Career satisfaction,  Happiness,  Personal Brand,  Stress Management

Feeling Stuck? Look into Your Fears

Are you feeling stuck in your job?

Are you having a lack of motivation?

Are you feeling like quiet quitting?

It must be hard to carry on like that. On top of it, when someone asks you about your career vision – it could be even more frustrating. It happened during a seminar when I asked the audience to do a visioning exercise. A gentleman got frustrated and challenged me, saying, “none of these works; I tried everything, and it doesn’t work!” Though I felt a little awkward, I could sense his disappointment. But I also learned something from it.

It is difficult to project into a future vision –  our brain finds it hard to visualize something when it focuses on the current problems. So, first, we need to clear the mind of some clutters – limiting assumptions and underlying fears are two prevailing ones.

A common limiting assumption is: “my vision has to be within the team/organization I am in.” Such an assumption could come from an underlying fear: “I may not get anything better.” And on top of it, rational reasoning could cover this fear: “Since I have invested so much here already, why not try a little more!”

After the seminar was over, I talked to the gentleman in private. When he calmed down, I asked, “What is your fear”? It made him pause a bit. “I am afraid I may not get anything better than this,”- he uttered as I listened compassionately. He then agreed to reflect on that, and we parted. A few weeks later, he called me and sounded quite happy. He said, “I reached out to a few people in my network and did two informal interviews; I expect to get an offer!” It looked like a little nudge helped him identify and address his fear, and that’s all he needed to get unstuck.

If such fear is holding you back, pause and ask yourself, where are you giving your attention – this fear or the desire for fulfillment? Until and unless you choose the latter, your vision will always be blurred by those fears.

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Please also note that if your energy level is low, there could be many other reasons. So please take stock of all the stressors and see what you can do to reduce the energy drain. In addition, add some joy- giving self-care practice to your routine to replenish your energy. Read more here.

Feel free to set up a call to explore further.