Saskatoon Business College

As 2014 draws to a close, it’s time to take stock of our personal and career goals and decide if you need to make a major career change.

1. End of weekend dread

Whether it’s Sunday evening or Thursday night, the end of your weekend fills you with dread. You start to wonder if you could get away calling in sick with food poisoning or a great-aunt’s funeral.

2. A monkey could do your job

You don’t feel skilled or appreciated at your job, which leaves you feeling expendable and sometimes frightened about your job security.  It’s important for your long term satisfaction to feel like your work is meaningful and contributes to the betterment of the company.

3. Working for peanuts

Money isn’t everything, but it does pay the bills. If your job isn’t paying yours, it’s time to figure out how to cut your costs, upgrade your skills, or change careers altogether. You’re the only person who can ensure you’re paid what you’re worth.

4. Envy of friends

Do you force a smile and a hearty “congratulations!” when a friend or relative tells you about their job or accomplishments, all the while seething with envy? Do you cringe when you see people with less experience get promotions and raises and opportunities for travel and great perks? Don’t let that resentment eat away at you.

5. You feel trapped

Are you able to learn new skills at your job? Can you plot your next career move and how to achieve it, or is your employer happy to keep you exactly where you are, with no room to grow?

6. Toxic workplace culture

Maybe it’s your boss, or just one terrible coworker. Maybe it’s the entire company culture. A workplace is toxic when there is constant tension, little positive communication, and no trust. Over time, a toxic workplace culture can have a negative affect on your behavior, your goals, and even your mental and physical health.

7. You can’t see your future

Can you imagine yourself with the same job, or even the same company in one year? How about five? Or ten? If you can’t visualize yourself growing with your company, it might be time to consider a change.

…but don’t quit your job in search of some vague, perfect, ideal job that may not exist. No matter how much you might love your job, there will always be challenges and difficult people.

Have you heard the phrase “work-life balance”? It’s not just corporate speak for juggling our personal and professional lives perfectly. It’s crucial to remember that balance is important, but everyone’s priorities are slightly different when it comes to “work-life balance”—and there’s nothing wrong with that. Ultimately you have to understand why you work in the first place.

Are you the type of person who lives to work, or the type who works to live?

Hard work can definitely pay off.

Live-to-work types of people often believe it’s very important to love one’s job. They are driven and often energized by professional accomplishments. They might enjoy the thrill of turning a profit for their company, or they might have a deep personal investment in working for a cause. These people not only have to believe in necessity of their work, but they become disenchanted if their work requires them to do something they find meaningless or unethical. People who live to work even talk about their work differently. They often strive to have a “career” instead of just a job, and they are more likely work on “projects” than “assignments”.  They believe hard work, creativity, and professional achievement are extremely important in their lives.

So what kind of person lives to work? It depends on who you ask. This type is sometimes characterized as the workaholic family man, but this is an outdated perspective. Many men and women, whether they are in professional fields or not, can be described as living to work. There is also a perception that young people—specifically Gen Y—is not interested in working hard and paying their dues. However, studies have shown that many members of both Gen X and Gen Y consider meaningful, ethical work to be vital in their professional lives.

There’s nothing wrong with preferring this to the office.

Work-to-live types have a different philosophy. After all, everyone needs a paycheque and only a lucky few have the luxury of doing having a fun, glamorous job. As far as these folks are concerned, it’s important to be realistic, play to your strengths, and do what’s necessary to keep the money, benefits, and vacation time rolling in. There are more important things in life than work. There’s family and friends; fitness, hobbies, and adventures. Anyone who has dozens of professional projects on the go can tell you that something’s got to give, and that something is usually downtime. People who work to live would rather keep their heads down at work and plan for their annual vacation, or forgo overtime to spend time with their kids, or practice for the upcoming marathon. It’s not that they can’t work hard. People who work to live use their jobs as a means to an end, while people who live to work find their jobs an end all on their own.

It’s often true that very young people work to live, since they have not had the opportunity or experience necessary to engage in work they find meaningful. Working to live has less to do with how young or old someone is, or their economic class, and more to do with where they derive pleasure in their lives. If traveling or training or weekends at the cabin are more important in your life than a major acquisition or breakthrough at work, you might just be the kind of person who works so they can live the life they desire.

It’s tempting to look down on whichever work philosophy we don’t subscribe to, and think those people are boring obsessives or lazy clockpunchers, but that’s both unfair and an oversimplification.  Few people are entirely one type or the other, and it’s normal for one person to transition from one type to another over the course of their life. Someone who is young and has the freedom to work as much as they like may strive to get ahead and then scale back once they have a family. Raising their children and having flexibility might be that person’s highest priority. As their child matures, they might decide to go back to school or try something new for work they’ve always enjoyed and suddenly, the might live to work all over again. One way is not better than the other. Different lives require different priorities.

We don’t all have the same priorities – and that’s okay.

It’s important to understand which category you (mostly) fall into, so that when you’re planning your personal and professional life, you are realistic about your desires and your goals. Will you be happy at a job where you might be asked to work most weekends or receive emergency calls at three in the morning? Probably not in you work to live. Will someone who lives to work be happy receiving more money and benefits to be given dull projects or work for a company he or she find unethical? Maybe in the short term, but in the long term they want a career they can be proud of.

So think about what matters most in your life and why and see if you can answer for yourself whether you live to work, or whether you work to live.