Suddenly my work-life doesn’t satisfy me anymore. So, what’s next? 

You had everything figured out.

A business idea, a successful job, a college degree, a guaranteed job at a local company, or any other opportunity that looked promising and eventually let you down. 

These opportunities start off wonderfully, and many times they last and lead to a beautifully fulfilling career. But other times you get a feeling in your stomach one day that you’ve never felt before. 

You start changing aspects about your life, picking up new hobbies, trying new things to satisfy this void… But it’s a no-go.

You can try your best to ignore the feeling, but then you’re lying to yourself now, too. 

It can be painful and scary. You’re not sure where to go. What field to work in next. Will the next job disappoint you, too? We don’t have the answer, but sometimes it takes realizing that when something external doesn’t satisfy you, it is time to look within. 

You can work in a grocery store, a branding agency, a retirement home, a factory, a hospital, etc. The possibilities are endless. But the dissatisfaction is not! 

Now what? 

First of all, are you sure? Yes? Okay, let’s get started.

You accept that you no longer have the love you once did for your job. Your professional career doesn’t excite you anymore. Cool. 

This is where you take the opportunity to learn about yourself. Take some time and rethink your goals. Which ones are achievable now? Which are going to take some time?

Now you get back up, and you create (yes create, not find) something that is going to bring you everything you’ve always wanted. 

Maybe you want to start your own business, or travel across the world, go back to school, move to a new city, country, etc. Either way, you’re going to have to try and do things you’ve never done before in order to fill the void. Because obviously everything you were doing previously wasn’t enough. 

Let’s get to work. 

Start thinking of yourself as a business. You can go in any direction you’d like. Create yourself from scratch. Decide how you want to market yourself. What your branding will look like, how you will approach your audience and the world around you. What are your goals? What would you like to achieve? 

When you begin to look at yourself as something you believe in, and a vessel that you can envision being successful, perspective starts to change. 

So, start with why. Why are you starting? Why are you trying to achieve your goal? Whatever answer you come up with, make sure it’s authentic. 

If not, you’ll burn out. Don’t worry, though, we have a blog post for that , too. 😉

How to prevent burnout. 

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.

That being said, do you feel it sporadically or is it constant? Can you make small adjustments or big changes are needed to reverse it? Do you feel that no matter what you change or improve, your routine doesn’t satisfy you anymore?

To be honest, we ALL feel it at some point. We’re human and the societal standards set for us are way too high. Near perfection is expected, but infinitely unsustainable, clearly. How could you ask your team, your freelancers, your partners or even yourself to be perfect every time you have to produce something? Impossible. Mistakes are the exception. They are inevitable. And they make us human. 

Funny thing is, your clients, in the end, don’t even know what perfection is. They don’t know what you’re able to create, they don’t know what amazing branding looks like, they don’t know what an amazing website consists of, they just want enough value for the price they paid that’s it. They want something effective, user friendly and good looking enough to not repulse their own clients.

If we were saving lives, if we were creating art (we kind of are, to be honest), that would be a different story, but we’re not. And that makes all the difference.

By the way, doctors and artists are more prone to burnout because of the pressure to be perfect 100% of the time.

Reassurance and how to find peace of mind

The first thing to identify is where this need for perfection stems from? Usually from a lack of confidence, which often coincides with high potential and hypersensitive personality types. 

That being said, how can you take a step back to relax and enjoy the journey?

• Meditation - meditation helps you to take a step back from your intrusive thoughts and can  break the pattern of obsessive ones. Helps calm your anxieties and take you back to a more relaxed state in the present moment. A study from Havard shows that 20min a day/5 days a week has the power to actually alter your actual brain in 8 weeks (Powell, 2018). 
• Exercise - helps you to get your power back. Training is not only for your physical health. It can improve your mental health, too. It helps you to reconnect to your body which, most of the time, knows you better anyway. Trying boxing, martial arts or even yoga can truly help you focus on something else and externalize all your negative energy.
• Sleep - even Jeff Bezos says he needs at least 8 hours hours of sleep a night to perform. Whether or not you can perform just as ell with fewer than 8 hours, your body will eventually succumb to the lack of energy in your body and you will crash. So make sure you get your Z’zz. 
• Nutrition - how you feed your body will impact your mental health - all the proper nutrients help to support the function of your brain, some food like bananas even have antidepressant properties.

So,

We’ve all been there and we may be there again

The most important thing to do is surround yourself with the right people who provide the best energy for you.

And if it suddenly isn’t anymore, you have the constant and continuous ability to completely change your surroundings. And you can do it as many times as you need to, because you deserve a life that fulfills all of your dreams. 

Cheesy, but it’s true. 

Life is tough, people are hard, business is harsh, so make sure your workplace is a safe place. 

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Citations: 

Powell, A. (2018, August 27). Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/.