Lifeless. Stagnant. Boring. Those are the words that come to mind when you think about your JOB.
What sad descriptors! But they are honest. And honesty is gonna be the key to moving forward. But maybe you aren’t quite sure yet that it truly is time to make a change. Change can be intimidating and scary…because what does the future then look like???
The future can look any way you want it to! You get the power to choose it. You have the power to manifest your hearts desires. But first, you’ve gotta get hyper honest with yourself. Take a deep breath and tune into your body. It’ll provide you honest feedback when your mind gets in the way with all the fear voices jabbering around.
Ok. Are you tuned in? Great!
Next, begin to read each of the following statements and notice how you feel or what you sense physically.
The velvet rut is the enemy of productivity. It’s the most comfortable form of complacency.
You hate getting up for work in the mornings
The alarm on your phone jerks you awake, and immediately a sense of misery and dread consumes you. The snooze button gets hit again, and again, and again until you’ve run out of every bit of spare time you can afford. Then you drag yourself out of bed and let out this dejected sigh of defeat. Life just feels miserable and monotonous with no way out.
You live paycheck to paycheck and day off to day off
No, that doesn’t mean you are broke. Far from it! It’s the money you make that keeps you doing what you do professionally. You grind away at the day job just so you can get that money to enjoy your free time. If it wasn’t for that, you’d be doing something else pronto. Your weekends become your refuge. As soon as Friday hits, you start coming alive again; excitement filling you up with thoughts of possibilities and freedom.
You’ve been getting serendipitous signs
Coincidences are popping up all around you lately. Maybe you’ve been having dreams of moving away to Hawaii and starting over from scratch. And then all of the sudden you get emails with special deals from JetBlue to fly there for dirt cheap! Maybe you’ve been seeing 1’s popping up all over the place; like a totally unusual amount. On your clock, street numbers, receipts, everywhere. Or maybe you were at the gym and met someone who recently started their own biz doing exactly what you used to dream of as a kid.
You begin to question your self-worth
Even though you are constantly contributing at work (above and beyond), you don’t understand and question why they hired you. Your personal life is in the toilet, and you think ‘it’s no wonder you are still single’. Life seems to be swirling around and around you don’t feel deserving of anything that is happening to you professionally or personally.
You start to question why you do what you do
Have you ever sat down and asked yourself how you ended up in this job, at this company, in this industry and profession? Was it a series of missteps or was it intentional? Was it based off of opportunities that fell into your lap and it seemed only natural to take them? Or maybe you built your career based off of what would make others proud or make you the most money? And now…it all feels sortta…off.
Sunday’s depress you
As soon as you wake up on Sunday morning there is the gloom fairy on your shoulder whispering words of sadness and disappointment. Because soon, Monday will be here. And that means…work. It’s this never-ending weekly cycle that hasn’t let up for months, and you don’t know how to stop it. Maybe if you stay up really late on Sunday, Monday won’t get here? Yeah, you’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.
Your accomplishments don’t feel very exciting and you want a sense of purpose
No matter what you do, no matter how productive you are or efficient you’ve become, you still feel like your accomplishments are lacking. You want your work to mean more. So what if you came in 10% under budget on that last project. Did that really help anyone other than the shareholders??? The phrase, “I want my life to mean more” regularly bubbles up in your head.
Happy, successful people annoy the hell out of you
Color you green with envy because these peeps just make you sick! And yet, you are so curious how they can be so content and fulfilled with their lives. Is it possible that it’s all a show?? Maybe. Or maybe they have found success on their own terms. Either way, you are 1 part jealous, 1 part frustrated, and 1 part inspired to find their kool aid and get what they’ve got!
You pictured your life looking different at this point
When you were a kid, you had dreams. You dressed up for Halloween. You played pretend. You wrote papers in high school about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Nowhere in those early years did you imagine life would look the way it does now. You’ve begun questioning everything and wondering why those dreams got flushed down the toilet.
Your work / life balance is off-kilter
You’ve become a workaholic. You work well over the national average of hours per week. You figure, the work has to get done and I’m responsible for it. Being on salary it only makes sense for you to put in the extra time. In order for my goals to be met and the company to succeed, things must be sacrificed. Taking care of yourself has been put on the backburner for a long time.
Now that you’ve read through this list and taken an inventory of how your body feels, accept what you noticed. Those things are important. Don’t dismiss them away or judge them.
It’s time to honor those messages and start to switch gears. Because let’s face it, this ain’t sustainable. And life is too damn short, honey.
[bctt tweet=”Life is too damn short, honey.” via=”no”]Here is a simple litmus test to help guide yourself into this new season of finding your purpose and career:
Try not to think about the end goal of getting a new job or starting a new career or even finding your calling / sense of purpose. Start by noticing in the moment the things that light you up and the things that exhaust you. This is the easiest way to make decisions on what to say yes to and what to say no to. You can begin with small things (like whether or not you will take on a protege) and work your way up to bigger more impactful decisions (for example, joining an optional project with a very short deadline).
And finally, this same tool can tell you if it’s time to leave your job to pursue something new. Something fun, something more aligned. Something that gets you excited to get out of bed each day and doesn’t demand that you sacrifice your soul or time for it.
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Are you ready to kick that day job to the curb and go all in on your biz?
Get started now by signing up for the Sassy, Classy, and Badassy Meditation Series.
Get three full length guided mediations with Jen Moff. All of them are designed to support you in building a business that feels uber satisfying without burning out or taking on stress-inducing clients, so that you consistently have fun exceeding your financial goals while taking time off and going on vacations, guilt-free.
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