Lost your passion? How to Fall Back Into Love With Your Career

Career commitment is like marriage.

Falling in love with your job is only the first step to creating a fulfilling career that lasts. Can your passion push you through the challenges to find contentment each day you wake up and go to work?

It is common to face depression at some point in your career. Just like the ups and downs in a relationship, there will be moments when a job becomes more of a burden. And when it happens, most people call it quits to explore their next calling.  

But try not to let those temporary feelings get in the way of achieving your goals. Instead of changing career direction every time you lose your motivation, rekindle the passion for what you do to ensure a “happy ending” for your career.

Follow these steps to fall back into love with your job.

Figure out where things went wrong

It is human nature to avoid confrontation because no one likes to deal with negative emotions. The reluctance to beat obstacles when facing career doubts is similar. Most people choose to pursue different roles once their current jobs don’t turn out as expected.

Insecurities and frustration can happen to everyone at any point in life. No matter how much you try to ignore them, they will always come back. Hence, it is better to sit down and resolve all the problems that cause the career roadblocks.

Your career is a bucket filled with passion and the challenges that you face could be the leaks that eventually empty the bucket. You need to find those leaks and fix them before you completely lose the motivation to do anything.

Be it failure, stress, or even conflict with your coworker, there are countless of distractions that you will encounter throughout your career. As long as you can eliminate those negative influences, you will be able to keep sight of your career mission.

Turn to your plan B

Once you have figured out the causes of discontent, you can design a different plan for your career altogether. The most important thing to carry with you is the motivation that brought you here in the first place.

As an old adage goes, “all roads lead to Rome”, there are infinite paths that lead you to your ultimate career goals. Don’t doubt your passion just because something goes wrong along the way. Perhaps all you need is a little adjustment in what you do.

You can approach your day-to-day tasks differently if you feel like your job is getting repetitive. Try proposing your suggestions to improve the work performance to your supervisor. You can even volunteer to take on (or help with) a new project in the team to challenge yourself with new responsibilities. Seize every opportunity that comes your way to foster your career.

Give yourself some time off

When work becomes overwhelming, it’s inevitable to feel frustrated. And frustration has a ripple effect: it affects your productivity, erodes your enthusiasm at work, and eventually makes you feel uncertain about your career choice. So when you notice the signs of burnout, it’s time to take a break.

Related: Burned Out: How to Tell Your Boss You’re Feeling Overwhelmed at Work 

Just like being in a relationship, personal space matters. Devoting 100% to your career is not always healthy, you need to allocate your time for other things in life as well. Don’t limit your time to the office cubicle and household tasks, do other things that make your heart sing.

Don’t be afraid to disconnect from work to invite passion back into your life, a short vacation will make a whole lot difference.

Rekindle your passion

Do you remember how you discovered your passion? Does your current job fulfil your career goals?

Whenever you go off-track, always think of the purpose of your job and make sure that it aligns with your passion. For example, if you are passionate about writing, does your job allow you to “play” with words and ideas often? It’s important to work for what you believe in, that’s how successful people can always keep their passion alive.

Here are the takeaways to reconnect with your job:

•      Identify the factors that distract you from achieving your goals
•      Resolve the problems instead of avoiding them
•      Map out a different path to pursue your career goals
•      Take a (short) break to ease your mind
•      Let your passion define your profession

So you have everything figured out? Explore the paths to live your dreams, submit your resume right here:

Do you have any secrets to help keep the spark in your relationship with your career? Share with us in the comments below!