Don’t Love Your Job? Maybe You’re Doing it Wrong.

Life’s too short to spend it living for weekends. It’s too precious to waste doing something that doesn’t energize you and nourish your whole soul, at least most of the time. There’s an easy test to see where you fall on the energized-life spectrum: do you find yourself bouncing out of bed each morning or slogging out of bed?

No, work is not play. That’s why it’s called work. But is your work drawing the best out of you? Is it leading to something bigger than a paycheck and maybe a bonus? And more importantly, if the answer is no, what can you do about it? The answer is “plenty.”

Earlier in my career, I worked at a large medical device company. It was very buttoned up with processes and systems for absolutely everything. It was the kind of place where you learn a lot: I learned about good consultative sales techniques and lived Neil Rackham’s book, Spin Selling, which remains my favorite book on how to sell.

In my first year, I put nine major hospital chains on long-term contracts. The closest person to me managed maybe two chains. I enjoyed the work and earned the company’s equivalent of “Rookie of the Year.”

But here’s the counterintuitive part: I wasn’t primarily motivated by the big, fat commissions you could earn. This made me something of an outlier because the company was very commission oriented and constantly ran contests to help boost the firm’s stock price. I never competed in the contests because what really jazzed me about the job were the relationships I formed with my clients. My goal wasn’t to commoditize my friends.

I mean, that’s why it’s called consultative selling, right?

That’s when the bloom began to come off the job. Then, there was the big sales conference at the Walt Disney Contemporary Resort in Florida. In a big sales organization like ours, the standard issue uniform was dark gray or navy blue—not a light shade of dark blue—just navy. You also had to wear a white shirt, classic tie and shoes and, preferably, a nice watch.

I’d always hated wearing suits (especially when it’s 90 degrees in August in Orlando)—still do—so on the final day of the conference I decided to go for broke and wear my light blue linen suit to the big awards dinner that year. The suit was lightweight, comfortable and perfect for the hot Florida weather. I was feeling mighty fine until my boss came over to me and said I was embarrassing him and if I didn’t change at once, I was fired. He was dead serious, and I knew right then and there I had to get out. A week or so later, I resigned.

I had loved working with my clients and respected the sales tribe I worked with, but I could no longer love the work, so I knew I had to go in a different direction. For me that ultimately meant starting on the road to doing what we do at ScalePassion and helping business owners connect with their purpose and passion. 

One great first step is to find what you're good at. What are the knowledge, skills and experiences that bring you energy? What do you bring to the table that you feel confident and comfortable fully expressing to others? Does this skill or “superpower” connect to the organization’s mission and purpose in a way that allows you to feel energized and focused on any given day? 

This is the mindset we are trying to instill in our clients at ScalePassion.

So if you're not bouncing out of bed, or even worse, if you're feeling like a victim at work, and if you find yourself blaming others for your boredom or dissatisfaction, you need to look in the mirror, take 100 percent responsibility for being in the wrong job or career, and get yourself moving in a different direction.

Do an energy audit of your life including work, play, relationships, everything, to determine what makes your energy rise. Here’s an easy-to-use tool to help you. It might be fishing or tennis. It might be leading a meeting or nailing a spreadsheet. It might be quiet evenings at home with your partner or family. Rummage through your calendar and check off the energizers and energy suckers; then slowly but surely begin aligning your life toward the energizers.

That’s the first step—asking yourself whether your morning is a slog or a bounce. We’ll be back next week with the second step.