culled from:mckinsey.com
What to do when you choose the wrong career
When you selected your career your life may have been unlike it is at present. For example you may have been single then and now you have a family. The crazy schedule or the frequent travel that is typical of your career may not suit your new life.
Suddenly it hits you, your Career and your Lifestyle are growing further apart and you are being stretched to your limits. This divergence is not uncommon but fortunately it can be corrected in one of two ways: Change your Lifestyle or Change your Career.
In my experience most of us who choose to change our lifestyle to accommodate a career usually end up burnt out and unhappy but the few who choose to change their careers and keep the lifestyle really live life.
Six Indicators of a Career and Lifestyle Mismatch
1. You struggle with Work, Health and Family Balance
When you have your priorities laid out in your mind as to what you need to accomplish on a daily basis only to have to work around the best daylight hours to do it then it becomes stressful.
2. You are Struggling Financially
Things looked encouraging for your field when you arrived. Due to changes in technology, the economy, or the industry you work in, job opportunities are no longer abundant and getting a raise usually means undertaking more responsibility to take up more of your time with more stress.
3. You Are Experiencing Job Burnout
Once upon a time you loved going to work every day. You no longer feel that way. You can’t stand doing your job anymore and changing employers hasn’t helped. It could be time to find a career that will inspire you.
4. Your Job is Too Stressful
Some occupations are inherently stressful. After a while the stress can become too much to handle. To preserve your mental and physical health, you may have to find a career that is less stressful.
5. You Find Your Work Boring
When you did your initial research, the occupation you ultimately chose had a lot of advancement opportunities. Now that you’ve been working in that field, you’ve climbed as far up the ladder as you can go, and you miss the challenges you once faced.
6. My Career and Lifestyle Mismatch
As a Business and Finance major, I started working at a young age gradually working my way up the corporate ladder.
One of the most challenging experiences I had within the recent past was making a career move as a “big fish in a small pond” to a “small fish in a big pond”. It really wasn’t about the money, I did it for the experience, and I did it for my career.
My logic was I could take a step back to leap further forward, even if I had to get into private practice I would need the relevant experience as a qualified Accountant so for me the decision to continue full-steam ahead with my Finance career was a no-brainer.
I was actually soaking it all up and actually enjoying my time at the organisation, although I knew that the salary I was making couldn’t support my family the way I wanted to and the decision to leave within three years was made when I joined.
Then the full picture of my decision became more evident, longer work hours, especially at the month end was putting a strain on family life as my daughters were getting older and with age comes more homework, homework which either me or my wife had the responsibility of overseeing and required time. Then there was co-curricular activities for the kids also required time but the most influential revelation which forced me to re-consider a Finance Career was the desk bound existence which was doing very little for my fitness and healthy lifestyle goals.
How I corrected my Career and Lifestyle Mismatch
On my occasional days-off I would try to re-create a perfect day where after dropping off the kids to school I would go for a run or hit the gym. Then I would eat a healthy breakfast and get ready for a productive, low-stress, high income earning day before collecting my offspring and spending quality time.
This was the basic structure of how I envisioned my perfect day and when compared to my then-current job I was worlds apart. Working a 9-5 couldn’t allow me this lifestyle and this was when I realized my circumstances have outgrown my career and if I didn’t try to make changes and find a career that is more family and health friendly.
In 2013, my wife (Tresha) who was also a nine-to-fiver started looking online for some assistance in marketing a side business selling personal items for commissions (as I mentioned we were quite strapped-for-cash). In her research she came across an online business platform where she could learn to become an elite online marketer, earn high ticket commissions and do it all from home and in her own time. Immediately, certain keywords popped up in my mind, MLM, Pyramid, Scheme and I was not at all interested, that is until I started to compare my perfect day to this type of career and it clicked, it fit so well that I joined her and we are now trained and experienced online marketers and authors on our area of expertise.
Conclusion
We all have chosen certain paths in our lives and these decisions were made when our lives and lifestyles were quite different to what they are now. This Career and Lifestyle Mismatch creates stress which is expressed mentally as depression and physically in our appearance. We all have the tools necessary for change but not everyone knows how to use them. Career change is not easy but with proper guidance and coaching anyone can excel in a career that matches with their lifestyle.
