Occupational Wellness

For the vast majority of us, work is part of life.  It's somewhere where we generally spend the majority of our waking hours, so it makes sense to ensure that we are able to get satisfaction from whatever it is we class as "our job".

Now the term job generally means we are getting paid for what we are doing.  With this wellness pillar, however, "job" means whatever we are spending our "working hours" on - this may be being a student, this may be in paid employment. 

It includes volunteering where you are one of those priceless angels who give their time and it especially includes being the stay at home parent!

We can attain wellness under this pillar even when we don't think we have our dream job.  (Those of you already with your dream job will find this pillar is full to overflowing to won't need a lot of the tips to follow).  They key with this one is to first understand your values and your strengths.  Once you understand these, finding satisfaction in your existing circumstances will be much easier.  Believe me when I say that sometimes we need to take jobs due to other commitments, and though we may not see this "job" as completely satisfying there are ways you can ensure you are boosting your wellness in this area until such a time that you are in a position to make a change.

Coachees with data entry and administration jobs will often say "my work is boring and doesn't make a difference" - wrong!  Every job makes a difference - the difference may just not be aligned to your values and strengths - or you may not have made the connection. 

Not sure what your strengths are take an online assessment to see.  Gallup used to offer a free version to provide your top five but this service seems to have gone.  The full assessment is still worth it if you are happy to part with some funds go to their website here 

Using the data entry example lets assume your values include honesty, loyalty, status and making a difference to the community.  Your strengths include responsibility, communication and a developer of others.  On the face of it, hitting keys on a computer wouldn't satisfy any of the above - but lets look at it beyond the actual doing of the task and reframe to what occurs thanks to the data entry being completed.  You enter data for a courier company.  That company transports medical equipment and drugs throughout the country.  Those drugs could be intercepted by less than desirables - but they don't because on your honesty and loyalty (along with all the companies other staff!).  The medical equipment improves and potentially saves lives everyday - tick making a difference to your community.  Remember you don't have to be the doctor to be part of the amazing community the helps others ever single day just by doing their job.  Your responsibility strength is utilised and your accurate data entry ensures that communication is too.  For developing others you could reach out and offer to onboard new staff.

Still not convinced you can link anything satisfying to your current job? - drop me a line and I'll help you out - free - just click here and let me know what you value, what you see your strengths are and I'll take on the challenge to provide some inspiration!

Another key aspect of the Occupation Wellness Pillar is the ability to continually learn and gain new knowledge.  We humans have the most amazing technology inside us - our brains.  These need to be stretched and continually feed new information to stay active and alert.  Just like we need to keep moving our bodies, we need to keep challenging our brains.

This Weeks Challenge

Write a list of your values and your strengths - can you identify how you can incorporate these into your current "job".

Seek out a mental challenge - is there something you can learn in your existing job?  Is there a future job you want - what can you do today to help you in your future role?

The thought of your current role still make you sick with dread?  It may be that its time to find something new.  Even positive change can be scary! Write what your ideal role would involve, how you would feel doing it, and the type of people you would be spending time around.  Get some advice from a specialised career coach who will be able to help you update your CV.  Also check out Careers NZ who have some great resources including an CV builder all for free!