The Ultimate Guide To Finding Professional Satisfaction

Just because you are in a good nine to five job with exceptional promotion prospects, a decent wage and the people that you work with are a fun bunch to be around doesn’t mean that you will automatically be professionally fulfilled. Sometimes it’s all too easy to slip into a role that’s really easy and leaves you feeling unchallenged and bored. You might be able to do your job with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back. While this might make your days stress free, it can also make them tedious and unsatisfying.

While you could obviously change your job, there are also other things that you can try to help make your days more fulfilling. Your job is a massive part of who you are. After all, you perform these duties eight hours a day, five days a week. If your position is becoming untenable, take a look at this ultimate guide to finding professional satisfaction.

Go It Alone

Forget the humdrum nine to five and working for the man (whoever the man is) and instead branch out alone. While this can be terrifying and leave you feeling daunted at the prospect of relying on your own talents and business acumen to make a living, the challenge could be just what you’re looking for. Before you know it, you might be using your little book of contacts to network and forge a new path in your career.

You may choose to stick to what you know. If you’re working in the financial industry, you might use this as a stepping stone to becoming a self employed accountant specializing in providing services for contractors. Alternatively, you might want to use this opportunity to strike out into a whole new sphere. While marketing suited you at one point, now you might want to follow your passion for all things crafty, selling antiques or importing the latest ball bearings from Hong Kong. Whatever it is that you want to do, now is the time to do it.

Volunteer

Forget changing your job, and consider utilizing your time better. Volunteering and giving back to your local community can be the perfect way to counterbalance your dissatisfaction with your nine to five. Take some time out, just like Cynthia Telles did, and channel your skill set into a more worthwhile area. This was a lady who took it upon herself to volunteer her time in a Costa Rican hospital after she, herself, was once a patient there.

While you might not have such a massive pull toward a particular place to volunteer, you could instead focus on your talents and use them accordingly. Could you put your marketing skills to good use with a local charity? Could you help out your local school with their finances? Consider what you have to offer and get out there and offer it.

Take A Break

Sometimes we can feel stuck in a rut. There’s nothing else for it but to take a break and reassess your life, your goals and where you see yourself going in the future. The simplest way is to take the holiday that you’re owed and find yourself on the next flight to somewhere new. Whether you have two weeks or two months, take the time to consider all of your options.

You may return fresh faced and bushy tailed, and ready to return to your current role. Sometimes a break is all that you need to fall in love with your job all over again. Conversely, you may head overseas to return wanting something more out of your career. This is the time to branch out, send off your resumes to companies that you like the look of and possibly make a career switch. While you might strive for a promotion, a career change may result in a slight demotion for a time as you build up your experience. The positives outweigh the negatives as you’ll be learning a whole new set of skills and feel challenged in your role every single day.

Finding professional satisfaction can be a mythical beast to slay. Often you simply cannot put your finger on what is preventing you from enjoying your job. All you know is that you are bored, you dread waking up in the morning for the long commute, and you live for the weekend and nothing more. However, by following this guide, you can reassess, reflect and decide what it is that you want out of your work life.