Posted under Career Management on June 14th, 2007
Clients tell me this is one of their toughest challenges. I know it is. Still, by devoting yourself fully to work during work hours, and working steadily on your job search during off times, you can make progress in both. Is there a project in which to engage at work? Are there colleagues to mentor? Can you write operating instructions or improve processes? By continuing to achieve at work, you diffuse suspicion that you’re looking. Plus, the possibility exists that you may stay with your current employer, or ask to return (it happens).
But, “I hate my job!” You can still be productive if you can find your “flow.” Behavioral psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s, author of Finding Flow: the Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, describes “flow” as a time when you truly become engaged in your work. In his research, Csikszentmihalyi found that when people are doing tasks they want to do or have to do, they are generally happy or at least engaged in their activities. It is in the period of time when they have nothing to do that they flounder. Wandering aimlessly and proceeding without goals seems to be the nastiest form of punishment for most people.
So, here are a few tips for finding your flow:
- Develop a job-search plan and work the plan. The feeling of making progress and advancing your goals is a key ingredient in the flow.
- Avoid turning important job-search processes, such as networking, into unplanned activities. Rather, set weekly goals and check them off as you achieve them.
- Recall a time when you were confident, powerful, poised, charismatic, etc. Think about how you felt both mentally and physically. Put yourself into that same frame of mind and make a networking call. Now, imagine doing your next interview with that same level of enthusiasm.
Posted by Michele Haffner
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Karen P. Katz on 15 Jun 2007 at 7:18 am #
You raise an issue that affects the most conscientious candidates . It is very challenging to juggle the emotional demands of the current job and the plan for the future. Sometimes the best choice is to leave the past behind and focus on the plan for the future.
You mention an author whose discussion of “flow” evolved in a later volume to include changing the workplace. See Csikszentmihalyi’s later volume, Good Business; also a previous post on CareerMastersTalk, Doing Well by Doing Good.
Louise Kursmark on 15 Jun 2007 at 10:53 am #
Michele, you are right on target describing how unfulfilled and dissatisfied most of us feel when we are floundering and unproductive. I know my best work days are those when I’m zooming purposefully from one job to the next, crossing things off the list, tackling those difficult or often-avoided tasks that simply need to get done. I love your advice for job seekers to be purposeful at work AND on the job.