Practical steps toward alleviating discontent in our work. Part 3: Finding our Fit

Discontent in work categorizes almost half of us. Many of us want a change but we don’t know how. And, for so many, we simply feel like we are mis-fits, not truly in a place where we can give our best, or that we do not come alive in our work. Morale and value, as I mentioned in my previous blogs, are not the issue. 

In this blog… Finding our vocational fit. 

Read on to understand what it means to find a good vocational fit toward having more fulfillment in your work. 

Knowing our work is not a good fit 

When our work is not connected to how we want to bring good in the world or the use of our talents and skills in meaningful ways, we are often compelled by responsibility or personal needs to continue our engagement. But when we look more closely at our passion areas, gifts, personality, and how we hope to make the world a better place for our families and community, we may find our current employment is not our best fit. This requires some vocational discernment, where we consider our identity and purpose in a deeper, more long-lasting way toward finding a more sustainable (and enjoyable) career path.  

Steps to Discern our Vocational Fit 

1. Do a personal inventory: If you have done the work to determine your team and your value are not the leading causes for your discontent in your work, you have some deeper soul searching to do. Consider taking a Strengths Finder test or looking into the OCEAN profile or even the DISC profile as a means to getting new language for your personality and passion areas. You may not be in a position where you are using your abilities to their full potential. The more we know who we are, the better we can look at a job description and vision for our work and know if we are aligned well in our vocation. 

2. Clarify your mission: This may sound daunting but it really does help to know why you are working somewhere and what good you hope to bring through your life. You only have this one life and it really does matter. So consider what it is you feel most compelled to heal. Who do you see as the people you want to bring value to and how? It does not have to be world peace you are creating. It could be that you want to create systems that free people up to live more joyful lives. Whatever your mission, it should make you feel alive and driven to act. 

3. Find your dream job: Assessments, inventories, and mission statement creation all help us clarify where we are at and where we want to go. We may realize through these processes that it’s time to take a leap out of our current unfulfilling job and into something new. But how and when? This is where community and coaching come in! Having advocates to support you, keep you from limiting beliefs, and speak truth to you are a necessity in making life and vocation shifts. I have seen that my clients are looking for a voice that will give them honest feedback and help them navigate their path. 

My favorite work with my clients is to help them clarify their personal vocational statement. When they know why they were created and how they are to bring healing into the world, they clarify what is worthy of their yes and their no in their work. This is not easy work but it does lead them to work that fulfills their dreams. And, they realize they can do many different roles and still be living their dream!  

Further Support

If you are not content in your work and are finding you are not a fit in your current context, let’s talk. Discerning your personal sense of life calling will support you in knowing whether to stay or go in your current work and in all your future opportunities. Let’s work together to clarify your vocation so you can live more fulfilled in your work. 

Click here to set up a discovery conversation with Trisha to grow your value in your vocation. 

Our mission is to coach you to clarify and activate your calling so you can thrive in all you are and do! 

Trisha has served as the executive director of The Leadership Center, coaching women and men on vocation and leadership since 2012. Trisha has her doctorate in Leadership and Global Perspectives from Portland Seminary and is an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church. Trisha directs The Institute for Pastoral and Congregational Thriving at Portland Seminary, is the director for Theologia: George Fox's High School Youth Theology Institute, and serves as project faculty for the doctorate in Leadership and Global Perspectives at Portland Seminary. Trisha’s vision for the world is for all people to activate their unique identity and calling, welcoming one another to play and work together in mutually honorable, hospitable and generous ways that create healthy and sustainable relationships with God, self, others, and the planet.