Episode 41: Finding The Purpose And Gratitude In Our Jobs
You can be grateful for your job and still want more. Two things can be true at the same time.
In this week’s episode, I share:
-Finding gratitude in your job even when it feels hard
-Discovering the purpose of your job in this season
-Considering an external opportunity does not mean you are disloyal
-How to decide if it is time to move on
Full Transcript:
Welcome back to the Upgraded Leader Podcast. I'm your host Nicole Case, and today I wanna talk about being grateful for your job while still wanting more. So last week I was at my dance class and my ballet teacher shared that it was her 67th birthday, and she is so adorable, by the way, and she just was just sharing about how she was
So happy to be spending her birthday night there with her students, with us and her students. And she was just so genuine in that she talked about how she had had both hips replaced and you know, although she was, she does not have the 180 degree turnout like she had asked her doctor for, um, it enabled her to continue to do the work she loved and.
I'm sure no matter how much she loves being a dancer and a teacher, it's probably not always fun to be teaching a bunch of [00:02:00] adult beginner ballet students who are loud and giggling and talking throughout a lot of her class, like a bunch of toddlers. It's really funny. We're a bunch of, you know, geriatric millennials and college students basically, and we're in there just giggling like a bunch of little kids.
Um, it's a lot of fun. Highly recommend. Um, but anyway, I, this just kind of got me thinking, uh, just about, again, being grateful for, for your job, while also recognizing that it's not always perfect and it's not always super fun. So I was talking to my husband, uh, recently actually about just . You know, kind of being in my own business and, you know, being, you know, um, a business owner and everything, and, and while on the surface it's like, yeah, being a business owner, you get to do exactly what you wanna do.
And, and that's certainly true. Like I, I. Really have crafted and honed my business to where I am working on the types of things that I truly love to do. Working with the types of clients that I love working with. I'm really, [00:03:00] you know, leaning into my strengths and . Um, you know, just, I'm having just a really great time and I'm so, so grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this full time.
Like I, I truly, truly am. And, and so many of you out there listening to this, like you're enabling that for me, and I'm just, again, I cannot tell you how grateful I am. However, there's still a lot about being a business owner. That really fucking sucks. Like it just really does, right? There's so many things that I still, that I do have to do that I don't enjoy doing.
There's so many behind the scenes things that I have to do that I don't like doing. You know, just owning your own business is an exercise in patience, in learning to brush off rejections constantly. Um, and just . True and extreme just growth every single day. Like all of your flaws and insecurities are just right in front of you every single day when you own a business.
And that's not so different, [00:04:00] um, when you are in the corporate world. And you're an employee in the corporate world and you are trying to get to that next level, right? Like just, you're just growing and stretching yourself in just these really, really big ways. That's just amplifying like a lot of your insecurities, , right?
And you know, again, I just, I did not realize just how much something could stretch a person at times to almost your breaking point, but then also be such a. Just such a source of joy and fulfillment. It's kinda like, it's kinda like those commercials for sweet and sour candies. Sometimes they're sour and then sometimes they're sweet.
Like, I totally feel that about being in business or being in the corporate world or maybe being a parent. You know, I'm not, um, I'm not a human parent. I'm a pet parent, but I can certainly, um, you know, feel that, and, and you know, maybe if you are a human pa parent, you might feel that. As well as it relates to your kids.
Um, but again, we [00:05:00] can love what we do, love the people that we work with, but can also be incredibly frustrated about what's going on. We could be grateful for our jobs and still want more, and I think this is one reason why people can get really stuck and just not know what to do next because we can stay in this circle of emotions that can really feel conflicting and
We're just talking to a client last week and she wants to go from associate director to director, and she's not sure if this is gonna actually happen in her current company or not, but she does have an opportunity externally that she's been referred to, and this whole situation is just kind of bringing up these really conflicting feelings because she's been at her current company for over a decade.
She truly does love the work that she does, her customers and her colleagues. And, you know, but she just, she wants that next level. She, she knows she's ready and she wants to be, you know, seen and viewed as that next level strategic leader. Right. But she has, she, [00:06:00] she was telling me that, um, one of her values and core values in life is loyalty.
And she feels like she's being disloyal to this company if she even entertains this external opportunity and. You know, as we, we as humans, we are very complex. We can feel multiple feelings at once, despite what Ron Weasley says. We can feel all of those things at one time, right? Two things can be true at the same time, we can be frustrated about certain things in our job, in our company, and we can want to boom up, move up, and are being blocked in some way.
And that can be really frustrating. Or you could be like . Like all the way over to anger or whatever. Again, whatever emotion or feeling you're having. Um, but then on the other hand you can say, well, I've got great benefits and the pays pretty good, and it's a secure position. And you know what, being in a secure or, or at least feeling like your position is secure and stable, that can be a really [00:07:00] big deal, big in, um, in this economy and in this job market to have a job that appears really stable and secure.
That can be a really big deal for people. And yes. You can, and you should be grateful for all those things. You should be grateful for that, and you can still desire more. You can still want that promotion or even just make a whole shift, you know, in, in either the work that you're doing or the industry that you're in just because you're bored and you just want to, or you just, you know, you've been doing this for a long time, you just wanna see something different.
That is okay. Every job has a purpose and serves us in the season of life that we are in. So that might. Mean it's flexible or you've built credibility and, and a reputation because you've been somewhere for just so long. Right. I, I know I talk a lot about flexibility at work and flexibility. Um, you know, I think a lot of us are, are wanting that freedom and flexibility and autonomy.
And really what we're saying is just like we want to be trusted to [00:08:00] be able to do our jobs, like professionals, like adults. Right. And. You know, so if you're in a position right now where you're not feeling like you have that flexibility, or you have the autonomy, or you have the ability to make decisions or do work in the way that you wanna do, a lot of times what you're really saying is that.
I don't feel trusted by my leadership. I don't feel valued in that way. And sometimes, you know that that trust and that value comes just through time, right? Because you've been somewhere and so you've got, you've already built in that credibility and that reputation. It's not that you can't get that somewhere else.
You can, it'll just take time, right? It'll just take time to, to do that. So again, you might have . Really great solid pay and benefits and the job might be stable. And maybe that's super important because maybe your partner has their own business or they're in real estate, or you know, they're in a hundred percent commission sort of a position, or maybe they only work part-time and or maybe you're single and [00:09:00] you don't have a partner to rely on.
So like you are the breadwinner. And so those things are going to be super important to you. At that period of time in your life, or maybe, maybe your job is super easy right now. Maybe your job is like, again, easy and dare I say, boring, and there is something to be said for an easy job or a boring job because.
Maybe it frees up brain space for you to focus on other things like your family or a side project or maybe volunteer work or maybe you're going back to school. And so sometimes those easy or boring jobs do serve a valuable purpose. Not everybody needs to be growing and like go doing all these wild things at work because sometimes you're doing that and stretching and growing in other areas in your life outside of work.
So. Maybe it's okay that that you're not in that place right now, that's totally fine. Or again, maybe the job that you had was [00:10:00] meant for you to grow and to stretch you. Right. So I remember, um, I took a job one time, um, in talent management. So I became the talent management program manager for a really large tech company and.
I knew just like immediately it was not a great fit for me, for me and my skills. And even my boss, my boss and I, we would have conversations about the job. Like, is this job really for you? Is this, you know, really the type of work that you wanna be doing? And it, it clearly, it just, it wasn't, but that was the job that I was in at the time and I was like, you know what?
I am here for a period of time. I don't know when my next opportunity that is a better fit is gonna come along. But in the interim, this is where I am. So I am going to use it to learn some new things and to grow and to stretch. And I can tell you that it did, it grew me and stretch me again in ways that, um, I did not realize.
But I'll tell you that, that. That [00:11:00] experience has stuck with me, and those learnings have stuck with me. And now I pass those on, you know, to my clients and to you. Um, so sometimes like you need that, maybe you, you have been in that easy or boring job for a little while and maybe it's like, yeah, I'm ready for that next level.
I'm ready for something different. And so now you're in the circle and they're in the cycle of Yeah, it's stretching me like a whole, whole lot right now. So . I invite you to really think about the purpose of your job right now. Like what? What is the purpose of your job? How is it serving you and your family and your career goals and honor those and be grateful for them because again, that's so wonderful that we have the.
Privilege and the ability here where we live to be able to be gainfully employed in the ways that, that we want to, and, you know, be able to be compensated for the skills that we have, right? Like that's, um, that's just a privilege sometimes that I think we, we can, so [00:12:00] we can so often just gloss over or just take for granted.
So, yes, let's honor the reasons and the purpose for those jobs and be grateful for them. Then we can also give ourselves permission to think about how the role might no longer be serving us. May might no longer be serving you and your family, and again, your career goals. And you can kind of look at these two lists side by side and think, is this really unbalanced?
Maybe you've, you know, maybe there's certain aspects of the role that you weight a little bit heavier than others, and then maybe you think about, Hmm, how do I change this? You know, is there a way to make something happen inside of my company where I can be more satisfied or more fulfilled? Or again, I can just, I can try something different or I can grow in a different way.
You know, again, like I was, like I was saying about the client that I was talking, talking to, to be perfectly honest, I, I asked her, [00:13:00] I said, I said, if you knew that you were able to get this promotion to director in this company. Would you even be entertaining this external position? She said, no, absolutely not.
I would not be entertaining it. I just, I want to be promoted here if that's really what I want. But if I'm not going to get promoted here, then they're gonna force my hand and I'm gonna have to go somewhere else. It's not gonna be ideal. It's not exactly the outcome that I'm looking for, but it's more important to me.
To continue growing in my career at this stage than it is to stay stagnant in a company that I love. And, um, and so that's, that's why I just invite you to kind of think through, like, are you able to make the change internally? Are you able to, if there is something that, um, no longer serving you at, at your current job or in your current company or there's something that's just really frustrating to you, are you able to make it?
Are you able to make that change internally? And if the answer is no, then again you can feel [00:14:00] grateful and you can honor what the job served, that purpose, that that job served for you at that time. And let, let go of the guilt of the desire to move on to something else, right. I have, um, a friend of mine who was laid off recently and she took a new job like super fast, like within just a few weeks, which is really great.
And, um, and again, let's be grateful for that, right? Let's be grateful for not having a lot of downtime in between, in between jobs. I. , but unfortunately it turns out that this job is not a good fit for a whole lot of reasons. And she's feeling really bad about that. And she's like, I don't wanna burn bridges.
And you know, she's just like, frankly exhausted. Right? Like, it's just, it's just tiring whenever you're going through that type of a, that type of, of a, of an experience. And it's okay, sometimes we take jobs that just aren't good fits. It happens, like it totally happens. Like, and so innocently on both sides.
As well. Right. You know, 'cause I don't believe that there are [00:15:00] hiring managers out there that are purposely maliciously trying to like recruit people onto their team and then just like changing a bunch of stuff. Or you know, like purposely, you know, trying to sell somebody a bill of goods. Like, I don't believe that's happening.
But sometimes, you know. Maybe the communication was crossed or expectations were just not aligned, and they didn't quite realize that. Or just sometimes things change, right? Sometimes things change within a company. And so a again, she's just, it's clear that this is not the job for her. And um, and I just said, you know what?
Then the purpose for this job was that it was the bridge that was, this is the bridge job, and that's okay. So the bridge job sometimes is like, Hey, it's filling this employment gap. It's allowing you to generate income, right? You're bringing in, you know, really good income, you have health benefits, and this is enabling you to look for something else.
In a different industry. 'cause that was something that she was considering anyway. And [00:16:00] by being in this role today, it's giving her the space to be able to explore what it would look like in a different industry and in a different type of position without the pressure of having to find a job after a layoff.
Right? And so I was like, so that's the purpose of this job and that's okay. And you know, be, again, be grateful for it and honor that and let go of the guilt of . Knowing that she's probably not gonna be in the, in the role for, for, uh, any great length of time,
right? remember, you can and should be grateful for your job and you can also want more. And if you do want more, if you are looking for that next level, you are looking for that upgrade, you wanna make a bigger impact, send me an email over at nicole@theupgradedleader.com and we can talk more about that. But in the meantime, remember, your career deserves an upgrade.
