137. Three Questions to Help You Rethink Your Career

[Music] Welcome to the Mid-Korea Change Podcast. I'm Mark Crossfield, a professional career coach. Here to help you turn mid-Korean certainty into an exciting journey of self-discovery and reinvention. Where you're feeling stuck, seeking new opportunities, or ready to inject more meaning into your work, this podcast is your roadmap to transform your career. Repetition show notes is at bravocoaching.co.uk/podcast. Now let's get started with today's episode. Hello and welcome to the show and what are we now? Episode 137. I'm Mark Crossfield and today I want to explore something I think many people feel at this time of the year and that's a growing awareness that something in your working life might need attention. January has a way of bringing these feelings to the surface, isn't it? We come back to work with a bit more distance, a bit more perspective, and we start to notice things we might have brushed aside when we're in the thick of it. So with this short episode, I want to share three signs that you might be ready for a shift of some kind. I'm more importantly, how to interpret those signs during a few simple writing prompts from my new course, Write Your Career. It's important to pay attention to these signs. They matter, the worth listening to, so let's get into it. The first sign is a subtle one and it's when something in your working life feels out of place, out of balance or out of step. It might be how you're feeling about your role, the work vibe generally, or maybe even your relationship with colleagues or your manager. Good question to ask is, what's not working right now? What's not working right now? When I look back at my own career, there was a period towards the end of my time in civil engineering, when things looked absolutely fine on paper. I had a respected role, great colleagues, and I was good at my job, but something had shifted internally. I remember being at an industry event, where a team had won an award. Everyone was celebrating and I realised that inside, I didn't feel the sense of pride I expected. Instead, I felt as though the work mattered, but not in the same way anymore. Looking back, I could see that things had started to change. I was beginning to realise that although it was a good job, it wasn't a good job for me. That gentleman nudge that night really did bring it to my attention. I often answer that question, what's not working right now, helps you to catch these early signs rather than overlooking them. This often means the solutions become clearer too. The second sign relates to a shifted energy you might be experiencing. You might find yourself nulksying the moments when your work feels most alive, and the moments when it doesn't. A simple question to ask here is, when does my work feel most alive? When does my work feel most alive? For me, the answer is that question emerged long before I changed careers. I find myself really energized after mentoring junior engineers providing career support for colleagues. These are the moments I felt most like myself. I didn't recognise it as a sign of the time, it just felt good. Looking back, those are the clues pointing towards coaching years before I realised it consciously. Energy is often the early sign that something is wanting to grow or take a bigger place in your work in life. It doesn't necessarily mean a new job, sometimes it's simply shifting your role towards the work that fits you best. Let's move on to the third sign, which is maybe you've noticed this recently. You find your mind wandering into other possibilities. Not into it, I'm quitting everything to become a chocolatey away or I'm selling everything and opening a crap brewery away, or it could be that. But more in a way that gets you thinking about work you could do and enjoy. A helpful question to ask here is, if you could explore a different kind of work just to see how it feels, what would you choose? If you could explore a different kind of work just to see how it feels, what would you choose? This question taps into possibility. It helps you notice what's quietly calling to you, the ideas that feel worth paying attention to. When I asked myself that question, the answer that came up for me was photographer. I was already using my spur times to photos, so when photographer came to mind, it wasn't a surprise. I tested the idea by volunteering at my local football club. It wasn't a career move, it was simply where I've exploring something that felt interesting and seeing how it felt in practice. It was a direction I was interested in, but trying it out was the important part. That's what helped me see what it felt like in reality. Exploring different futures doesn't mean you're unhappy while you are though. It doesn't mean something in you is stretching and your career may need space to stretch with you. So those are the three signs to think about. Something feels off, the question to ask is, what's not working right now? You're craving more energy or meaning? The question here is, when does my work feel more alive? And finally, you're imagining other futures. And you could explore different kind of work just to see how it feels, what would you choose? Create these signs as useful information, signals that something in your work and life wants your attention. Remember, you don't have to solve everything at once. A writing can be one of the easiest ways to understand these signals. So, when I try spending five minutes writing about at least one of the questions I've given you today, you might be surprised by what emerges. And if you like a structure way to explore these questions and lots more over 30 days, the right-your-career course is still available at the January launch price of 49 pounds. It's designed to help you reflect, explore new possibilities and begin shaping a direction that feels more like you. And it's available with or without one to one coaching. So do have a look at that. If you're interested, at some of our website, you can find all the details there. Okay, thanks for listening today. And I'll see you in the next episode. Bye for now. Thanks for listening today. I hope you've gained some valuable insights. Tell you never get your mid-career journey. Enjoy what you do each day. And build a fulfilling and successful next chapter. Don't forget to check out previous episodes and the show notes at bravocoaching.co.uk/podcast. If you're wondering what's next for your career, don't love my free guide. Should I stay or should I go? At bravocoaching.co.uk/go And feel free to connect with me at [email protected] Or you can catch me on LinkedIn. See you next time.