Tomorrow morning millions of people will wake up with a headache or knot in their stomach because they have to face “that employer,” “those people” or “that job” again. Each day brings the same thing. They want to escape the drudgery but can’t seem to get to the change they really want – (perceived or real) lack of opportunity, lack of motivation, fear/doubt/unbelief, discrimination, etc. If this is you, know that you’re not alone.
I have encountered MANY people over the years who feel the same way. Although my speaking and coaching business is less than six years old, I actually began speaking and coaching many years ago while serving as a Talent Acquisition leader for a major employer. Because I knew many people in the organization, people would often come to me to discuss their career woes. The conversations would often sound like this:
Employee: “Bernie, I’m sick of this place!”
Me: “What’s wrong?”
Employee: “I just can’t catch a break. I’m tired of doing this same old job and working with these people.”
Me: “Well, what is it you want to do?”
Employee: “I don’t know, but what I’m doing now isn’t it.”
And on it would go.
Since I knew most of the people who wanted to talk (some were sent to me by others!), I often knew enough about them or their circumstances to be able to share some insights. For many of them, I suspected it wasn’t necessarily time for them to change organizations. More often it was time for them to change perspectives.
If you find yourself in a similar situation as the scenario I outlined above, then the advice I always gave to my fellow coworkers may just apply to you. If you believe you’re ready to leave your current organization or current position but your efforts to do so aren’t working, or nothing is happening for you to help move you to a better place, it could be that you’re in the position for one of six reasons:
- There is something you must learn.
- There is something you must unlearn.
- There is something you must do.
- There is something you must stop doing.
- There is someone you must encounter who is supposed to impact you.
- There is someone you must encounter who you’re supposed to impact.
In almost every conversation, the employee would concur with this assessment. And, in almost every situation, the person ended up staying with the organization longer, and their situation turned around.
In the years following, I was often amazed at how many times this was true for me when I ran into that same proverbial “brick wall.” This isn’t to say that there aren’t times when we need to run out of the front door of our organization and never look back but, in many cases, we often leave before we learn the lesson(s). I suspect this is why there’s the term, “boomerang employee.”
Before you make any drastic moves with your career, I encourage you to consider the six statements above to see if one of them could be true for you. You know, some tough situations that come our way are meant to work like sandpaper – smooth out the rough spots in us and prepare us for what’s next. If you can be open and patient with your circumstance, the sandpaper will hit just the right spots to create a smooth and glossy finish. But, if you fight against it, you’ll get burned because you presenting the wrong parts of you to it.
It is not easy to embrace a tough situation, and there are times when you should let go and move on. However, you’d be amazed at how circumstances can work out exactly the way they should for you if you allow yourself to be polished by them.
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” ~Unknown
Until next time….