Are you letting your career define you?

two people working

Photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash

If you’re human like most of us reading this blog post, you’ve let your career define you from time to time.  It can be a mental drag if you aren’t happy in your job, the salary that you make, the field that you’re in, or perhaps you dream of a better life for yourself or your family.

Usually how it goes down is that you are out with some friends, meeting some new people and you get introduced to someone else.  You start with the normal small chat “where are you from?” “How do you know so and so?” and then comes the question, “so what do you do for work?”

As if the person you are meeting much cares what you do, at the end of the day they just met you, and most likely want you to be happy and joyful.  They could probably care less if you drive Uber, or work for Doctors without Borders.

But in your mind, what you do for work defines you as a person.  If you absolutely love your job, you can’t wait to tell people what you do.  There is an excitement to your voice and a smile on your face.  If you don’t love your job, it’s a whole different ball game.  And this is where it gets to be a problem when you don’t love where your at, and then you let it define who you are.

Your job isn’t your life

The good news is that your job isn’t your entire life.  It’s a part of your life, but you also have family, friends, recreation, health, and other things that are important in your life as well!  It’s okay to be frustrated and want more, but realize that your career isn’t going to be how people remember you.

What people will remember is your smile, your attitude, how you treated them and made them feel.

Choose Your Story

The story that you tell yourself about your job is how you will feel about it.  If you take the approach that you hate what you do, and work is just work, then it will continue to be that way.  But if you start to think positively about the opportunity in front of you to help others, then you’ll start to change the story you are telling yourself.

If you aren’t happy in the position you are in, do a job search!  We have over 400 jobs currently on Corridor Careers.  Find your next one!

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Job Success