The other day, I stumbled upon an ‘inspirational’ quote on Instagram, which elicited a groan. ‘Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ It was written by Confucius, no less. Well, I’m afraid I’ve got bad news for the ancient Chinese philosopher. That might have been salient advice back in 469BC, but that was before the invention of LinkedIn profiles, corporate teambuilding initiatives and emails from head office pinging into the wee hours.
However much you adore your job, chances are that you still ind yourself scrambling to keep up with workplace expectations, as well as your own. And what if you don’t exactly love your job, but you’re moderately happy with it, if only you could improve certain things? What if you don’t want a side hustle or to give it all up to open an artisanal dog biscuit bakery? You just want to be able to try a few new things, get the acknowledgement you feel you deserve and, yes, maybe a bit more money, too.
These days, a fast-changing office culture means that, regardless of what type of work you do, there are certain common issues that hold you back from fulilling your potential. You yearn to thrive, rather than merely survive, yet you don’t know how… So, what exactly is standing in your way?