Why a new job is not a great New Year’s Resolution!

It is that time of year again, the time where we have made a great New Year’s resolution and looking at how we can achieve it. For many, these resolutions may involve various career related ideas including:

• New job
• Promotion
• Increased salary
• Changing career paths
• Increased work life balance

 

The problem is that each of these are not a true reflection of what we should be doing if we are looking for long term results. Through the Christmas and New Year period, one that provides time away with family and periods of celebration, we become more aware of the things that are impacting us in a negative way in our everyday work lives. This is very satisfying; but also very confronting for many people and creates the foundation for the various New Year’s resolutions mentioned above. What happens for many of these people however is that there is no true assessment on what exactly it is that is the foundation of dissatisfaction; what is it in the current role that is creating dissatisfaction, are there specific motivators that are not being fulfilled or other issues that we need to be more aware of?

 

It is for this reason that looking for a new job is not a great New Year’s resolution, or achieving a higher salary may not provide the level of happiness that we expect it to. For those individuals that have identified any of the above items as this year’s New Year’s resolutions, firstly ask yourself the following questions and answer them for you.

 

1. What is it specifically that you are trying to change?
2. Why is this making your role/career/organisations dissatisfying?
3. How important is this change to you and your current circumstances? Ie: Family, Friends etc.
4. What specifically is the motivator that you are trying to achieve by making this change?
5. Are there other options you can take that can also help achieve this outcome? Have you measured each of these against each other?
6. Is there a guarantee this change will provide you with the outcome that you are seeking? If not, how will you manage the lack of the outcome?
7. Have you received any specific advise or support such as coaching that can help you to plan your change more effectively?

 

We all want and need to make changes at various points in our lives, but the challenge comes when we have not effectively analysed what it is we are trying to achieve. Coaching and mentoring are 2 great options to help us through this, even through friends and family. However, it is always important to be aware that the grass is not always greener on the other side and sometimes we need to look at alternatives to achieve satisfaction.