I’ve lost my passion for what I do

Posted by Sarah Hobbs

Continuing our series of blogs on workplace and career challenges, I wanted to tackle the issue of losing passion for your job. We all fall out of love with what we do at times and feel like we need to search for something else. And when it happens, it can feel like your heart just isn’t in it anymore; despite at one time feeling committed and excited and that you never imagining doing something different – now it’s all you think about.

If you have started to feel that way, ask yourself:

1. Is it the job you are doing, or the organisation that’s the issue? There’s a big danger when you feel like this that you blame the organisation for the frustrations you experience – and immediately search job boards, contact a recruitment agency or respond to LinkedIn fishing emails to find a similar job elsewhere. The assumption is that leaving the organisation is the solution, but the fact is that you may be changing a known set of frustrations for an unknown set of frustrations! Think about what you’ll lose when you leave – you have a network of sponsors and allies, a good track record, people willing to help you with an internal move – all things that will take time to build up in a new organisation. Is there an alternative solution that allows you to keep all this? If it’s the job you are doing that you want to change – you’ll have far more scope to change with an internal move. If you have a good reputation as a high achiever, your current employers might support you to move into a completely different role or part of the organisation – from HR to Operations, or Head Office to a new start-up venture. You’ll never get that opportunity looking externally as an untried applicant. Get clear on the strengths you want to use, and start asking around among the people you know – what kind of roles in your organisation might be right up your street? How could you make contact with people who could ease your way into that part of the company?


2. Is it all of the job, or just part of it? When we’re thinking in this way, things become very polarised – it’s the whole job or nothing. Rarely is this actually true – more often it’s less black and white and there may be just elements of the role that are getting you down. By addressing those, the situation could well improve. One place to start is to think about the things that you do at work. Some of these you are good at and find energising. There will be other aspects of work that you are good at, but you find them dull and draining. Are you simply going through a phase of doing mainly these things? Sometimes that’s enough to cause your passion to wane – for example, you might find doing lots of people management or lots of detailed work very hard – and at the moment that’s all you seem to be doing. Once you realise that, you can take action to address the problem. Do you simply need to a wait for a few weeks? Is there someone who enjoys this work who can help you? Can you talk to your manager or senior manager about redefining your role so you are doing more of the work that energises you? Sometimes they will simply think of you as ‘good at this’ and keep passing more and more work of this type to you – enlighten them!


3. Can you pin down what’s causing you to be less passionate? Often there is a specific trigger cause – for example a relationship, your manager, a change that’s going on or additional responsibilities you’ve adopted. Think back to where it started and see if there’s a cause – it may be possible to reverse it.


4. Is there something going on for you personally? Sometimes we find that losing your work passion isn’t anything to do with your environment, work or situation – sometimes it’s just us. Maybe something is unsettling you – for example your health, fitness or family situation – and it’s coming out in work. Maybe it’s just what is motivating you has changed, for example you took the job because it paid well – and now you’re realising that that’s is not enough for you.


5. Wanting to change isn’t a bad thing. It’s likely that you may experience some guilt associated with moving on – that you’re leaving people in the lurch or letting them down. But in reality there are times it’s the right choice to move on. My caution is that it brings even more upheaval and change so make sure that it’s what you really want and that you’ve exhausted the options, but if you have – and it’s the right time for you – good luck!

TAKE AWAY
When you lose passion for what you’re doing the impulse is to cut and run, but sometimes that can be the worst possible outcome. Start with your network, old managers, and people you’ve impacted through your best work – talk to them, clarify what is going on, and see who can help you. Make sure that you’ve looked at how to improve your current situation, and considered a wide range of options before you take the ultimate step of moving on.