Whitney sat down with members of the Worked Up community to share advice and tips to help them take back their time. Worked Up is a community of women on a mission to close the gender gap in the workplace and empower leaders by providing women from all backgrounds equal access to opportunities they need to thrive in their careers. During the session, Whitney answered questions from the group about finding clarity around their careers, particularly when they feel overwhelmed or unhappy at work.
What can you do if you’re unhappy at work but you don’t know what you want to do next?
First, Whitney said that it’s important to recognize that figuring out what you want to do for your career is not an easy process. As she often tells her clients, it takes introspection to know what you want your life to look like. You have to start doing the deep work to understand what you want from your whole life — not just your job.
The first step Whitney works on with her coaching clients is figuring out what they want their lives to look like. Next, they can start to build a path to achieve their goals and focus on what matters to them most. Everything in life is interconnected. When you know what you want your life to look like, you’ll be able to recognize which jobs fit into your vision and which jobs don’t. Once you have a clear vision for your life, you can filter opportunities through that sense of clarity and be more intentional about career decisions.
Whitney also highlighted how important it is to drill down on why you’re unhappy at work. Is the role or industry the wrong fit or are you unhappy because you feel overworked and overwhelmed? If it’s the latter, there are some things you can do to achieve more balance. For instance, she recommended communicating with your manager as soon as you start to feel like you have too much going on. If you wait to tell your boss you’re overwhelmed when projects are overdue, it’s going to sound like an excuse. Instead, be professional and proactive about connecting with your boss on priorities and come up with solutions to get work done.
Our culture says that you should be proud of losing sleep and working nonstop, but that’s a dangerous mindset to have. You can’t deliver high quality work if you’re exhausted. There are so many people, across all stages of their careers, who believe that they have to kill themselves at work now and figure out a good balance later. But the problem is, you can always move the goalposts to finding that balance later in your career and your life. Whitney explained that by shifting your mindset now and looking at your whole life, you’ll be able to recognize where you’re spending time on things that aren’t important to you. Then, you can start to take back your time and focus on the things that truly matter to you most in the present — not down the road.
Your career takes up a big percentage of time on the clock, but your life is made up of so much more than what you do for work. Remember that you are a whole person and that what you want for your life goes beyond your career. Once you have clarity about your vision for your life, you can better understand where your career fits into the picture. Then, you’ll be ready to get on the path to achieving the goals that will give you the life you’ve always dreamed of. With Whitney’s expert help and guidance, you can discover your vision for your life and build a path to achieve the goals that matter to you most. Schedule an application call with Whitney today if you’d like her help to Take Back Your Time.
