3 Keys to Job Satisfaction
We are all created for a particular type of work, and it's wonderful when we find it. But how do we go about finding that 'Factor X'?
1. Be in the right job
We have four children. With two of them, we knew what their likely ‘Factor X’ was early on. When Joel was six, and enjoying pulling up crabs on the pier, his mind was on other things. He wanted to know how much it cost to make the line, the hooks, the reels, and how many were sold. He was looking at supply and demand - it was easy to see where he was headed! In the same way, it was clear that Carleen was likely to go in a caring/nursing direction. But with our other two children, it wasn’t so clear.
In my experience, it seems uncannily similar in life: approximately half know and half don’t. So how can you be sure? One thing you can do is draw a target. On it, draw where your current job is in relation to the bull’s eye. If it’s not close, ask what would hit it.
Part of discovering who you are is to discover who you are not. Take a year out for experience and assessment.
2. Avoid the lifestyle traps
Thousands of people in Britain are in a crisis debt situation.
Many are in the wrong job because they are more concerned about their lifestyle than their vocation or their ‘Factor X’. Being more concerned about how much a job pays, rather than how well it fits their skills or abilities, means they are effectively funding a lifestyle with scant regard to the stresses that it will put on their enjoyment of work, and on their families.
This is a seductive trap. They are either in the wrong job and unable to enjoy it, or in the right job with the wrong motive or drive, and so the job is robbed of passion. Not only are we funding a lifestyle at high personal cost - but we often don’t have the time or energy to enjoy it!
3. Settle the issue of not having enough time
We need to accept our limitations. The problem is not that you’ve still to find the perfect schedule so you can do it all. The problem is that you don’t have enough time. As a result, someone is not going to get what they expect or need from you. If we think we can do it all, it can create pressure and stress.
Accepting that you can’t do everything means sometimes saying “no”. Believing we can say “yes” to everything is a seductive process!
Try out David Oliver's CD series 'Working to live'.
Written by David Oliver. Posted on 26th October.
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