Are You Angry About Your Career?

Are you angry? Angry about the economy, your career, job, or boss? Angry that things are not going your way in your career, as planned, or expected? There could be a lot to cause anger these days. Demand for workers is low and supply for jobs is high. Workloads are increasing. Demands on your time and productivity are increasing. You are working harder with less resources at your disposal. Thank you's and recognition are also few and far between. Lots of reasons to be mad.

Ask yourself, "What is anger doing to me?"  "Is my anger propelling me forward or holding me back?" And lastly, "Why can't I let my anger go?" You may feel that you have a right to be angry. You were hurt or wronged in some way. I am not suggesting that you don't have a right to your feelings. But when your feelings are hurting you more than helping, it's time to let them go. Don't let them go for anyone but yourself. Don't do it for the person who caused your anger, but for you, because holding onto anger is not worth it. So how do you let go of anger in your career? Follow three steps:

1. Recognize that anger is hurting you
What is anger doing to you? Are you enjoying your career or are you mad most of the time? Or, do you have waves of anger that come and go that take away from your quality of life? Do you talk about the same things over and over again? Are you not fun to be around anymore?

Who are you mad at? Someone who made you mad or at yourself? Do you believe you should have done something differently or do you have regrets or guilt that does not seem to go away?

Anger is an emotion that can work for or against you. When you are wronged, anger helps you stand up for yourself or protect yourself in some way. But when anger is prolonged, you lose perspective. You waste your time focusing on someone or something else. Or, what happened or what you wish was different. The act of playing a scenario over and over again in your mind can help you gain understanding. The downside is you lose yourself when the focus is no longer on you, but on someone else.

2. Decide to let go of anger
Anger hurts more than it helps. It keeps you stuck in the past. How can you move forward when you are reliving a moment of time that has already passed? People stay stuck in the past for a reason. You may not like what's behind you, but you may be more afraid of what's ahead. When something happens, we become fearful that the event may occur again. We lose self-confidence in ourselves. As long as you are living in the past, you don't have to face the future or the prospect that you will be angry again.

Trust that you will be smarter the next time; that you will learn from this experience, and make better or different decisions going forward. Decide to let go of your anger because it's not who you are; it's just a response to a situation you had to go through. Decide to free yourself because you want a better way of living or because you are tired of being weighed down by a situation you have no control of or cannot fix.

3. Focus on your future
Today is a brand new day so what do you want to do with it? What do you want your career to look like going forward? What did you learn that you can use to help shape your future?

You can't change what happened; you can only change what happens next. Make a plan today, whether it's for a new career, new job or a new relationship with someone you work with. Ask yourself what you want and then go after it. It's your career so do what you want with it. And remind yourself that you have a bright future ahead of you.


So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!