Career Wellbeing

Career Wellbeing is how you manage your career both today and tomorrow, so that your work provides you with the resources, motivation, and the opportunities to achieve your goals.

It’s more than simply the job you are in today. Career Wellbeing is about putting yourself in the drivers seat, taking control and being prepared for the unexpected shocks in the future. (And unexpected shocks can be fantastic for your career.)

In many organisations there’s lots of investment in their people’s Wellbeing, helping them to thrive and grow.

But there isn’t often the practical (and sometimes uncomfortable) insights on what you need to do for your career.

That's the my career habit difference - making Career Wellbeing real for professionals by motivating action with a future that matters to them and the small, practical, consistent steps to be taken to make Career Wellbeing a habit.

Gallup’s 2010 research found Wellbeing had 5 essential elements, and they defined each of the 5 as follows:

• Career Wellbeing: how you occupy your time -- or simply liking what you do every day
• Social Wellbeing: having strong relationships and love in your life
• Financial Wellbeing: effectively managing your economic life
• Physical Wellbeing: having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
• Community Wellbeing: the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live

The Gallup definition of Career Wellbeing, “liking what you do everyday”, has become the default definition of Career Wellbeing. (Just Google it to see for yourself.)

Wellbeing definition: ”The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” (OED)

What you do everyday plays a big part in your overall Wellbeing.

And, if you’re a typical professional, most of your waking hours are spent at work.

That’s not to say that the Gallup question, “Do you like what you do each day?” isn’t important, and doesn’t provide rich insights.

It oversimplifies Career Wellbeing. Career is bigger than what we do each day, and we can put up with a lot if today being tough or rubbish is moving us towards where we want to get to.

Not only does it only simplify, but it allows people to take the SAFE OPTION.

Like becomes replaced with comfortable and safe. Human beings don’t like change, so a job that provides safe and simple routine, is one we stay with. Even when it is not providing us with Career Wellbeing.

• You can like what you do but be incredibly burnout and overwhelmed with work – think about a nurse or a doctor.
• You can not like what you do but know that it is a stepping stone to where you want to get to and be very clear that the short-term discomfort is worth the long term gain.
• You can really ‘like’ elements of your job and not ‘like’ other parts of it.
• And you can be the frog in boiling water, where you think you like what you do but all the signs are that you are slowly dying in your role.