This site is dedicated to your career. And whether you currently Love, hate, or begrudge it you owe it to yourself to make the most of it. Why spend way too much of your life doing something you don’t enjoy? What if the assorted activities you performed between the hours of 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. Monday through Friday became something you actually wanted and found fulfillment in doing? Fantasy? We think not. Your job has the potential to be a conduit for your contribution to the world, a venue of discovery, and a pathway to your broader career and life objectives.
This site is dedicated to helping resources, guidance, and tools you to make the most of your job, career, and maximize your life. The best way to characterize my philosophy on how to do this is not asking you to commit to your job but to commit to your success. There is a difference between the two. Balance what you give to your job with what you take in return: I call this a 100% commitment. Specifically giving 100% to what you do and taking 100% from what you do.
The next twelve weeks will be a time of reflection and declaration. You will identify what is important to you, what you want from your job beyond a paycheck, what you want to contribute, and a direction for your future. This is your chance to get professionally refreshed and invigorated. Job Spa provides you with a plan and the five professional skills required to reinvigorate yourself and to achieve your vision of success.
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Take a Cold Plunge
Before we get started, it’s important to provide context for why you need to own your career. Over the past fifty years, the implied social agreement between employers and employees has changed. Under the old contract, employers acted as parental figures and provided employees with a lifetime of structure and support in exchange for hard work and loyalty. Remember those good old days?
The good news about these changes is that you probably would not want to work for the same company or have the same job over your entire career. The bad news is that the level of employee trust and commitment has eroded. Companies have sent a message, and not surprisingly, employees have responded. Most employees are not engaged with their jobs. “Not engaged” can range from going through the motions at work to completely checking out and looking for a new job / quiet quitting…
When employees aren’t engaged with their job, companies suffer as a result of high turnover and lost productivity. But before you laugh, declare that it serves them right, and go back to the midmorning Web search for odd news of the day, consider the following: Being unhappy or unsatisfied with your job impacts you, too. Unhappy employees are more stressed, find less satisfaction in their job, have fewer friendships at work, and earn less money over the course of their careers. It is in your interest to get engaged and find satisfaction in what you do.
Pause for a moment and think about the last time that you enjoyed what you did at your job. Time went by quickly. You were focused. Maybe you were challenged, and you pushed to think through a solution? You might have even had fun in the process.
Explode the Workplace Myths
Despite the reality of layoffs, employment at will, and corporate survival of the fittest, employees want to cling to old expectations and ideals, which have become workplace myths. Here are the big three myths.
MYTH 1 My boss/manager is my mommy or daddy and will take care of me.
Nope! Your boss/manager is not there to take care of you. If you are lucky, you will have a boss/manager who will provide guidance, support, and maybe has a sense of humor. It’s up to you to seek out opportunities, develop your skills, and build your resume.
MYTH 2 My hard work will always be recognized and rewarded.
Sorry! Think again. Do you actually think the CEO will suddenly recognize your years of silent toiling and finally give you the recognition you deserve? In fact, it’s up to you to identify and communicate your achievements.
MYTH 3 Company loyalty equals job security.
Denial! You know the stats. You read the headlines. Despite the reality, you want to believe that your loyalty will override the company’s need to make the bottom line look good. The truth is that you need to own your career even if it means changing teams.
It’s time to pop the bubble and live in reality. You own your career. You are responsible for setting your own professional goals, developing the right skills, and building your resume. Over the course of your career and in any job, you have two responsibilities:
To your company; to do what you were hired to do
To yourself; to develop your skills, to create opportunities, and to manage your career
Regardless of whether your company has made clear its expectations of you, you must also take charge and be clear about your expectations of your employer. Beyond a juicy salary and health-insurance benefits, what do you want in exchange for contributing your skills, abilities, and expertise?
What about learning opportunities so you can develop more skills and be more marketable? What about career advancement? What about a positive work environment? You won’t get what you want if you don’t know what you want. When your expectations are clearly defined, you will be able to provide the maximum value to your company, and they will be able to meet your needs.
In this site, this is what I want to help you do:
- To make sure you are giving 100 percent to your job
- To make sure you are taking 100 percent from your job
When you do this, I know you will find greater meaning, purpose, impact, and financial success.
