Staying At Your Job

You’ve chosen to stay - there is a reason you are there and you aren’t blaming others for ruining your mental health. Now it’s time to grab that bull by the horns and decide what you DO want. 

You may have decided to be there but things are not great. You need to make changes. But how do you even know what you need any more?

Start here: take stock of where your baseline is (now), what manageable looks like, and what ideal looks like. Even if you have done this before, do it again now - things have changed remarkably over the last year and it’s time for fresh eyes.

When things are rough, we tend to wish for and idealize an unrealistic view of what happy looks like. 

This exercise will help you get more rooted in reality: sort out what Ideal, Manageable, and Unmanageable look like. 

Why is it useful? You now have the language to discuss your needs or plans during your next one-on-one. When you ask for more resources, changes in processes, whatever it is, your ask is anchored back to a picture of reality and not idealistic dreaming.

Here is an example:

Overwhelm/Unmanageable

End of day: 200 emails to reply to after being in meetings and unavailable for 8 hours

Feeling alone and drowning, there is no way through this 

Signing out of work email at 9pm

No energy (or time) to do anything else after work

Manageable would look like:

50 unread emails 

Feeling that this will end -- and I’m on the road to asking for what I need 

Not attending every meeting I am invited to 

Delegating staff to attend or getting Actions Required by me after the meeting from a colleague

Eating lunch away from my desk and having at least one 15 minute break outside per day

Turning off my brain at 7pm

Ideal would look like:

20 unread emails 

Feeling I am doing my best

No emails and work after 6pm unless there is an emergency

Knowing my colleagues have my back, and I have theirs

Eating a healthy lunch and working out 3 x a week 

Feeling satisfied at the end of the day - things are moving in a direction I can be open to

The result?

Now you are clear: where am I now, what is the best-case scenario (ideal), and what is the midpoint I am aiming for (Manageable). It’s time to make a plan to get there.

To access this tool, go to the resources page and download the free worksheet today