Work Happiness In All the Wrong Places

I’m afraid of failure. I’m not so afraid of failure that my creativity locks up. I have a popular blog, social media accounts, and I’ve interviewed superheroes in the business world. I’m putting stuff out into the world to help people, but I’m still holding back.

I recently hopped on Twitter tried to think of something cool and insightful, gave up and went to watch an old episode of The Office. Then as I watched the episode my arch nemesis was whispering at me for being so lame and worthless. I hate when that little voice inside me whispers to me instead of screams. It’s so much harder to ignore him. Why is that?

Still Nothing

I turned off the TV, hopped back on Twitter and still nothing came to me.

I’ve been afraid to tell you my insecurities for fear of you thinking I’m a fraud. I’m a fraud who teaches work happiness, but can’t seem to find any happiness myself.

Then when I was at my lowest and ready to give up I realized something profound. The whole point of a career/business is to find people who love our ideas, love our work, and love what we do. It’s that simple.

Ok it’s simple to say, but so very hard to do.

Born This Way

I’ve found that I am what I am. As Lady Gaga likes to say, “BornThisWay.”

I can tell you about my childhood, complaining about what went wrong or I can own this life and not apologize for who I am.

You need to own your career and not be afraid to be you.  You are you because of many reasons, but denying these reasons is pointless.

You have superpowers that are probably underutilized. It’s your job to figure out how to utilize them more efficiently.

The Reality

I felt like I was searching in all the wrong places, but really I’ve been heading in the right direction without even knowing it. It’s amazing how the subconscious mind has desires and the ability to act on them. I’m an expert in work happiness because I lived in the trenches. I still live in the trenches and every now and again I get out and enjoy the moment. It’s these insights that I bring to you because I’ve been there and I know how to help you.

I’m not the perfect business coach. I have a lot of faults, but that doesn’t mean I’m not good at what I do.

You have faults too, but it can’t stop you from using our superpowers. Tim Brownson wrote about this here. It’s not about the faults that you have. You can’t focus on these. You need to concentrate on your skills that you are passionate about, get you in the zone, and play to your strengths.

Your Turn

You may be here because you feel that you’ve been heading in the wrong direction, but in reality you aren’t that far from your happiness. All that needs to happen is a small shift in your thinking and actions.

You probably are like me and don’t realize how far you’ve come and how many superpowers you’ve accumulated over the years.

Take a look at what you’ve accomplished. How your superpowers have helped build a business, support clients, and teach new methods that have saved people hundreds of hours of time.

You are probably doing a lot of good things that you can add on to and leverage into a happier career.

What small tweak can you make that will help you use more of your superpowers in your career/business?

* I've been much happier helping people supercharge their business instead of their career. It plays more to my superpowers. Plus throwing Twitter parties are so much fun. Finding my career happiness has been a nonstop journey. It's why you can't give up because once you find your career groove it's like sliding on warm butter.