Let's face it, whether appropriate or not, our career has a lot to do with the first impression people have about us. In fact, people intentional or unintentional judge us based on general opinions of the work we do or where we work. Our career is a conversation starter, a door opener, and our lifeline. Come to think of it, though, the average person who goes to bed at 10:00 P.M. wakes up at 6:00 A.M., leaves home for work at 7, arrives at 8, and then leaves work at about 5 to arrive back home at 6:00 P.M. This means that you and I spend about 75% of our 16 wake hours pursuing our careers, besides the time we spend thinking or talking about it even while away from work!

As a Life Coach, I have been privileged to work with many people all over the world to successfully enhance the skills and competencies that they require to retain and excel in their demanding jobs, deal with very challenging boss, coworkers and situations, get the desired promoted, or transition to their longstanding dream career. In the process, I learnt the following:

1) We are generally going to be as happy in life as we are in our career, for if what we spend so much time doing is not aligned with our Life Purpose, we labour in pain. Yes, some people may be well paid, but they will never feel well if their hearts are not in what they do.

2) We spend a larger portion of our wake time pursuing our career, thus placing it akin with every other important aspect of our lives. We cannot completely separate other areas of our lives from our career, but MUST ALWAYS ensure the APPROPRIATE balance between them.

3) If we consistently complain (inwardly or outwardly) about our career, place of work, boss, coworkers, projects and everything related to our career, we will never progress in it. In fact, this attitude is a recipe for failure not only in the current career but in every other future career. Like Martin Luther King once said, "If a man hasn't found something he would die for, he is not fit to live". This is applicable to your family, values, spirituality and yes, your career as well.

4) God created us for specific careers based on the strengths and weaknesses he graciously bestowed upon us. While we may sometimes have to go through other jobs to finally find our Life Purpose, we only achieve the highest level of job satisfaction when our career is what we were created for. Basically, if you won't do your current job for free, were money not an issue, you are probably in the wrong career!

Without considering the impact of living a dream versus fulfilling a designated purpose, most people seek jobs that they may not have been created for - because of the associated prestige and income, while parents innocently groom their children from infancy for jobs that may hardly/never bring fulfillment to their children. This is why survey results indicate consistent declines in job satisfaction rates. This is why there the number of people who wake up in the morning without looking forward to the job they spend 75% of their wake time is increasing! According to Mark Sullivan, "To find a career to which you are adapted by nature, and then to work hard at it, is about as near to a formula for success and happiness as the world provides. One of the fortunate aspects of this formula is that, granted the right career has been found, the hard work takes care of itself. Then hard work is not hard work at all."

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