How to love your job: stay motivated
Who is the real you?
Fortunately, many personality tests and vocational inventories now exist which can help you decide on a personalised career path. The Myers-Briggs personality inventory is one of the most well known and is quite easy to obtain. It can be found and taken online and the results can be translated into vocational, relational and personal outcomes. “What Colour Is Your Parachute?” is another resource which is helpful in determining your vocational interests and aptitude.
Of course, it only takes a little introspection in order to determine your interests and talents. Simply sit down and begin compiling a list of activities, skills, interests and talents and look for similarities between them. One of the best ways to identify specific areas is to develop sentences which require the missing item to be filled in. “I am happiest when I am….”; “I simply cannot live without…”; “I feel the most successful when I…”, are all good examples of targeted sentences.
Careful career choice will decide your future success
You should be on the lookout for necessary and highly important criteria when considering a career choice. For example, you may have a need to be outdoors on a daily basis. In order to be happy with a career choice, you may have to travel, work outside or simply have an office window in order to feel fulfilled. If you have a creative personality, you may need freedom to express yourself with minimal direction and few deadlines to complete a task. Some jobs may require that you be people oriented and considerate of others in a service type capacity.
These types of exercises can also help if you are already in a job. You may look for ways to “personalise” your work or find ways to introduce a personal need or preference such as stepping outside or playing music or being more creative. Of course some situations such as clinical depression or chemical dependency may require leaving a job or taking a medical leave of absence. Someone who feels trapped in his or her job and is simply “going through the motions” is neither helping himself nor others.
Motivation is tied in to personal goals and objectives. You may simply take a job in order to pay the bills and buy a few things. However, a career should be an extension of your own talent and creativity. There is nothing wrong with “taking a job” to pay the bills. However, this should always be a temporary solution with an eye on reaching an objective down the road. In Robert Kyosaki’s famous book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad“, he states that one should never simply work for money. The goal is to have money work for you. Any job you take should be with an objective of learning more about an industry, a process or developing a skill.
Career happiness is your path to riches
In short, finding motivation for your job may be as simple as obtaining an office window or as complicated as undergoing therapy. The bottom line is that a career is an extension of you. Rather than simply “finding a job” you need to discover yourself, then do the thing that makes you the most content. Not only does this insure personal fulfillment, it also inspires confidence and success. Make sure that certain essentials are met in your career choice, or at least that your choice will take you in the direction you want to go. If you do not know what that is, perhaps you need to sit down and think that one through first.