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Hi again, Abby! It seems to me like, even though you’ve gotten much more clear on HOW you want to work (the setting, the environment, the level of stimulation/challenge, the hours, etc.), you’re still feeling a bit lost when it comes to understanding WHAT specifically you’d like to be doing and what will make you happy, which is totally normal. There’s nothing wrong with you for feeling bored, frustrated, and confused — it just means you’re ready for the next level of self-awareness and clarity … which is why I’m SO happy that I saw you signed up for our Passion Plan Virtual Experience! Because that’s exactly what we’re going to be exploring in that “next level” program. We’ll dive deep into WHAT is going to make you feel most fulfilled and happy, how to combine that with your work, and what action steps to take to make it happen.
As far as your two Profiles — it sounds like you likely have a Primary Profile of Side Hustler, and a Secondary Thriver Profile. It might help for you to go back to the “Secondary Profiles” video of the Short Course to get ideas on how to balance two competing profiles (which might also help with your confusion and overwhelm).
See you in the PPVE! 🙂
Hi Dan! I’m glad you watched and enjoyed our live hangout earlier today. I absolutely understand your frustration of loving something (in your case, design), and yet having the fun drained out of it because of you don’t enjoy the kind of design you’re doing and the working environment. (As you heard in the live hangout, I went through the same thing myself with writing!)
I think it’s awesome that your friend made the unconventional decision to leave her stable job and pursue something that most people would think is illogical, but that she absolutely loves! The fact that you fell into a deeper funk after hearing her story means that, on some level, you want the same thing. I have a feeling that, once you’re more clear about your Passion Profile and HOW you should ideally be working based on your values, it’ll be much easier to find a way of choosing how you want to continue in the world of design (or possibly in another field altogether!).
Thanks for joining us for the PPSC, and I hope you come back to share your insights and/or ask any questions along the way!
Hi Ashley!
Sounds like you’re definitely a Side Hustler through-and-through, and it suits you well! I love that you seem to have found a good balance that works well for you when it comes to mixing/matching previous jobs and personal projects. That can be a challenge for many Side Hustlers, so kudos to you for figuring out how to best juggle and combine your various interests!
It’s really amazing that you’ve done so well with your franchise business the past few years. Even if it’s not what you’re truly passionate about and you’re ready for a change, I can imagine that’s been incredibly beneficial for learning how to run a business. You’re SO well primed to now start your own business!
It sounds like you’re pretty clear about HOW you want to be working in the next phase of your career (online entrepreneurship), which is awesome. That was the main point of this Short Course, to help you get clear on HOW you should be working, based on your values & strengths. And now, naturally, you want to get clear on specifically WHAT you’d like to be doing — in this case, what kind of business you’d like to start. I have SO much to say on this topic that I have no idea how to condense it into a forum comment lol! If at all possible, I would really recommend that you join us for the Passion Plan Virtual Experience, which opens for enrollment next week — it’s meant to be the “next level” course beyond this one, and it’s main purpose is to help you figure out WHAT you’re passionate about. (The Short Course is about HOW you should be working, and the Virtual Experience is WHAT you’re passionate about.) That entire course is really meant to help you answer the question you just asked! (Psst, as a Short Course member, you’re going to get a pretty huge discount on the Virtual Experience, BTW!)
The one thing I would encourage you to do now, it would be to consider what might be the “golden thread” that ties together most/all of your many interests. For example, I am passionate about personal growth and raising consciousness, although that passion has taken many forms throughout the years (first I wanted to write a book, then I applied to grad schools to become a therapist, and finally settled on coaching). Figuring out that golden thread might help you settle on your business idea. And if you join us for the Virtual Experience next week, we’ll be taking you step-by-step through how to do that!
Great question, and I’m glad you’re enjoying this course so far! 🙂
Hi Christian! I love that you’re having lightbulb moments all over the place. 🙂 It’s smart of you to keep coming back to the content each week to stay inspired and remember what’s most important to you. It’s awesome that you’re doing that!
You’ve obviously gotten extremely clear about your top values in a workplace (flexibility being #1!), which is HUGE. You’re right, it’s an entirely different way of career planning that most people never understand. But now that you’re thinking more about the values you want to find in a great workplace, it’s going to be MUCH easier to recognize the right environment when you find it.
I’m really glad you took to heart our suggestion of looking for people whose work lives you admire. There’s so much valuable info in paying attention to who you admire/are jealous of! It leads you straight into the heart of your desires. So if you really admire Kelsey and her pieced-together working life (it sounds like she’s done an awesome job of seamlessly integrating her work with the rest of her life!), then clearly you want some version of what she has. The next step is giving yourself permission to desire that, even if it’s seemingly not “normal” or conventional. You’re allowed to fund your life in any way that feels good to you, so give yourself full permission to explore whatever career options sound fun, flexible, and particularly interesting.
Thank you so much for sharing your many shifts and “ah-ha” moments! You’ve clearly learned tons about yourself and what you want, and you’re absolutely on the right track to finding a job (or maybe a collection of jobs, like Kelsey) that align with your values.
You’re welcome, Christian! Glad this validated what you were already thinking, and sparked some new ideas, too! That’s what I love about having a forum like this — sometimes other people end up asking the exact question you didn’t even know you had! 🙂 Good luck with creating and building your lifestyle business! Sounds like you know what you want and you’re on the right track.
Hi Merin,
So glad you’ve enjoyed the course so much, and I love hearing that the Thriver profile fits you so well! This is such a great question, so I’m glad you asked it here in the forum so other people who are wondering the same thing can benefit.
You’re right that standard job listings are unlikely to give you much insight into whether or not the position will match with your values. You’ll likely just get a list of responsibilities and requirements, and maybe (if you’re lucky) a short blurb about the company. But that’s not particularly helpful in determining whether a job is a 9 or 10 for you.
Since it sounds like your working environment might be even more important to you than your specific role (which is very normal, particularly for Thrivers), I’d suggest changing up the way you’re looking for jobs in the first place. Instead of using job boards to search according to position or job title, start by searching for some cool companies that seem to share your values. Don’t even start out looking for specific positions — just focus FIRST on finding a handful of companies that seem to put a strong emphasis on your values of stability, flexibility, and learning. (The Muse does a great job of highlighting companies who have a great work culture.) Then, once you’ve come up with your short list of companies where you’d LOVE to work, then go check out their job postings to see what might align with your skill set. Or, reach out to someone in the HR department to ask if they have any openings for someone with an accounting background. The good news is, every single company needs someone with accounting expertise, so it’s likely that at least one of the companies on your list will be looking for someone like you!
Let me know how this works for you!
Hi Christian! I’m glad you’ve gotten so much insight from this course! I wish you lots of success, sunshine, and rainbows in your next position. 😉
Really good question about being a Thriver and wanting to work on your own time (or at least fewer hours), while also continuing to use the skills you already have. It sounds like you’ve been considering what I call having a “lifestyle business.” It’s different from traditional entrepreneurship in the start-up mentality sense (which is all about growth and expansion), and instead it’s focused on having a business that supports the lifestyle that you want. Clarity on Fire is a lifestyle business — it allows Rachel and I to work as much (or little) as we want, from any location we want, and it allows us to seamlessly integrate work into our daily lives. Those are generally the perks of most lifestyle businesses, but there are downsides, too — there can certainly be some pressure, especially at the beginning when you’re getting things off the ground, to provide for yourself.
There are a few ways to alleviate that pressure, if you do decide to create your own freelance or consultant-type lifestyle business. You could, of course, work part-time alongside your new business to provide some financial stability as you’re starting out. You could also consider full-time or part-time jobs that allow you to work virtually — there are more and more of these kinds of jobs available, especially in some of the areas you mentioned (administrative, editing, copywriting, etc.). I’m even wondering if you might like being a Virtual Assistant, or something along those lines. It would tie in your skills/experience, while allowing you to work completely virtually and set your own schedule. Might be worth looking into.
Hopefully that gets you thinking of more ideas!
Hi Ivana,
Wow, thanks for sharing your story! I love how much insight you’ve gotten from this course. It’s like a lightbulb came on and now you fully understand why some of your previous jobs weren’t the right fit, even though you had a key role and did a great job. Knowing that it’s non-negotiable for you to be fully passionate about the mission of a company — maybe even needing to create the mission yourself, through your own business — is a hugely helpful insight. There was never anything wrong with you for feeling frustrated, unfulfilled, and unmotivated — you just weren’t aligned with the overall company mission!
If you haven’t yet watched the video about “Secondary Passion Profiles,” I think that might help clear things up about why you’re drawn to both the Firestarter and Tribe Member profiles. I’m betting that one of them is your Primary (likely Firestarter, if that was your original quiz result) and the other is your secondary. It’s not always easing having “competing” Passion Profiles (I have a secondary Passion Profile myself, so I understand!), so you’ll have to find a balance between the two that works for you. For example, you may want to start a business (Firestarter) where you eventually intend to hire a small team of likeminded, engaged employees (Tribe Member) to create that balance. Or you may want to work at a company with a great work culture and a mission you’re passionate about (Tribe Member) but that gives you a ton of autonomy over your projects and your schedule (Firestarter). I don’t know what the ideal balance looks like for you, but you’ll need to keep both of your Passion Profiles in mind as you make future career decisions.
Hope that helps! Thanks for sharing your experience here! 🙂
So glad you got so many insights from the Short Course, and thanks for asking such great questions here in the forum! I love getting to hear how the course is going for people and what kinds of questions it brings up. And I’m certain your questions are helping other people who are feeling the same way — so thanks for speaking up! 🙂
Hey Abby!
Sounds like you know yourself well enough to know that trying to figure out how to fund your life through multiple part-time jobs (instead of one stream of income) would be more stressful than motivating. I totally get that!
As for not having the energy to do things outside of work that you enjoy, I totally get that as well. It’s so frustrating to be sitting at work, bored, having all kinds of grand ideas of the fun things you could be doing instead … but once you “clock out” for the day or week, you’re too tired to actually do those things. That’s so normal! And the reason it’s so normal is that most of us are spending more of our time on things that drain our energy than replenish it. If most of your work day feels draining, then you’re going to leave work with an “empty tank” when it comes to your energy — you’re running on fumes when it’s time to do the fun stuff! So I want you to start keeping a running list of thing that naturally energize you. Do you get energized by meeting new people? Or by taking a short walk outside? Or having fun plans on the calendar? Or listening to good music? Anything that gives you an energy boost (even just a tiny one!) goes on the list. Then try adding more of those “energizing” things into your day. The more ways you can try to fill up your energy tank throughout the day, the less drained and exhausted you’ll feel once work is over.
I’d love for you to give this a try and come back to let me know how it goes! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your similar experience with this, Gennelle! It’s great to hear more examples of people who are doing the multiple-job thing and really enjoying it. Other people may never fully understand why you want a couple of part-time jobs in addition to your full-time job, but in the end, it really doesn’t matter if they “get” it — as long as you’re happy! 🙂
Hi Gennelle,
You’re incredibly welcome, and thank YOU for sharing such valuable feedback! I’m so happy to hear that the Short Course was so helpful and validating for you. There is nothing at all wrong with not wanting to combine your passion with your career, and most of the Thrivers out there will totally understand what you mean by that! I love that you keep coming back to your profile and this course when you need some reassurance and a reminder about what’s most important to you. That’s awesome! 🙂
Hi Abby!
It’s totally normal for you to be primarily a Side Hustler who wants to “borrow” a few qualities from other profiles. There’s naturally a bit of overlap across these profiles, so I’m not surprised that you’re attracted to certain aspects of the other 3 — flexibility, connection, and enjoyment outside of work are definitely some of those qualities that overlap with Side Hustlers.
It sounds like you’re feeling a bit frustrated and self-critical of your natural curiosity and “shiny object syndrome” tendencies, which is something I hear really often from Side Hustlers. There seems to be this belief that you can’t excel or be successful in the working world unless you choose one expertise and go after it 100%, and I want to say right now, that’s SO NOT TRUE. Choosing one path or being a “subject matter expert” is not the only way to build a successful career — not by a long shot. In fact, there’s real value in being a Jack-of-all-trades who can step in and help with all kinds of things. You don’t have to change who you are or try to fit into a more traditional-employee mold to have a fulfilling career. Your natural curiosity, energy, excitement, and craving to be challenged are extremely valuable qualities, and they will serve you well in the right environment.
I’m thinking that for you, it’s going to be super important that you pursue one of two paths:
— A single career with built-in novelty & learning: It sounds like the job you have now is pretty specialized, so you’re focused on mainly one expertise (copywriting). That might be interesting to you for a little while, but eventually you’re likely to get bored if you’re doing a lot of the same kind of work day-in and day-out. There are plenty of full-time job options, though, that have built-in training programs, or give lots of focus to their employee’s personal development (conferences, seminars, classes, etc.), or that have you working on different kinds of problems with different kinds of people on any given day. Those kinds of places are far more likely to keep you engaged for much longer because the novelty never really wears off. OR you create this for yourself by starting a business that incorporates several of your various interests. I have several Side Hustler friends who have done this with a lot of success!
— Multiple jobs cobbled together as one career: This option is not conventional, I know, and it can create some fear or uncertainty. But a LOT of Side Hustlers really love the idea of piecing together a career from a few different sources. Maybe you have a part-time job, do some freelance work, and have a side business all at once. Or multiple part-time jobs where you get to explore your various interests without committing to just one indefinitely. I know this isn’t as “normal” as having a singular full-time job, but I’ve seen many Side Hustlers do this extremely successfully. In fact, you have the potential of making even more income this way because you’re not limited to a singular salary determined by one company. I honestly think this could suit you very well!
I KNOW it’s possible for you to feel excited and engaged in your work. You might not have found quite the right fit for you yet, but that absolutely doesn’t mean it’s not possible for you. It just might mean looking a bit outside the box and giving yourself permission to pursue something that other people might not “get.”
Hope that helps! Let me know what you think.
Hi Jordy! I love hearing how much you’ve learned about yourself through this course! You’re clearly a self-motivated person who loves to learn, feel challenged, and try new things. That’s awesome, and it makes sense that you’re primarily a Side Hustler (with some Firestarter mixed in).
Isn’t it such a relief to realize that there’s nothing wrong with you for getting bored by certain jobs after just a few months … you’re just a Side Hustler who really values variety! Nothing at all wrong with that — so many people can relate. I’m glad you haven’t been trying to force yourself to keeping working at places that don’t motivate or challenge you because that will just lead to burnout. Instead, you’re following your intuition and giving yourself permission to follow your Side Hustler nature. That’s awesome.
To answer your question: Yes, it’s definitely normal for you, as a Side Hustler, to feel like a lot of traditional jobs won’t satisfy you. You’re always going to feel the MOST novelty at the beginning of any job, because everything is brand new and you’re learning it for the first time. But that doesn’t mean all jobs will become boring once the novelty wears off. The key is to look for jobs where each day doesn’t look the same, and where learning and personal growth are built-in to the job. First, ask yourself what variety/novelty means to you. Does it mean learning something new all the time? Or meeting new people regularly? Or being in a different physical environment? Or solving new/different problems all the time? Or does it mean something else? Then you’ll have a better idea of what to look for.
Hope that helps! I’m so happy that this course has been so helpful to you already. You’re right — you’re SO ready for the journey ahead. 🙂
