a former Health Professional, I know that doing work that doesn't bring you joy can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, loss of identity, lack of self-confidence, unrealised potential and can have a detrimental effect on personal and professional relationships..the list goes on.
I've been contributing to a number of articles on this topic recently. In The Metro, you can find my top tips on How to Talk about Mental Health at Work, in Working Mums, I look at How to Build Boundaries and in HR Magazine, I've shared my thoughts on what HR Teams can do to tackle excessive stress.
One of the recent questions I've been asked by a client is "how can you tell the difference between hating your job and being burnt out?". It's a great question because of course they can be interconnected issues, so I wanted to offer my thoughts.
Workplace stress and job satisfaction are intrinsically linked, so it can be difficult to identify whether the feelings you're experiencing are as a result of burnout or lack of fulfillment and frustration in your job. If you hate your job, of course this impacts your stress levels, which makes it difficult to determine whether it’s time for a change or to just persevere, so it’s worth getting analytical and reflective.
First, consider whether the root cause of your frustration is performance-related or values-related.
Are you experiencing a sense of prolonged stress and overwhelm; feeling unable to fulfil the demands of your role, effectively manage your workload or to achieve all you’d hoped to? If that’s the case, it’s most likely that you’re heading towards burn out and may need a change in working conditions or context where you can access the support you need.
If, however, you find yourself unable to express your values and what’s most important to you, if you are limited in your ability to use your skills & strengths, to learn, grow, develop, pursue your passions and your own sense of success, then this could be an indicator that your core concerns are values-related and the work itself isn’t the best fit for you and may present a time for a change.
So, begin by carrying out an audit of what is and isn’t working for you right now. (You can access a free resource on my website to help with this). Ask yourself the question, “what does that tell me?” and “how can that inform my next steps?”
It’s also really important to check-in on whether your dissatisfaction is due to a case of unrealistic expectations or something greater. Is your discontent due to a lack of achievement and perceived success or a lack of opportunity to do work that really matters to you?
If you could change some specific aspects of your current work situation, would this facilitate a change of perspective towards your job? Or would you need to completely redesign your role in order for it to be truly fulfilling and a good fit for you? Be analytical about the source of your frustrations. The more specific you can be about the root cause of your concerns, the more enabled you are to take action that will help you to move forwards.
Let the dissatisfaction motivate you to take action and explore new avenues and opportunities. Being pro-active helps you to feel in control of a challenging situation and take charge when things feel overwhelming and you don’t know where to start. Are your frustrations linked to the context and environment or specific to the role you’re fulfilling and the work itself?
Some practical steps you can take:
1. Carry out an energy audit to assess how energised and enthused you are by the activities within your working week. Note down the key tasks and give them a score out of 5 to determine what brings you the greatest joy, fulfillment and sense of achievement and what the weight of these is across your working week. If you’re doing more of what drains you than energises you, this may be a sign that something needs to change.
2. Design your ideal working week - what does it look like and how does it compare to your current situation? If you’re a spreadsheet person, create a timetable. If you're creative, design a vision board or journal your ideal scenario.
3. Be inspired by seeking out others’ career change stories / journeys through online searches or networking with others in a similar field.
4. Carry out a skills audit - when you think about the things you excel in, to what extent do these feature in your current work?
5. Carry out some small scale ‘career-path projects’ to explore potential new avenues and opportunities in a very light touch way. (ie if you’d like to go freelance, why not book a coffee with someone you know who has already embarked upon this journey).
Here are a few further questions for you to ponder:
To what extent, does my current role enable me to express my values and what’s important to me?
What do I find fulfilling or meaningful in my work?
How does my current work enable me to pursue my sense of success?
How does my current work fit with my long term life goals / aspirations?
What do I want to be able to say about my work life / career in a year’s time?
If you would like professional guidance and in-depth support in figuring out what you want from your next career move to go from confusion to clarity, from overwhelm to action and to pursue your new career with confidence, then book in for a completely free strategy session to explore the support options available.
We'll identify where you want to get to in your career, we'll dive into what's going on for you right now, what is and isn't working and we'll identify the challenges and obstacles that are preventing you from making more progress, so you can put in place a plan of action to move forwards.
I offer a range of support options to help you find work you love, why not take a look at the various services on my website
If you want 2022 to be the year when you finally get to do work that really matters to you and you're ready to make a change, do book in for a completely free chat to figure out your next steps.