Have you ever noticed how jobs are like love affairs? You hit a bump in the road, even a patch of bumps, and there you are, climbing in bed with the statistics and making the livelihood you love all wrong. One day you wake up and say something like, “This job is just not giving me what I want; it’s not fun or challenging or collaborative anymore.” And you conjure an internal sneer when you think of your workspace, or your boss, or your co-workers. It just doesn’t measure up. People you work with just don’t get it. In fact, you don’t even like them at all. Your job has become an it, and your team has become a they.

From there you start calling your livelihood a career. Or maybe you’ve so fallen out of love you’ve started calling your career a job. Whatever the case, before you ditch your current source of sustenance, the one you once said was “a perfect fit, my ideal life,” consider these questions:

• What if you are in charge of your experience?
• What if you are responsible for bringing the fun and challenge and collaboration?
• Can you give up being right in favor of creating fun, challenge and collaboration?
• What might happen if you quit blaming others and refuse to play the victim?

Don’t get me wrong, there are jobs that will suck the marrow from your bones. We’ve all had them. And job security has become as laughable a phrase as job loyalty. But in terms of your own personal development, what If you turn your attention back toward yourself as if you were 100 percent capable and responsible for providing the juice and inspiration you crave. How might your experience be different?

To test your readiness to leave your current digs, and to illuminate a potential pattern you might not want to bring to your next adventure, try this out:

For one week, test your thinking with this “mirroring” exercise. Notice every criticism and judgment you have about your work or other people, and turn it around. Try it on and see how it fits.

Just a thought…

Lisa Gates is a coach and completion catalyst - the crazy glue on the soles of your sneakers that keeps you committed to your book, your project, your big idea. Committed to inspiring the leadership possibilities of livelihoods in action, Lisa has three words for all idea-crazed writers, entrepreneurs and dreamers: Someday is now. Find her at 360 Alliance Coaching.

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