Job Therapy summary

If you’re feeling a mix of emotions about your job, know that it’s normal for work to feel as complex and fraught as any other aspect of your life. This is a vital starting point for understanding workplace satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

Take the case of Tricia Baker, a former school psychologist, who initially felt her role aligned well with her interests in mental health and practicality for managing family life. Over time, though, her job evolved into a series of tasks – assessments, meetings, and report-writing – that didn’t fulfill her. This shift led her to realize that she yearned for a more hands-on therapeutic role. Tricia’s story illustrates how the daily realities of a job can significantly deviate from what we might expect when entering a profession, leading to a gradual but deep disconnect.

Feeling overwhelmed and stretched too thin at work is a common experience for many. And it can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction, particularly when you’re juggling multiple roles beyond your primary responsibilities. This scenario typically results in producing work that may meet the minimum standards of your workplace, but falls short of your personal expectations.

The first step in addressing this situation is to evaluate the additional tasks you’ve taken on. Often, these extra responsibilities are voluntary and not officially recognized in terms of career advancement. This poses two questions: Are these tasks truly contributing to your professional growth, or simply adding to your workload? And will these efforts be acknowledged in discussions about promotions or other career advancements?

Understanding our relationship with our jobs often hinges on recognizing and addressing the stressors that impact our daily work lives. Many of us operate under false assumptions about what causes stress at work, which can skew our perceptions and decisions about our careers.

A study involving an app called My VP Lab, designed to measure daily stress and its correlation with blood pressure, sheds light on this issue. The app asks users to predict what will stress them out in the morning, and to reflect on what actually caused them stress at the end of the day. Results show that people accurately predict their stressors only about half the time. This discrepancy highlights a common misjudgment: while we might prepare for certain stress factors, we often overlook other common yet unpredictable ones, like sudden meetings or traffic jams.

Feeling stuck in your career often leads to contemplating drastic changes. But it’s important to approach this crossroads with a strategic mindset and an understanding of your intrinsic values and skills. When considering a job change, it might be more about applying your existing strengths in new environments than about seeking something entirely new.

A big part of any career transition is figuring out which skills you’re great at and enjoy using. You can break this down into three steps: identify what you do best, how you apply these skills, and the context in which they’re most effective.