Reenergize Professional Growth and Satisfaction

It is common to see varying levels of discontent and feel like you’re treading water when discussing career and professional growth. In addition to feeling stagnant in a current role, we may second-guess the purpose of our role related to the bigger picture. When the job does not feel like it’s serving a bigger purpose to either ourselves or community, this may lead to feeling it’s unimportant and/or feelings of burnout. Here are some strategies to reenergize your professional growth and satisfaction.

Assess Your Current Role and Satisfaction Level

First, determine where you are currently and where you land on the spectrum of satisfaction. Leading questions may include:

• What is your role and is this what you pictured?
• Are you happy more work days than not?
• What makes you feel inspired? Uninspired?
• What parts of your day feel important and like time well spent?
• How does your work contribute to the greater good or bigger picture?

In this exercise you may realize that your contribution, although not always glamorous, is vital in a way that matters. For example, a custodian in a hospital could be viewed as someone who wipes, mops, and removes trash. OR a custodian could be viewed as an integral role to minimize transmission of germs and cross contamination in a population that may be uniquely vulnerable. They may facilitate the improved healing or even survival of someone through their dedicated work. Perhaps reframing how you view your role is solution enough for improving your satisfaction level.

Define your goals

Once, you know where you stand, determine where you want to go. If this results in feeling the need to shake things up, define what that could look like. What changes would you make? Could you increase the better parts of your days (such as face-to-face time with clients) and outsource or minimize time spent on the dreaded parts of your day (such as entering data)? What are early stage and late stage goals to institute changes? Is there something different you could do starting *this* Monday to bring you a baby step closer to your realized vision?

Devise a Plan

Once you know where you stand and where you want to go, fill in your roadmap with step to get you there. For instance, do you need further education or to find a mentor that models your ideal? Once you clarify the objective, determine a reasonable timeline for “phases” to create steady, achievable goals (like SMART goals). This helps mitigate feeling overwhelmed at the distance between where you may be now and where you would like to be in the near or distant future.

Having a well-made plan to navigate your updated roadmap is a great start to reenergize professional growth and satisfaction. For added gusto, use a life coach to curate smart goals and stay accountable to your timeline. Book a session today to get a jump on your professional growth and satisfaction.