Some days I am still haunted by the ridiculous script. “Hello, I’m calling from International Magazine Service…” it began. It was suppose to end with me slickly convincing the prospective customer to agree to magazines that they never ordered. I was to confirm their address and get their credit card information. Get in, get paid, get out. Instead it often concluded with expletives or a sudden slam of the phone on the other end.
Cold Calling. Selling magazines that nobody wanted to read. Bleah. As a matter of fact…BLEAH BLEAH BLEAH! It was horrible and I was horrible at it.
It took me some time to comprehend the problem. I was normally good at everything. And this was a straight forward operation. It should have been easy sailing.
Also, my work environment was so bad. The people were nice. My boss liked me enough. His eyes lit up every time the afternoon shift began and I sailed through the door with my peppy-sweet sunshine of a disposition. I was virtually fresh out of high school and he seemed to want to lap up every ounce of my naivete. Not in a good way.
I brushed away his weird vibes easy enough, excited to focus on a job and confident that I would be the best sales girl that company had ever seen. But it was harder than it looked. At least it was for me.
Within two weeks I was collecting my first and last paycheck. And to this day I carry with me some of the most important lessons that came from that experience. Here’s are some important signs that it may be time to start looking for a new career option:
The Job is out of Alignment
We all have values and guiding principles that are dear to us. If your job is creating some kind of inner conflict or resistance, it may be a sign that your work may be in disharmony with what you truly need or want. It may be time for you to take some time to figure out what exactly is out of alignment.
The Job is Depleting You
As humans, we encompass body, mind and spirit. It is part of our duty to take care of ourselves on a holistic level, being mindful of how our boundaries and how we expend our very precious energy. If your job is overwhelming you to the point of imbalance or disharmony, you may want to check yourself.
The Job Keeps you Stagnant
if you don’t have a dream, how are you going to have a dream come true? If you do have a dream and find yourself stuck in a dead-end job unable to call your visions into reality, this can be the very recipe for depression. Your heart has a compass. It knows where it wants to lead you. And any desire to meet your full potential needs to be met with drive and an open road.
The Job Upsets Your Emotional Equilibrium
When you come home from work how do you feel? Are you energized? Do you smile to yourself for a job well done? Or do you want to run someone off the road or throw a vase across the room? Or perhaps you feel as if you want to be alone, sit in a room and cry for days. If going to work interferes with your peace and harmony in any way, you definitely want to rethink your work environment.
There is Something Better That You Have to Do
You know what it is. It’s that thing that you’ve been salivating about since you were 10. Or maybe it’s that special project that warmed your spirit and made you feel like you could spend forever doing it. Whatever that thing is that you’ve been waiting for the right time to do, it may be time for you to stop waiting and go for it.
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