Stripping (my career) to its core.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to strip your job down to the core things you like to do, and jettison the parts that suck out your soul, take up more time and energy than they return in satisfaction, and leave it all behind you?

If you are like me, you’ve had these moments more than a few times, and stopped yourself cold, castigated yourself for daydreaming instead of figuring out how to make your current situation more workable, and put your nose back to the same grindstone. No sense in dwelling on things that aren’t going to happen. There’s work to do. Maybe someday. . . .

It’s easy enough to keeping grinding away at your nose when you get small wins here and there along the way. . . a promotion, an award, even a nice letter of thanks or drop-in visit from a student or alum can carry you a long way in this field.

But what should you do when those small wins stop coming as often, or the rewards start to outweigh your efforts?

For me, there has been a lot of trial and error, some big bumps along the road, setbacks and steps forward, and a lot of nose-grinding. Through a lot of introspection and exploration, and a few stark failures, I’ve learned a lot about myself, and what matters the most to me in my life and career.

First, the failures don’t define me. They don’t take away the achievements I’ve made, personally and professionally. They have provided valuable lessons and thinking points for new exploration. I’ve learned something from each of my failures, and I am a better person and a better professional for having had them.

Second, if you spend more time doing things you don’t enjoy than things you do, it’s time to start thinking about doing something different. Really, what’s the point in working for a living when it’s sucking the life out of you? Change is scary, but so is the prospect of beating your head against the same wall for the rest of your career. If y0ur job is keeping you from living the best life you can live, what are you working for? This is the only life you’ve got. Don’t waste your time and energy on wasting your time and energy.

Third, if you can’t see the next step from where you are, it’s time to look for another vantage point. I’ve come to realize that I’ve accomplished everything that was really important to me in my job at Penn State, and that there are no other opportunities here that interest me. Organizationally, I’ve topped out, but I’m not able to do what I am best at in my current job. Opportunities have come up, and I’ve been considered for some of them, but in the end, I didn’t get them. This can be a hard pill to swallow, but it is what it is. I’m not going to hold up all the might-have beens and sigh in desperation. There are other things to do. In my case, I decided to start looking around.

Fourth, if you ask yourself the right questions, you’ll come up with interesting answers. For me, the answers came pretty easily. I’ve always loved to write, so I started writing for the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog and submitting pieces about careers in Student Affairs. It was good to write again, especially about a topic I really enjoy. My interest comes from a couple of places. First, from difficulties I’ve had in job searches in the past. Second, from a hobby of sorts that grew out of this interest. I like helping people with their resumes, grad school applications and interview preparation. Many times, after I’ve helped someone, I’ve received comments like “this is great. I would have totally paid for this,” and gotten referrals from these people to others also in pursuit of career assistance. I guess I heard it enough in the last few years that I finally said to myself “Would people actually pay me to do this?” and “Would I enjoy doing this for a living, rather than what I am doing? I may be nuts to think this, but in both cases, the answer I arrived at was “yes,” so I decided to imagine ways to make it happen, and started researching career coaching certification programs. I’ll be starting one later this month, and I am really looking forward to it. I’ll share what I learn along the way.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back in touch soon.