Gratitude, Leadership, Motivation, Success, Time Management, Travel
Published on November 6, 2019
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I don’t like my job

written by Colin Nanka

Part 3

In her NY Times article and a part-time gig as work friend, Megan Greenwell writes about “How Your Job Will Never Love You Back.”

Here are four buckets Megan puts most work anxiety into:

  1. My boss annoys me.

  2. My co-workers (usually millennials) annoy me.

  3. I am dissatisfied with the type of work I do and/or don’t know what to do next.

  4. I don’t actually have serious work problems but I am anxious about that.

I remember sitting down with one of my early mentors in sales, Rick after a sales call. He was a big burly guy with force and a kind heart. We talked about what I did well and where I could improve. One of the things he picked up for me, that even when I made some mistakes in the sales process, I was intently focused on listening and getting back on track.  It may have been a winding road, but I achieved the objective.

Fast forward eight years and in the first couple sessions with my coach I hired, she asked me to do a strengths test by Gallup organization.

What I was naturally geared towards and how did I think?

What came up for me:

  • Learner – I love to learn

  • Context – Once I get more detail, I can make fast decisions

  • Futuristic – I like to vision things out

  • Relator – Building relationships on the way to a goal is important

  • FOCUS – Give me a big project, and I will dig deeper into it and get it done.

Managers in the past had told me to shore up my weaknesses instead of leveraging my strengths. After 20+ years in sales, I can tell you, top performers leverage what they have.

So if you are dissatisfied with your work, I would offer you two exercises:

  1. Take the strengths test (think it cost $15-$20 now). Strengths bring you awareness and how and why you are good at some things more than others and offer you a connection to fulfillment in your career.  Let them sync in for a week and then go back and review them again. It’s not an overnight fix, but a journey to smooth out that winding road and get you to where you should be.

  2. Take time to write out what your top 3 values are, and why. Mine are Trust, Growth, and Adventure. Once you know what defines you, it’s much easier to say yes and no to life choices.

Rick saw early potential in me and helped me see clearly where I should focus.

Strengths Test

Defeating Average.

Colin

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