How to ensure a satisfying career

Amongst us there are those who have completely fulfilling careers, both professionally and personally, those who have satisfactory careers and lastly those with careers that are disappointing from both a professional and personal level. The question that needs to be answered is how do you achieve option 1 rather than option 2 and definitely not option 3.

The start of the career path for each of us starts from a different place due to a number of factors; family wealth, educational background of parents, socioeconomic status etc but this does not guarantee you have a satisfying career. There are many people coming from a background of wealth and privilege who are underachieving, unmotivated and not satisfied with their career and career path. Likewise there are those from ordinary and disadvantaged backgrounds who would say they have fulfilling careers.

From what I have studied the responses given may or may not be based on expectations but we may have to consider that has some influence but it is also important to note that purely considering financial rewards does not result in a guaranteed positive response or likewise a negative response if the financial reward is low. It appears the key drivers to a satisfying career are; having control over the career path, having your personal goals satisfied, feeling useful, receiving meaningful benefits, and knowing why you are undertaking the career you are in. It is also known that if you consider your career satisfying your performance will be high and you should receive personal benefit. High performance will be achieved simply because you want to perform well and this will ensure your focus and dedication is strong.

So what this means is that you have to be clear on why you are undertaking your job and what you are gaining from both a personal and professional perspective, not just undertake a role for the sake of it and assume it will provide you with what you want. It is up to you to take the time to identify what aspects of a job are important to you, from a principle point of view, and ensure you align these with the career you undertake. The consequence of not doing this is dissatisfaction and lack of motivation, perhaps not initially but over time when you are not achieving what is important to you - however at that time it might be too late to change.

How to achieve higher levels of performance - Part 1

For many people what I am about to say is not new and a principle they live by on an everyday basis. However for many it is something either not known, not recognized or just ignored. What I am talking about is the concept of blocking out emotion and old mental anchors when it comes to breaking through new barriers to achieve new goals.

I would consider myself as intelligent as the next person so of course I would say I understand what I am talking about today. But do I follow this principle day in, day out? No. Do I think what held me back from achieving certain goals, blaming everything but myself? Yes. If this is you and you want to stop the frustration when this occurs by not making it occur then keep on reading. Otherwise feel free to continue with the old habits.

I am not sure why but on the rowing machine at the gym yesterday I was putting in quite an effort and the body and mind was becoming weaker as time went on. But I had said I wanted to hit certain numbers on the rower and unless I upped the pace I wouldn't make it. At one point I thought (well the instinctual self or Id part of who I am)'who cares, I'm still getting a good workout' but the Rational or Ego self and Internalized/Ego Ideal self said 'no way, you need this to improve plus you already said you were going to do it. If you don't you'll continue to make average okay to achieve'.

Very good you may say but what next. Then I determined a purpose and defined the principles for what I was about to do over the next five or so minutes; better health, keep word to self, achieve goal, feel better - this created a value framework which I could operate within and move forward, rather than perform an action 'out of habit'. When the going gets tough, the principle of instinctual self will look to protect you and make it okay not to follow through unless you have a stronger underlying principle that supercedes. This is a key factor in achieving new goals or targets.

So I had resolve, princples and purpose but still some pain and exhaustion. Well I looked deep down and asked myself 'how did I truly feel'. The answer was actually not bad...my brain had created a upper limit based on past exercise and it was sending me a message that I was nearing this threshold. However what the brain knew was not what my body was capable was - in fact no where near it. The pain was not real, the state of exhaustion was not real. It was all a mental perception based on past experiences and performance. Therefore the trick was to focus on the actual task of rowing along with the breathing etc and believe it or not the physiological change improved my emotional or mental state.

Therefore in finishing off what allowed me to achieve this task, better than I had before was; define your goal clearly and necessary action, establish principles and purpose for goal - including keeping your word to yourself and thirdly, be task oriented and do not let old barriers determine your emotional state and thus your physiological or mental performance. Focus on doing and you'll find your emotional state switches and supports you.

Are you a consistent decision maker?

What I am referring to when I say 'consistent decision maker' is whether your approach/process/internal model in making decisions is applied the same way each time when making a decision? Would you cross the road against the lights if no traffic every single time, invest in a product you do not understand 50% of the time, decide to continue or dissolve a relationship based on same underlying reasons....the bottom line can you predict your decisions ahead of time or not?

If you are looking to develop and improve it's an interesting concept to think about - if you are consistent but want to change it is quite easy to identify the decision making drivers needing development. However if your decision making process is varied and not based on a consistent 'internal' methodology, then identifying what needs to be changed and predicting the result of the changes can become challenging.

My belief is that the fields of coaching and psychology, by themselves, cannot determine and recreate a decision making process with the goal of improving one's decision making (DM) capabilities. When I say 'improving' I refer to the act of a DM process that is more likely to allow someone to achive their goals - down to a very specific level. Rather coaching and psychology combined can perhaps achieve this due to the fact that one is more centred around action and effect and the other analysis and cause.

Making life decisions based on consistent or inconsistent decision making can make the difference between a life of fulfillment, goal achievement and clarity rather than stress, frustration and lack of understanding as to why results occur as they do. I am not saying that a consistent decision making methodology will result in the correct decision more than inconsistent - but self analysis will be made easier if the same decision making principles are made time and time again.

A consistent decision making process is necessary, even critical, in many occupations. Most sports, trading, manufacturing, agriculture....all require a consistent basis behind the decision. It's not about saying your life is inflexible due to this approach but rather you give yourself the opportunity to understand the 'inner you' a little better - and I don't know anyone who wouldn't see an advantage in that.

Is life actually about survival of the fittest?

Consider your life today and the journey you have taken to get to where you are. Think of the decisions and choices you made, the experiences you've had and your goals for the future - then consider the underlying theme behind it all. The theme is survival. That's right...all you have done and all you will do is based around surviving in this world.

I've said for a while that as you start moving out of childhood, where life is all about fun, life becomes more complicated. You encounter more forced responsibility and duties that you wouldn't choose to undertake. You work a job, rarely out of choice, but rather to earn an income that you need for survival. How you got that job was perhaps influence from parents who focused on survival and a main component of university study and career choice is financial reward - again about survival.

So how can you ensure you are one of the fittest and make life more than just survival but rather an experience? Well for one start by taking a look at those in the world that appear to have made it and living this way. One approach is to work extremely hard, make a lot of money at what you love to do and delegate all other tasks. Another way is to simplify your life and reduce the pressure on having to survive rather than actually living eg. reduce financial commitments and excess expenditure.

End of the day everyone runs a different race with a different winning post but the secret is acknowledging that fact and making sure you do not get caught up running the wrong race. If you do and if life is indeed about survival of the fittest it will be a race you will surely lose.