Six ways to reignite your passion for your career

With Spring very much in the air and the prospect of a summer relatively free of pandemic interruptions (fingers crossed) there are many things to be positive about. However, if you are not feeling that positivity with your current role as much as you would like to then perhaps you need to take some time out to think…

What to do when your working life gets overwhelming?

1. Remember why you started.
   Was it to help people? (sounds cheesy but it is most often what people say to me), Was it to challenge yourself? Or perhaps just a love of the intricacies of the law or the machinations of business?
2. Talk to people in your network.
   Whether this is colleagues in the same boat or legal professionals in other firms facing the same challenges as you; others will be, or will have gone through similar circumstances. Social media can be a great way to ‘talk’ to people about their working lives and being understood by others helps to lighten the load that can feel like a weight on your shoulders alone.
3. Get professional advice.
   Depending on the problem this might range from a life coach or therapist, to a career consultant like us. There are people out there who can help you work through your thoughts on your career and current position to identify what it is that you want to keep doing and perhaps what bits of a role you might want to drop (and then discuss/ make plans to achieve this).
4. Picture what success looks like and plan for it.
   If you know where you are going it is much easier to get there! And to plan for it, so be clear what you are trying to achieve in your career and have key steps along the way. You need not have a set time frame but just having your path in place will help you recognise when you are ‘successful’. Equally if success to you is having a role at your current level and having a work life balance that works for you then be aware of that as your goal and consider it success once that is achieved. Taking the kids to school, fitting in a hobby or activity that you enjoy or spending time with family are valid goals, just because it is possible to climb higher in a hierarchy doesn’t mean you have to do it!
5. Take a break.
   Long bank holiday weekends certainly help! Make sure you switch off regularly for evenings and weekends but also over the course of a year take proper time out. With holidays back on the cards there are more opportunities than in recent years to put on the out of office and properly get away. Your body, mind and your career will thank you for it!
6. Celebrate the amazing things you have achieved!
   If you are junior then don’t forget all the hard work that went into your qualifications, those should be celebrated. If you are senior, then don’t forget that the position you now hold was once aspirational to you! Along the way there are a multitude of small wins and if you take time to look back on those then you will recognise how far you have come, and perhaps give yourself a break the next time you feel a bit lacklustre!

We are always happy to talk about your career, your plans and what success looks like to you, to help you get to where you want to be.