Are You in Your Perfect Job or Career?

Everyone is born with specific talents and personality. As I have mentioned in previous articles, before you can attract your perfect career, work or lifestyle, you must be clear about your gifts, talents, interests, values, purpose and Personal Style.

The challenge for many of you will be that your gifts and talents don’t fit the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) Codes or National Occupational Codes (NOC). While it might be easy to define the skills necessary to do the job of a welder, bus driver or receptionist, how does an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur fit into the code? Many people do not! Making career/job decisions using the status quo is not always beneficial. For many people, that process misses the mark entirely.

When I was conducting my primary MBA research (40,000 pieces of data), it revealed that when individuals accepted promotions and took on more responsibilities, their job satisfaction levels decreased. Living On Purpose should never be equated with being upwardly mobile.

Even though we were not surprised by the research results, we were not prepared for the exact reasons for their growing job dissatisfaction. Our data confirmed that as people progressed in their careers with increased responsibility, they had less time and less balance in their lives; there was a growing chasm between their current life and the life they envisioned for themselves. Increasingly, they were forced to make choices among the things they value most in life—such as finishing the proposal or going to their child’s soccer game.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not slamming jobs or dedication to work. However, I do want to point out that your job, career or business should be there to serve you, not the other way around. I agree with Dr. Alan Weiss’s opinion on life: People don’t have a “work life” and “home life”; they simply have a life with all its elements. So, if you are in a job, career or business that is not serving you and using your gifts, talents and interests, then it is time to take action and make a change.

So, what do you do if there is a gap or you are not satisfied with your current job or career? Below we list several in the following action steps:

Action Steps

1. You first must take the time and confirm what you want (exactly and in detail) in a position, career or opportunity. I recommend my book, The Quest For Purpose, to provide you with a roadmap to get the answers you seek in this regard.
2. Let go of your fear; your choices determine your quality of life.
3. Ask for support. Get feedback from friends, coaches and colleagues—and have them tell the truth.
4. Self-awareness via assessments is a powerful and expedited way to gain clarity. Two assessments that are foundational are the Values Preference Indicator and the Personal Style Indicator .
5. Take quiet time to reflect. Envision your perfect job, career and lifestyle. In research of 1,500 high performers, the number-one habit that they all embraced was Clarity. You must know where you are going before you can get there.
6. Make a list of all the characteristics, qualities and attributes of your perfect opportunity. Envision your perfect career or business in all its detail. How does it look? Document it, reflect on it and get excited about living it!
7. Compare that list to your current situation. In many cases, individuals who complete this process find out that—with a few adjustments and a bit of fine-tuning—they can achieve exactly what they wish to accomplish. For some reason, they have not been accepting the fact that they are actually quite close to having what they want. Some individuals must give themselves permission to enjoy their life.
8. If you are the one in five individuals who has achieved perfect responsibility on purpose, what is your next level? How can you go even higher?
9. Finally, yes, the effort to do all this is worth it. Life should be inspiring and, for the most part, enjoyable—not a burden. So, take responsibility and just do it!

Until next time, keep Living On Purpose!

Ken Keis