In Career Unstuck, Charlotte Blair outlines how to play to your strengths to find freedom and purpose in your work again. Photo: Supplied.
A good work-life balance means you can be happy and productive at work and also have time for yourself and your family.
If you are not thriving at work, you’re unlikely to be thriving at life. Gallup research into wellbeing at work has found that having a job you hate is worse than being unemployed – and those negative emotions end up at home, impacting relationships with family. In contrast, Gallup found those who get to do what they do best every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life.
Author Charlotte Blair draws upon decades of experience as a renowned ”coaches’ coach”, as well as her own experience, to outline a clear path to career fulfilment.
Is every day starting to feel like Groundhog Day? Blair asks whether this describes you and whether you feel emotionally detached or even miserable at work. The longest-established and most experienced Gallup-accredited Strengths coach in Australia provides a research-based guide to finding satisfaction and how to be happier at work.
Could it be that you are at a career crossroad and looking for more? It has been a turbulent few years and we’re now in the midst of a revolution of people seeking more purpose in their work. Given we spend more than 80,000 hours of our life at work, it’s time to follow your passion and reach your full potential.
According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, 59 per cent of people are emotionally detached at work. These are the workers who are looking at their watch, willing the day to be over, putting in the minimum effort, and still feel stressed and burnt out because they feel disconnected from the workplace.
The report also found 18 per cent were miserable, and these are the people who are the ”loud quitters”. Their relationships with their employers may have been severely broken, the trust gone, and they are acting out their frustrations verbally and through actions such as undercutting goals or badmouthing their workplace.
It’s worth thinking about: the time spent in the car commuting to the office, the time you give to somebody else, is time you will never get back in your life. The time you don’t get to spend with your loved ones, doing the things that matter to you, but here’s the thing.
“Life is too short not to enjoy what you do,” Blair said. “Life is too short to put up with the shitty boss, to put up with a job that goes against your values, to stay in a role where you don’t have the opportunity to do what you do best, to remain in a workplace that stops you from spending time doing the things you love and with the ones you love.
“I’m a firm believer in the saying that it’s better to regret the things you have done than the things you haven’t done.”
In the foreword, professional executive coach Maika Leibbrandt says people with the strongest career wellbeing are twice as likely to thrive in their lives overall.
“How you experience your work life is how you experience your life,” Leibbrandt said. “And while a balance of relationships and experiences outside of work is crucial, you simply cannot out-vacation the wrong job. Be kind to yourself on this journey, because it’s perhaps the most important one you can take.
“I encourage you to keep your own story in your pocket as you read the one here before you. Charlotte makes this invitation easy to accept. You’ll find this book to be a buoy on your journey, blending perfect dosages of research, anecdotes and reflection.
“… Wherever you are on your career experience, you are not alone. The conversations this book brings to the forefront are courageous examples of what we all owe ourselves and each other – to speak our individual narratives into collective awareness. To know better, so together we can do better.”
Comprehensibly written and filled with examples and exercises, Career Unstuck empowers you with the tools needed to break free from professional stagnation and unlock your true potential.
If you want to achieve more, then this book is an essential read. When you are ready to take the next step, Career Unstuck will help get you where you want to go.
Career Unstuck, by Charlotte Blair, Grammar Factory, $32.95
