If you don’t love your current job, it can be tough to determine how much energy and time to invest in that job. It’s paying the bills, but you’d rather be working somewhere else or working on something else – or both! At the same time, you may be surrounded by those who are going above and beyond and working to climb the corporate later. So, what makes sense for you?
Here are three investment strategies for the job you’re in…
1) Do Your Best:
Even if you don’t love your job, it’s still important to do your best. You’re creating a reputation for yourself, and your reputation will affect new opportunities and follow you into your next role.
Do you contribute at a strategic level? Do you keep your commitments? Do you develop quality, trusting relationships? These characteristics are important regardless of the career you pursue, so building your skills and your reputation are worth the investment in time and energy. Not only that, putting your best foot forward can help your career growth and security as well as your personal satisfaction.
2) Leverage Opportunities in Your Current Job:
Good leaders within organizations are happy to see their employees take on stretch assignments, shadow coworkers, and take on new leadership roles for a project. Take advantage! If you’re trying to figure out your career path or looking to get experience in new areas, look around for opportunities in your current job to do just that.
I know folks who’ve really benefited from this – Leigh who volunteered to teach yoga classes at her company’s fitness facility, Lisa who helped organize employee events, and John who started writing editorial content for his company’s website. All these folks were working outside their typical job responsibilities. They gained experience in new areas, better understood the types of activities they liked and didn’t like, and increased their confidence by stepping outside their comfort zones (let alone the impressions they made with others at their companies).
Look for (or make) opportunities in your current job to help you move forward and grow.
3) Remember Your Values:
If you don’t like your job, it can be disconcerting to be surrounded by those who do. You see go-getters volunteering for every opportunity at the company. You witness coworkers kicking butt to get a promotion or recognition. You may get or feel pressure to do more than your day-to-day responsibilities. Perhaps you’re torn. Totally understandable! You still want to be recognized and valued for your good work. You just know you’re not yet in your dream job.
In this case, get clarity on what you truly value and use it to guide your decisions. For example, you may prefer to use your weekends to get a new career started rather than using your weekends to make progress with a work project. Certainly, there’s no judgment regardless of the choice. Just understand what you value and focus on that. It may bring some motivation and comfort if you’re surrounded by folks who have different values.
Please let me know – have you leveraged opportunities in your current job to help you make your next career move? What happened?
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