I am not enjoying my job
or
I would prefer to be the manager of a circus

A question often people who come for coaching often ask is whether they are working in the right job. Should they look for a different job?

Sometimes they have very concrete ideas for alternatives. Adventurous types ask themselves whether they should quit the boring job in the finance department and do “something with people“ or “something with their hands” – whatever that might mean. Less unconventional types wonder if they could leave finance for human resources.

Changing jobs is rarely easy, and this is the moment when many people feel a need for advice – or coaching.

My first question is not: What would you like to do? And my first answer is not: If you do what your heart says then everything will be fine.

First of all I ask which feeling is lacking in the present job, and how my coachee wants to feel at work. Sometimes answering this question involves quite an intensive search and a lot of thinking. But there is an answer.

The answer to the question how you would like to feel in your job opens up many possibilities.

It does not always have to be the job of circus manager – perhaps the feeling you want can be found in your “boring” job in the finance department.

The answer is often that people want to feel full of energy and creative. In coaching we then consider whether the present job offers any ways to feel like that. How about just acting as if you were full of energy and creative?

Try it out – it works!