How to Find the Motivation to Jump into the Driver’s Seat and Achieve Your Goals  

On paper, Emily’s job is great. She works for a well-known company, has the role she wants, likes her team, and can work from home. In reality, she works 80+ hours per week to meet tight deadlines and extremely high expectations. There’s a lot of work and a lot of pressure to perform. She rarely finishes her workday before 8 p.m. and by the weekend, she is exhausted. It’s all she can do to take care of what needs to get done and try to get some rest. This leaves little time for socializing with friends, or to take advantage of travel opportunities like vacations and destination weddings.

So why doesn’t Emily find something else? She is not happy where she is and, although she is talented and successful, she sees no end in sight. It’s taking a toll on her.

Should You Stay or Should You Go?

There are a whole host of reasons why people stay in jobs they don’t enjoy. Some can’t find the time and energy when it’s all they can do to survive where they are. They convince themselves it’s not so bad or cling to the belief that it’s going to get better, even though it never does. Others just don’t know what else to do, or they’re afraid they will have trouble finding a more fulfilling job. And most people can’t afford to quit without having something else lined up.

Underlying many of these reasons is a resistance to change, a fear of the unknown. In the face of that uncertainty, staying where they are may seem like a better option than moving on. Is it? Are they choosing to stay because it’s what they want, or are they just avoiding making the decision to leave?

As Tony Robbins wrote in “The Power of Leverage,” “One of the most important precepts about human behavior and change is that at the most basic level, there are two forces that motivate people to do what they do: the desire to avoid pain or the desire to gain pleasure.” Without a clear vision of what you want to move toward (the pleasure), you might be forced to stay in a job until the pain becomes strong enough to motivate you to make a change. Or until someone else makes that decision for you through a termination, layoff, or a change in your job role.

There’s power in being intentional and choosing your own career destiny. Why not take a closer look at your situation and decide what’s best for you? Maybe it’s staying and taking the necessary action to improve your situation and get your career back on track. Or maybe it’s leaving a job for a better opportunity. In any case, being deliberate about what you’re moving toward can provide powerful motivation and get you back to feeling good about where you are and where you’re headed.

Start With Why

A great place to start is by considering why it’s important to like what you do. People who enjoy their jobs are energized by the work and look forward to each day. They tend to be happier, both at work and outside of work, which leads to making greater contributions and achieving more success. In some cases, happier professionals may even be healthier than their less satisfied counterparts.

Think about a shopping cart with a wobbly wheel. You can still move the cart, but it may be harder to push or take more effort to keep it moving in the direction you’re going. The same is true when you’re working in a job you don’t enjoy. When you’re not aligned with your job, it takes more effort to get the work done. Over time, that takes its toll on you.

There’s also the impact your dissatisfaction has on others. Have you ever worked with an unhappy colleague? It can be demoralizing, frustrating, and draining. Less satisfied employees tend to be less productive for the company and may, intentionally or not, spread their discontent to customers or clients. Of course, personal life and career are intertwined–you are the same person, after all! How has your displeasure at work creeped into other aspects of your life? How has it affected your friends and family?

Get Real About Your Situation

Whether you’re miserable or just not as happy, challenged, or motivated as you’d like, it may be time to take charge of your career.

Take stock of where you are and where you want to be. Some things to consider:

• How much time are you spending at work on activities you don’t enjoy?
• Are you feeling motivated?
• How energizing (or draining) is your job?
• What are you getting professionally, financially, and personally from your career? How satisfied are you with the trade-offs you’re making?
• How well-positioned are you to achieve your personal and career goals?

Notice the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Consider how likely this is to change without deliberate action on your part. If you don’t take action, who or what will? What will the impact be on you?

Decide and Commit to Make it Happen

Making some changes in your current situation may be enough to get back on track and start feeling better about your job. For example, Susan was tired of seeing her male co-workers get all the best assignments. She’d given up hope that things would change and thought her only choice was to move on.

After further examination, however, it became clear that the problem wasn’t Susan’s ability; it was her visibility. Her colleagues were positioning themselves to get the roles they sought, and she wasn’t. Changing jobs wasn’t necessarily going to fix the problem, so Susan committed to change her situation. She made a plan to strengthen her relationship with her boss and other leaders in the company, and to be more proactive in advocating for herself and seeking the opportunities she desired.

Taking a more active role in her career allowed Susan to increase her visibility and promote her skills and the value she delivers to others. It also led to opportunities she may have missed out on before. While the transition occurred over time, Susan started feeling happier and more energized in her job even as she was beginning to execute her plan. She felt empowered rather than victimized. And, she could clearly see where she was headed.

In Susan’s case, making adjustments in her current situation led to greater job satisfaction. But how do you approach a bigger transition if there’s a large gap between where you are and where you want to be? Start by determining what you want and need, and what will make you happy. Consider all the possibilities rather than trying to find a single, perfect answer to what’s next. As you investigate the options, you’ll begin to get a clearer picture of your goals and how to reach them.

Figuring out exactly what you want to pursue may be messy and uncertain, and fear can set in. When it does, remember why your current situation isn’t the answer and what it is that you need and want to feel fulfilled. Whether it is small adjustments in your current role or pursuing other career options, making the decision to act puts you in the driver’s seat and gets you started on the path to change.