Change how you feel at Work

Work can be frustrating and stressful sometimes.

Yet, no matter how tough your job is, you'll need a healthy mind and body to tackle it. If you are eating poorly, not exercising, or internalizing stress, you won't feel well. And if you don't feel well, you can't treat your career with the attention and respect it deserves. Without energy, you cannot make your career as fulfilling as it could be.

As a career coach, I speak to hundreds of people each year who are unhappy with their careers. When I ask them what they eat, how physically active they are, and how they handle stress, their answers do not surprise me. One by one, they tell me that they are not taking care of themselves.

How can you love what you do when you don't feel you best? How can you build momentum in your career when you are tired? How can you fulfill your dreams when you don't have the energy to make it happen?

You Can Change How You Feel At Work. Here Are Some Things You Can Do To Make This Happen:

Let Go of Anger

Anger is a normal emotion. But, when you cling to a painful emotion such as anger, you cannot feel energized. When you free yourself of angry thoughts, by forgiving yourself and others, you will free up a lot of mental space which can be filled with newfound energy.

Solution: Decide to let your anger go, so you feel better and more productive.

Let Go of Blame

We are a society of blamers. We all do it. Even though we criticize others for not taking responsibility, when it's our turn to be responsible, we tend to look outward to assign blame if something goes wrong. Blame feels good, because we don't like to admit being wrong. The downside to blame is that it allows you to stay stuck when you could actively be trying to improve the situation.

Solution: Decide against assigning blame. Blame will drag down your energy level. If something at work is not going well, accept what is happening and try to learn from it. This way, you can make progress and move past it.

Change Your Beliefs

Your beliefs are powerful. They set the tone and direction for your career. If you say that you want one thing, but actually believe another, the resulting conflict will hold you back. Belief is critical to victory. If you do not believe that you can have a high level of energy in your career, then you are unlikely to achieve it.

Solution: Decide to let go of the beliefs that no longer serve you. Instead, focus on believing that you can transform yourself into a healthy, lively person.

Change Your Attitude

Your career can be compared to a journey. As with any journey, there will be highs and lows along the way, in this case, spread out over many years. When good things are happening in your career, it will be easier to feel energized. But when more challenging things are occurring, it will naturally be more difficult to manage your energy efficiently.

Solution: Decide that your attitude will not keep you from being in the best possible mental and physical health you can be.

Make Better Choices

Your career is filled with choices. Some of them will empower you, and others will hold you back.

Of course, no-one intentionally makes bad choices. Every time you ate something that did not nourish your body, or skipped a workout, you probably made what you thought was the best choice at the time. You weighed your options and believed that you were doing the right thing. When you learn to question choices that are bad for you, you can also learn to make better choices in the future.

Solution: Decide to make better choices. This is a vital step towards creating a healthy, energetic new you.

Change Your Job

Does your job increase your energy or drain it from you?

Many people stay in their jobs longer than they want to, because they are unsure of what to do next. They tell themselves that the answer will come someday. Whenever that day comes, they will make their move. But in the meantime, they are stagnant and unhappy.

Solution: Decide to change your job if you are unhappy in the one you have now and you have given it your best shot.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!

Written & Contributed by:
Deborah Brown-Volkman, PCC
Career, Life, Wellness, and Mentor Coach
President, Surpass Your Dreams, Inc.

How to Create a Vision For Your Career

All of life's journeys begin with the phrase, "I want."

Think about your career and the times when you said "I want." Maybe you said "I want" go to college-and then enrolled in school and completed your degree. Maybe you said "I want" to work for a large or a small company-and you are working there now. Maybe you said "I want" to lead teams-and that's one of your current responsibilities. "I want" is a very powerful phrase. Without it, it's hard to go very far.

Imagine going on a trip without selecting a destination beforehand. What would you pack? How would you get there? Where would you stay? Your trip probably would not end up being much fun.

It's the same with your career. Not being able to visualize your desired result leads to results not happening. Goals are reached when you decide what you want, and then take action to get it. Without an end in mind, you will wander aimlessly; and as long as you are aimless, you will be wasting time. You will feel lost. You will be like a stray leaf, going wherever the wind takes you.

What's a Vision?

My definition of a vision is a visualization or a picture of where you see yourself in the future. Your picture can be one of where you want to be in a day, a week, a month, a year, or even farther into the future. The visualization of your goal is what compels you to move forward. A vision is a snapshot of what you want your career and life to look like in the future. This snapshot gives your journey a clear and reachable destination and provides focus.

All goals are reached in the mind first. You see yourself both achieving that goal and experiencing the satisfaction it will bring you once you are there. This picture is what will help you to persevere during times of doubt. Your picture of success will give you purpose, power, and excitement. Your picture will give you a reason to get out of bed every day.

How do you create a Vision?

Close your eyes. Let your imagination take over. Get in touch with what you really want and what is important to you. Ask yourself meaningful questions. Let the answers come to you.

What Questions will help get you to a Vision quickly?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

• If it was possible, what would be different in my career?
• What type of job would I have?
• What would I be responsible for?
• What type of boss/co-workers/team would I have?
• What kind of hours would I work?
• What type of company would I work for?
• What sort of culture would the company have?
• What city would I live in?
• How much money would I make?
• How would I handle stress, my workload, and deadlines?

Once you have thought about these questions, it is time to get your answers down on paper. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. The answers are what is true for you-not what someone else wants for you, but what is truly in your heart. Listen to yourself, and your answers will be the perfect ones for you.

Once you have your vision, then it's time to make it real.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!

Written & Contributed by:
Deborah Brown-Volkman, PCC
Career, Life, Wellness, and Mentor Coach
President, Surpass Your Dreams, Inc.