Beyond Burnout: Recognizing & Navigating Your Career Tipping Point, Part III

A light seemed to switch on for Dave.  There it was, in black and white—a visual representation of exactly how much time, energy, and emotion he was devoting to negativity and frustration with his job.  Dave had moved from being exhausted at work because of all the things he didn’t like about his job, to being exhausted from redirecting himself toward the valuable aspects of his work, to feeling a measure of relief from his inner work which ultimately enabled him to see a bigger picture with clarity.

In our session we explored and honored the work he had done, and began to speak in terms of time, money, and investment.  When you have a job, you are paid to work.  That work, thus assigns a value on your time and efforts.  Dave was being paid for his time and efforts from 9-5 Monday through Friday, however, he had come to realize that his work had claimed his time, energy, and efforts long after his workday was done.  And he was, in fact, paying a price for it—with definitely no compensation from his employer.

I asked him what effect these additional realizations were having or should have on both his present and his future.  He voiced that he really was not happy, but was unsure what to do.  He needed the income from his job, it had been years since he had interviewed for jobs and was afraid that he was too rusty to be effective, and he didn’t even know what to look for.  Dave was beginning to feel overwhelmed by both the discomfort of his situation as well as the prospect of trying to find a new one.

I invited him to notice what he was feeling physically.  We took a moment to locate his emotions in his body, breathed into the sensations he was feeling, and while that practice was a bit out of his comfort zone (he called it a bit “too crunchy” for him, but he played along anyway), he admitted that it helped settle his mind.  We explored that Dave had proven to himself that his job was secure, and that he didn’t have to jump ship this very second.  And, I shared with him that that meant he was in the perfect place to explore.  I invited him to redirect the negative energy about his job toward exploring new things he could do.  I shared with him that because he has a stable job that he could think big and explore a wide open future with no repercussions.

And for the first time, the look in his eyes shifted.  (As you might have imagined, his general look had been a mix of stern and tired—unless he was talking about his kids and family.)  Now, however, a little spark of joy appeared as his mind loosened and he thought of a different future.  He went home with a lot to think about and returned to our next session with a lot to talk about.  He had done some day dreaming about what else he could be doing, and his mind had gone in a lot of different directions.  The prospect of a new job and potentially a new career had offered him some new energy and had put some bounce in his step.  Dave had clearly reached his tipping point and had realized it.  And, our sessions shifted likewise.

I coached him to continue to redirect his frustrations back to the value he finds in his current work.  Doing so enabled him to speak in more constructive terms regarding his job, which put him in a better position when speaking to future employers.  We went through a process called ‘ikigai’ (a Japanese practice that can help you discover and cultivate direction in your life. Here’s a link to more information if you’re curious).  And we started a process of self-exploration that helped to expand his thinking.  Dave was still feeling burdened by his job, but he had begun to experience a shift within himself.

Its this inner shift that is essential for creating substantial lasting change in your life.  As was the case with Dave, we all must go through a period of discomfort until we reach some manner of tipping point—that only we, ourselves, can determine.  We then must go through a period of reimagining and hard work until we open some new doors and a new normal is finally in our sights. Dave came to me after a long period of discomfort and was feeling not only stuck but also lost.  Through some careful exercises and practices, we worked together to locate him in his discomfort.  Through that process he discovered his tipping point and within the support of our coaching and counseling he began a process of discovery and re-imagining what his career could be.

Ultimately, it was a few months of exploring both with me and his family to lay the groundwork for Dave’s next chapter.  But when he was finally ready, Dave began to interview for new positions from a place of strength and he stepped forward into a new chapter of his life and career feeling excited about what was next for him.