Tips and Tools for Achieving Your Brand!
Unhappy?
Why Dissatisfaction is Key to Brand Development
Have you ever had that gut wrenching feeling deep in your soul that the path you were on was not the right one? Did you have time, money, and pride invested in the situation that made it scary and difficult to walk away? Did your heart race every day from increased anxiety? Did you let fear keep you there?
Let’s be honest, you may be reading this article because you currently hate your job! If so, you feel dissatisfied, overwhelmed with negative emotions, underwhelmed with your opportunities for growth and lethargic at the thought of work. Consequently, all of these emotions have affected the quantity and quality of your performance. Well here’s the good news, we have all been at that crossroads with that sinking feeling in our gut telling us it's time for a change, but is it? One psychological theory that supports this mental dilemma is called Cognitive Dissonance (CD). CD is when you have conflicting thoughts, ideas, beliefs and attitudes about a behavioral decision that you have made, or are thinking of making. So when you are unhappy at work, you are experiencing cognitive dissonance about your investment at your current job and whether you should stay or explore new options. After reading this post you will learn (1) why you are stagnant, (2) steps to take to proceed, and (3) why your dissatisfaction is going to help you develop a stronger brand. So your anxiety is building and you don’t know what to do. The voices in your head have told you both to leave and to stay. You have spoken to your support network, and while some encourage you to make the choice to be happy and seek fulfilment, many encourage you into complacency and accepting your current state. They may say things like: What’s the common thread here? FEAR! Many people operate by fear and don’t even know it. They consequently transfer their fear to you and you may not even recognize it. This may be because they are unhappy in their lives with negative situations they have not resolved, have never took any ‘true’ risks to realize their full potential, or have not realized your unlimited potential and how great you are destined to be. Therefore, they can only advise you from that place of unhappiness, fear, or protection. But you are strong and you will get through this crossroad with greater rewards than you could ever imagine in this moment, but how?
Step 1: Assess the source of your unhappiness.
- a.Your job scope
- b.Your job location
- c.Your salary
- d.Your co-workers; or
- e.Your boss?
Take some time to brainstorm on these five factors and decide if it is one, or a combination of factors, that have you dissatisfied. Once you have introspected move on to Step 2.
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STEP 2: Devise a plan of action:
Based on your assessment in Step 1, use the problem-solving approach that best matches the source of your dissatisfaction:
a.Your job scope:
If it is the scope of your job then you can either ask your boss for more duties, look for promotion opportunities within your firm, or find a job at another company (which is a level up from your current job). Remember, if it is only the scope, and not your salary, then look for opportunities that will feed your need for learning through increased responsibilities. This may not include a salary raise, though I always advise negotiating a higher salary.b.Your salary
You can either increase your salary internally or externally. You can do what I mentioned in part 2(a), the only difference here is that you may be satisfied with the scope of your job, but feel as if you are underpaid for your contribution to the firm. In this case you talk to your boss about your concerns using a well-structured argument about your past and present contributions to the team to validate your request for a raise. Explore all your options for augmenting your salary, including a promotion, or change in title that comes with a higher salary to better reflect your quality contribution. If these internal solutions do not work, then look for your salary increase externally by finding a new job.c.Your location
This one is the simplest but also the most complicated as moving is expensive. My questions to you are twofold: is it that your commute to work is too long or you do not like the state or area you work in. To resolve this problem you can do a couple of things: 1. Move closer to work; 2. Ask to relocate to an office closer to your home (if possible with the size of your corporation); or 3. Ask to work remotely a couple days of the week (if possible with the scope of your job); or (4) Find a position in another state with or without your company. The only thing I suggest is that if your problem solving requires you to make a major move, please negotiate a moving stipend to alleviate the cost of moving. So many people do not know that this is a benefit with many corporations. Ask and you shall receive.d. Your coworkers
Your job becomes your home during the day. In fact some people spend more time at their job than they do at home, so if you do not like your coworkers you may be incredibly unhappy to the point of feeling sick. In this case, the source of your discomfort can come from being ostracized, being misunderstood, being demographically unique at your job and thus not having a lot of people you can relate to, or being taken advantage of because you are too nice. Whichever your story, you cannot change people. As Maya Angelou famously said: If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Now if you have earnestly tried to change your attitude, by trying to make friends, by being more outgoing, by listening to constructive feedback to make subtle changes in your work personality to fit in better, or by standing up for yourself when being ill-treated, to no avail, then it is time for a new job. Choose your happiness. Choose your health.e. Your boss
Issues with your manager is the most tricky situation as s/he is the person who develops you, recommends you for promotion, and could possibly make or break your career. Your manager is also supposed to care for you and advocate for you as you are part of his/her team. So when you do not either get along with your manager or have a workable relationship but you feel s/he does not advocate for you and thus will not get you to the next level, then you have a problem. If you have failed to make progress after sharing your concerns with your manager, internal options include talking to a higher up person whom you trust as a mentor and who you believe would give you sound advice based on your firm’s corporate culture/policies, by advocating for you with your boss or seeking opportunities to get you transferred to another team or division. If none of these options do not work, you go to the external option of finding another job!It is important to note that this process is about seeking fulfilment and happiness to grow and build a stronger brand. You cannot be your best if you are unhappy, but you can definitely use your dissatisfaction as an opportunity to build a stronger brand. A seed cannot grow without breaking through its barriers to sprout a beautiful flower, so for you to evolve to a happy state, you have to experience some discomfort.
For a limited period I am offering an extended version of this post to explore in depth the answer to my subtitle: Why Dissatisfaction is Key to Brand Development. To gain access to this extended version (with bonus worksheets) and more resources on career fulfillment, subscribe below.
Dr. Raedene Copeland is a professor, speaker, coach, and brand consultant to individuals and businesses locally and globally!
Copyright 2016.
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