Love Fridays? Hate Sunday night blues? The key to mid-life career happiness...
If you’re reading this you are likely to be a midlifer.
You’re likely to have been earning a crust for roughly 20-30 years.
You’ve been around a few workplaces, seeing the good, the bad and the ugly of work life.
If you are anything like me, you might also to be sensing a slight downturn in the ‘perfect functioning’ of a few body parts.
Just this week I visited a physio, a podiatrist and with my GP for 3 separate body malfunctions, which I am convinced can be attributed to my midlife status!
More midlifers are responding to the inevitable onslaught of grey hairs and their naturally slowing metabolism, by taking up a new sport.
According to Sport England, “the age group with the strongest growth in sports participation over the last decade, is 45-54 year olds, with an impressive 25% increase over the last ten years.”
More specifically, we are taking to lyra-cladding our ageing bodies in an attempt to still the passage of time.
33% of participants in the London Triathlon last year were in the 40+ age group, in comparison to 25% just five years ago.
Whatever your age, if you’re lucky enough to still have your parents in your life, you might also be involved with the medical problems associated with the even more rapid ageing process experienced by three-quarter-lifers.
It’s complex being a midlifer.
One of the simple elements of midlife should be eeking out a little happiness from your work life…but it’s not, is it?
We, as human beings, don’t appear to be very good at finding happiness at work
Why the heck not?
In my research, these appear to be the most common reasons offered by the midlifers for their inability to lock down their own happiness at work:
Proximity to the problem
Too little time
Lack of perspective
Persistent and recurring energy depletion (from performing work that drains us)
Fear of change
Financial situation concerns
Worry about loss of security and stability
No idea how to begin, or where to start, the changing process
Sometimes we resign ourselves to the (false) idea that there’s nothing we can do about it.
Apparently “no one really LOVES their job anyway”.
Let me tell you a well-kept secret:
Some people really, really LOVE THEIR WORK.
These people only communicate this openly when they are with other people who also REALLY LOVE THEIR WORK.
These are good people.
Honestly, they are!
They have no wish to make less fortunate individuals feel bad, or open a can of worms that they don’t have the skill/time/inclination to repack.
But, how do they instinctively recognise that we are not a member of their secret '“happy at work” club?
Some people REALLY love their work, but they don’t talk about it in public. Even with very good friends, they know better than to mention anything beyond “I really enjoy my work” before changing the subject.
This is a work-in-progress from a research perspective.
But, it appears to have something to do with the stress we hold in our faces and bodies when we/someone else around us talk about work.
These lesser-spotted lovers-of-their-work avoid childishly prodding you with ‘Na Na Na Na Na…I’m enjoying my job more than you’re enjoying yours!” Unless, of course, they are sadists, who get kicks out of the misfortune of others.
These lovers-of-their-work are, of course, not happy at work all the time (happiness is not a life-time state but an accumulation of moments). Instead, they enjoy many, many more of these moments than the average Joe/Jolene.
How do they become part of this secret lovers-of-their-work club?
First of all, the easy bit – they start with a “decent career” that they don’t hate. Here are, what I believe to be, the four components of a decent career.
Satisfying a human need to help people do something that you believe to be valuable
This one is pretty obvious, but here are some examples from my clients:
helping sell higher quality wine to people who love wine, but don’t have a big budget
helping companies make better decisions, by having great future-focussed financial information
helping customers design great advertisements, to sell more of their products
helping making all employees within our business create long-term relationships with customers
helping people improve their fitness, to enable their lives to be more fun
helping banks keep their systems operational, so that 1000s of people get paid
helping clients design their perfect building/extension, to allow them to live happier lives
helping charities to raise funds, to enable more and better assistance to be offered to those in need
helping parents to build resilience in their children, to take the stress out of life transitions.
2. Basic life needs can be satisfied
enough money to cover mortgage and life
a commute that doesn’t make you want to pull your eyelashes out one by one over many hours
in general, working the hours of work that you signed up to, even if sometimes it is a bit crazy
a safe working environment, not just hard-hat wearing, but emotional safety from excessive and prolonged stress.
3. Satisfactory freedom to work how you like to work
I don’t mean you like to get paid a fortune for doing a few hours work. This one is more to do with personality style and values, matching your work (the majority of the time).
if you are an introvert, that you have time to think before needing to perform/give your opinion
if you hate details, that you are not required to fine-tune everything in your work life, all of the time
if you like to do the right thing, that your work allows you to operate within your own moral compass guidelines
if you thrive on creativity, that there is enough requirement/time available to satisfy that itch
if you enjoy managing a team, that you have time and space to do just that in your own style
if you have children whom you like to see regularly, you have the flexibility to satisfy that parental need
4. Some regular feedback to allow you to feel satisfied that you are doing a good job.
Rarely do people LOVE THEIR WORK from a deep, dark, lonely cave – emotionally or physically. To feel satisfied at work, we humans require some feedback on how we are doing e.g.
LinkedIn “likes” on an article you wrote
a pat on the back from your boss
winning a significant contract
verbal praise for doing something specific, really well
an informal recommendation to speak to you, about something you are great at
a bloody good appraisal
let’s not forget…a decent bonus
The more detail-focussed of you might notice the multiple use of the words “satisfied/satisfaction” in the above…the essential components of a “decent career”.
Let me be clear, ticking all 4 boxes above will NOT lead to “career happiness”. But, it usually leads to “career satisfaction”.
If this is your first time reading any of my articles, I’ll let you know now that “career satisfaction” isn’t a driver for me.
I aim a great deal higher.
So, how do you raise the bar to focus on finding “career happiness”?
The absolute key lies in discovering your superpowers, understanding what is stopping you from using more of your superpowers at work, and designing your career in a way that allows you to do that.
That’s it.
That’s the secret behind my work.
It’s as easy as that.
So, why don’t we all know what our superpowers are?
It's hard work searching for your superpowers.
We do…but most people don't think about their career in this way.
It requires some deep searching.
It takes a little time and a giant dose of honesty - which is difficult to do by yourself.
It's incredibly possible though.
If you’d like to get started immediately on discovering your unique superpowers book in for one of my (free 30min) Light at the end of the tunnel calls.
If you are not quite ready, but want access to a growing body of resources including articles, book recommendations and an up-and-coming selection of client transformation stories, signup to my You’re not too old and it’s not too late newsletter.
