When Work Isn’t Working

by | Mar 3, 2022 | Video

What does “Work Isn’t Working” mean?  Do you see the challenging side of this phrase (when your job isn’t right for you) or the joy filled side (when even though you’re getting paid, what you do doesn’t feel like working)?

Transcript

Hello. Hi. Welcome to work your best life. It’s an unfiltered conversation about when work isn’t working. And I think we say unfiltered conversation because I know one of the reasons that Hollis and I started this or had this idea to start this was because we were having these great conversations about work and when it isn’t working and when it is working.

And then we thought we need to record these conversations, because they’re really going to help other people. So, a lot of these are going be conversations that she and I are having or have had about all kinds of.

We’re going talk about what that is, what work, when work isn’t working, what it is, what does that mean to you?

When work isn’t working means to me that, it’s this feeling, it’s this feeling about when you no longer can continue in the same circumstances that you’re in.

So, you have that gut knowing that this situation, whether it’s your employer, the line of work, that you’re in the hours, you’re working, something is being violated and you can’t continue.

And that’s a beautiful thing to have that moment of realization because it’s so important to be able to move forward.

And on the flip side work, isn’t working also means when work doesn’t feel like working. And by that, I don’t mean that, you know, you’ll never work a day in your life because there’s always something that we don’t enjoy doing even at the most glorious of jobs.

But when work isn’t working, on a positive manner means that work doesn’t feel like such a chore that it’s bringing you joy.

You’re feeling fulfillment from it. And it’s not that dreaded working. Yeah. It’s another play on that phrase. You’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do kind of thing.

And I know that it’s my deepest desire so that, that everyone feels that way, that they can just come to work every day and feel like they’re meant to do it and that it isn’t work.

So I think it pretty much means the same thing to me too. Just not having that sense of dread every Monday morning and actually looking forward to the work you have to do, which like you said is not every moment.

There’s plenty of book work days or whatever that I still wake up and think, Ugh, I don’t want do that.

But  for the most part loving what you do is the best change I ever made in my life. I don’t know about you.

I think that’s what it feels like to work your best life. It’s just that work is going to be a part of our life.

And so if you want to live your best life, it needs to include working in there as well. And yes, I think when you know what it feels like for work to be working, then it’s a feeling you want to chase and share with everybody.

Like I just feel like, oh my, we could just everybody how to do this. The world would be such a happier place.

So much less anxiety, so much less stress that whole busyness and sense of anxiety that the world has to be so busy.

And you’re always so behind it doesn’t go away, but it just feels different. It kind of gives you this sense of peace, I think.

And I want, I just want so many more people to feel that especially after pandemics and all this stuff we’ve been going through the last couple years, it just feels like everybody needs to take a breath and really love what they are doing all day long every day.

Uh, as you know, Heather, I am a little bit shy when it comes to the camera and wanting to do things where I’m recorded, but what really drew me to say yes to this opportunity is that that idea of so many of us stay in situations that are not working for us way longer than is healthy for us.

And one of the reasons is, is that society says -that’s failing. Yeah. That we’ve learned over time that we might have chosen wrong, or if something isn’t working that it must mean that you’ve done something wrong personally.

Yeah. And just want to have a space where they’re hearing other people talk about the fact that, it’s so true that we will have multiple careers in our lifetime.

And just because something isn’t working for us doesn’t mean that it’s us or only us. And that it’s absolutely. Okay.

In fact, completely normal to have that feeling, that work isn’t working and try to solve for a solution, whether it’s changing within your organization, changing a habit, having a tough conversation, making a career change and all of those are beautiful, not failure.

Yeah. Well, and the other reason I think that we’re going to talk a lot about I’m sure in the future is just fear and being afraid and those fears of taking a step back or starting over all those dreaded phrases that people say over and over that, um, mm-hmm, <affirmative> often to times I just want to go shake him.

I go, none of those are true. Those are just in your head. They’re, uh, we’re not going to ever start over.

You’re going to take what you’ve done in the past and build on it and transfer it to other places. Other places that make you feel much more alive and you, and yeah, I can get worked up for sure.

Thinking about it. It’s just so exciting to be able to help people understand that everything they’ve done in the past can help them to work their best life in the future too.

Doesn’t mean you have to start over or step back or any of that. No, it doesn’t. And I think when we hear that and not only hear it, but believe it to be true such transformation of what can happen within us.

Yeah. One of the things that I know you and I both plan on talking about and really want listeners to hear is we can find a good job fit.

We don’t have to compromise ourselves and fit in. And that’s when we find true belonging and true fulfillment. And it starts with knowing that, yes, it’s a little bit scary and there are fears and there’s excitement and good things on the other side of walking through that journey.

Yeah. And that word working doesn’t always have to be evil working your best life. I feel like it ties in so well to our name, career design too, because you’re really, when you are working to work your best life, what I mean, putting in work, it doesn’t have to be bad work.

It’s like discovering yourself and figuring out who you are and how that you can bring that out to the world and design exactly what’s best for you.

Just like you’re saying, like don’t read a job description and mold yourself into it. It’s like create what you need in terms of going into that interview, going, this is what I bring, this is my value.

This is how I contribute. This is who I am, all those things. So let’s get people excited. Let’s tell ’em a couple things they can expect to hear over the coming episodes.

So we are really going to dig into fear and what I, it looks like, we also are going to talk about some assessments and how they can aid in finding work that you really love, also about telling your career story and some amazing little changes you can make in order to easily pivot to new careers.

What are some of the things that you’re excited to share even- student college stuff, right. When you graduate, when you have graduated and you went one way and you’re like, oh my gosh, I screwed that up.

High school students, what they’re going to do with their life. I think, clarity, understanding yourself, how to do that, where to even start.  Another big one is where and how you can start, and start instead of just feeling overwhelmed and stuck and frozen and so much more <laugh> I love it.

So, at the end of each episode, we are going leave you with an exercise that you can work forward on and do independently.

So Heather, what is your one for the week? Oh gosh, I think it is to stop, especially, after everything we just went through with the pandemic to stop and you can really do this by figuring out what you were doing in the downtime when the world kind of shut down.

But what do you like, what did you do, stop and take a minute and make a list or make some notes on what genuinely lit you up in the time when you were kind of stuck and not able to do the stuff had to do every day, all day.

Love it. I’m going to pair on that by saying, as you’re exploring that within yourself to also think of what is the problem that you feel like you’re confronted with at this moment and reframe it to what is the opportunity that you can move forward toward?

So instead of focusing on, what’s not working, and that’s a good place to start to know what’s not working, but is to find the reframe of what you can move forward towards this year.

Yeah. I love it. Perfect. Well, I really look forward to sharing all of our unfiltered conversations in the upcoming weeks, and we won’t always look so fancy.

<laugh> no, we love wearing hats too.