S2.E7. CAREERS: Navigating Career Dissatisfaction and Unfulfillment

[: 00:00:00

[00:00:24] Natalie: Now, last month was about the mindset pillar, and we covered topics like stress and anxiety and overcoming limiting beliefs. This month we're diving deep into the career player. Now before we get into today's topic, let's do a wellness check. This is a time to just check in with yourself and acknowledge how you're doing.

[: 00:00:43

[00:01:01] Natalie: And just a side note, I've decided to change from talking about a healthy life to a wealthy life. But wealthy is spelt for me, W E L L T H Y, because you can be very healthy, but not living well. And you can be very wealthy, wealthy with an A, so financially well off, and still not living well. So when I think of my wealthy life, I'm thinking of a life that allows me to live in alignment, purpose, authenticity.

[: 00:01:31

[00:01:44] Natalie: So, as I mentioned, the theme for this month is careers, and it's intentionally the second pillar I'm covering because the vast majority of my coaching clients, as well as friends and people I talk to. All have in common a strong sense of unfulfillment or happiness in their current career situation. Not everybody, but a lot of them.

[: 00:02:07

[00:02:27] Natalie: That's a whole lot of hours. So how sad is it if we're giving so much of our time, a non renewable resource, and not feeling fulfilled? It doesn't make sense. It's not worth it. Not to me at least. I also guarantee you that if you score low in the career pillar, it's definitely impacting and lowering your score in other pillars as well.

[: 00:02:51

[00:03:16] Natalie: And I really enjoyed my job. I loved my students. And, you know It was good and I couldn't, I thought I was going to stay there for years, maybe even until retirement. I don't know what I was thinking because it only ended up being four years. Because I decided to start my own business and I opened up a random bubble tea business.

[: 00:03:42

[00:04:01] Natalie: And, you know, I was trying to balance it. It started off as a side hustle. It started off as a side hustle, so I was trying to balance it with my full-time job. But honestly, working seven days a week can only happen for so long. At least for me. It was just too much. It wasn't sustainable. So eventually I decided I had to leave my teaching role so that I could just pursue this crazy dream that I had. Because one thing about me, I just want to live with no regrets. I do not want to be a person who sits there and wonders, What if I did this? What if I did that?

[: 00:04:36

[00:05:08] Natalie: I was broke, like no money at all and it was so hard for me on a day to day basis. I remember walking around and just crying like just walking, tears down my face because I felt so depressed. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find a job. I know I have skills, I know I'm smart, I know I'm intelligent, I know I have a good resume, but nothing was coming through.

[: 00:05:35

[00:06:02] Natalie: I was a teacher again. So after I moved back to Canada, I think the next year I was able to get back into teaching. And to be honest, I'm teaching because that's the job that I knew. And so sometimes you just go back to what you know. And that's the good thing about teachers. Is that you have that experience and so it was easy.

[: 00:06:24

[00:06:46] Natalie: To be honest, I actually never really wanted to be a full time teacher. I always wanted to be a substitute teacher or a supply teacher because then I would have more freedom and I'd be able to make my own schedule and choose when I want to work. That idea has appealed to me from a very young age. I'm not even sure why because when I was a child, it wasn't common for people to be Thinking or hoping for ideas of freedom, time, freedom, location, freedom.

[: 00:07:16

[00:07:36] Natalie: The way my patients is set up, it's just not set up for that age group in large amounts. And so not even, and it wasn't that it was all bad. I just wanted to do other things. I wanted to work in the wellness space. I had gotten my wellness coaching certification. I was doing the coaching on the side, but I just wanted to do.

[: 00:07:55

[00:08:16] Natalie: I think in terms of just Always being innovative. I liked the idea of working with a younger company, so more of that startup vibe. Because you can just learn so much and there's so much opportunities there. I also knew I wanted to work cold. I was not trying to be outside commuting in the Canadian winters, because if you know me, I do not do well with cold weather at all.

[: 00:08:41

[00:09:00] Natalie: But, realistically, it's not that neat and tidy for so many people. First of all, due to the cost of living and demanding work environments, some people put in way more than eight hours a day. And they might even have two or three jobs just to pay the bills. Careers do fill many different purposes. One, obviously pay the bills.

[: 00:09:22

[00:09:43] Natalie: You know, I just found that Even as I was doing research for this episode, there are some specific factors within careers that cause people stress and dissatisfaction. And so this is with the actual job itself, and that might be things like job ambiguity, frequent turnover, poor management, lack of career advancement, poor onboarding and training, lack of relationships and sense of belonging, and lack of meaningful contribution.

[: 00:10:13

[00:10:33] Natalie: episode to just make it seem like every single person out there in the world is dissatisfied with their jobs. Because lots aren't, including myself. There's lots of us who do like the work that we're doing. So, even in the same way, think about why you do like your job. That's really important information for you to have.

[: 00:10:51

[00:11:22] Natalie: You don't actually need to have fulfillment from your work, you can even have fulfillment outside of your work. And there's going to be an episode later on this month where I speak with Lola, and Lola was actually talking about that, so stay tuned for that episode. But sometimes the fulfillment comes outside of work and your job is really just allowing you to live, right?

[: 00:11:42

[00:12:05] Natalie: So we see this in the corporate sector. We see this in education and health care. And to be honest, just in many sectors around. And many people are just they're over. Society tells us to hustle and work even at your own expense. And though we see a lot of companies increasing support for mental health.

[: 00:12:23

[00:12:30] Natalie: Another major dissatisfaction with careers is obviously about time. Everybody's talking about work life balance. And if you work long hours, and to be honest, even if you just work an 8 hour day, it still means less time with your family, less time for yourself, and just less time to pursue other interests.

[: 00:12:50

[00:13:26] Natalie: They didn't even realize that they had those desires or interests or wanted to try new things. Because they never had the time. There was no time, there was no mental space to allow for those things. I remember once I was asked on a podcast that I was a guest on. What societal change would I like to see for collective well being and my answer was a four day work week I think it would make such a monumental difference for the most amount of people And I also look at countries in Europe and just and other Spanish countries that have some version of a midday Siesta where people go home.

[: 00:14:04

[00:14:23] Natalie: But it doesn't automatically mean that life is more balanced. So company culture and work boundaries still play a part, and we can see how this directly impacts the relationship pillar. And another angle for the relationship pillar is actually, what if you're working with people that you don't like, or you're in a toxic work environment?

[: 00:14:43

[00:15:05] Natalie: So right now people are being laid off. It feels like left, right, and centre. Every day you turn on the news and more people are being laid off or let go. And think about how that impacts someone's thoughts and stress level. And that heightened state that they're going to work with every day. Wondering if today's going to be their last.

[: 00:15:24

[00:15:58] Natalie: And I would really encourage you to reframe that thought because good jobs are out there and they are attainable for you. Your job is to search for them and position yourself as a good candidate and just prepare for that moment. Another limiting belief is I went to school for this so I have to stay in this career.

[: 00:16:20

[00:16:49] Natalie: And the last limiting belief that I'll share today is I don't know what to do with my life. And this is a big one. As I said, career challenges or lack of career direction, lack of career fulfillment, lack of career clarity is the number one reason why people go to life coaches. But a reframe can be that as long as I don't give up and I keep taking steps in the direction, any direction, clarity will come in the doing.

[: 00:17:21

[00:17:44] You ever thought any of those thoughts before? And if you have, don't worry, it's all good. It's all normal. I really want us to normalize those kind of limiting beliefs that we have because we all have them, myself included. All of us have thoughts in our head that want to hold us back, and we just need to become aware of them and provide our own reframes.

[: 00:18:06

[00:18:27] Natalie: How did I leave a stable job with benefits, job security, stable wages, and my answer is just that my choice was based on alignment, and at the time, the jobs were no longer in alignment with the vision I had for myself. One message that I consistently preach on this podcast in person for the stage in workshops, it's to live a life of authentic alignment based on what you want and how you want to feel.

[: 00:18:57

[00:19:20] Natalie: And sometimes it evolves and it changes over time, but I'm always asking myself this question. And I'm always coming back and noticing what the answers are. So I would encourage you to do the same. Now let's take a moment to focus on disruptive wellness. So we know that disruptive wellness is the intentional choice to push back on the status quo and society's narratives of what success, wellness, and a healthy life look like.

[: 00:19:47

[00:20:06] Natalie: Now let's talk about practical strategies that we can use in support of our career pillar. So the first strategy is to outsource things. If you're a full time worker, chances are there's been times where balance has not been easy in your life. So I want you to consider how you can outsource certain tasks or even get more support.

[: 00:20:27

[00:20:57] Natalie: And that's going to look different for each person. It might look like waking up 30 to 60 minutes earlier. I know for a lot of moms in particular, they find this very successful because they wake up before the rest of the family. It might also look like taking some time for yourself after work, but before you get home.

[: 00:21:18

[00:21:39] Natalie: So, that's something that you might want to consider.

[: 00:21:42

[00:22:06] Natalie: And I think LinkedIn is so good for this, just as a place to be inspired, not just by people you know, but also people you don't know. And then you can learn about new fields, new industries, new jobs. There's just So much excitement in the LinkedIn world,

[: 00:22:23

[00:22:42] Natalie: Is it your manager or your team? It's really important to identify these things so that if you ever consider making a change in the future, then, you know, what to look for again. And if you don't like your job, well, just do the opposite, write down what's not working for you. Because again, knowledge is power.

[: 00:23:02

[00:23:30] Natalie: Let's just say it's a situation where you need a specific set of tools, or certain processes, or a certain way of communicating in order to be able to do your work better. Then say so. And also establish work boundaries. Boundaries around how people can access you, when they can access you, what they can access you for.

[: 00:23:54

[00:24:12] Natalie: Whatever gets you closer to the vision you have for yourself, do what needs to be done.

[: 00:24:21

[00:24:34] Natalie: What would you be doing and why does that appeal to you? So now we move to the check segment. What other pillars are being impacted by your career? If you feel constantly stressed because of your workload, or you have a toxic work environment, this directly impacts your mindset. If you work long days at a desk job, or work remotely, it's very possible that your body pillar is being impacted by lack of meaningful movement and exercise.

[: 00:25:06

[00:25:29] You need a breakdown on the 12 wellness pillars, and you want to find out your score, then you can download the free assessment in the show notes. And if you want to talk through your results, send me an email, I'd be happy to chat. For today's affirmation, I invite you to say today's affirmation with me.

[: 00:25:50

[00:26:10] Natalie: In closing, if you have a job, take a moment to say thank you. Even if it's not what you want, it still allows you to contribute to your life. And I want you to consider how you maximize fulfillment at your job. If not, then consider where can you find fulfillment outside of work that still is in alignment with how you want to live your life.

[: 00:26:32

[00:26:58] Natalie: So can I ask you to share this episode with a friend who may feel some career dissatisfaction and can benefit from what's being shared today? I just want to make sure that this podcast is reaching those who actually need it. Until next time, continue to serve yourself, your loved ones, and your community.

[: 00:27:16