Episode #5 Enjoying your work matters
In this episode, I’m discussing why it’s important to find things about our work that we actually really enjoy. I talk about some decisions I recently made about how I wanted to run my business, and how I wanted my overall life to look. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Hi, this is Welcome to Self™ – Caring for the Human in the Therapist Chair, and I’m your host, Dr Hayley D Quinn, fellow human clinical psychologist, supervisor and trainer. Welcome to self is a place where you can come and learn ways to elevate your own care and compassion, and a place to rest, be soothed and at times, maybe gently challenged to think about yourself and your practice. A place to remember that you are human first, and choose the helping profession as just one of the roles in your life. My aim is that this is a place of soothing, comfort, nourishment, growth, and nurture. A place where you can also welcome Yourself.
So welcome to another episode. Thanks for joining me. I’d like to shout out to Maggie on Facebook who left a beautiful review including these words.
“Listening to the podcast this morning here in the UK, which was an absolute joy, the pleasure of listening to your reflective connections together alone, were fantastic. The conversations were engaging and truly relatable.”
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Maggie, and thank you for the lovely feedback. It is truly appreciated.
I keep having these moments of wondering how I ended up doing a podcast, and then thinking about how I’m actually really enjoying it, and that got my mind thinking about this being something that’s really important for us. When we’re doing our work, it’s important to find things about our work that we actually really enjoy. I fairly recently made some decisions about how I wanted to run my business, and more importantly, how I wanted my overall life to look. I started paying closer attention to what I was doing, when I was doing it, and how it felt when I was or wasn’t engaged in doing the thing. I journaled. I took questions to supervision, I chatted with my husband and friends, and started to form an idea of how I wanted things to change in my life.
As I reflected on my own behaviours and choices, and looked around at other people, I noticed how often we just take the next expected step, follow the path that has been laid out for us by some unknown being, we can be so caught up in the busy and the achieving. We don’t always stop to reflect on where we’ve come from, or where we really want to be heading. Well, I didn’t want that for myself anymore.
I run my own business, so I figured it was time I mould my business into something I really want it to be doing something that fits a lifestyle I want to live, and something that feels meaningful and enjoyable to me as well.
Now, I’m not saying these things are easy, not at all. It feels uncertain, uncomfortable, at times really scary. But a part of me knows it’s worth it. It takes time and energy to reflect on what you’re doing. To be honest with yourself about what you enjoy and what you want to keep and what you want to change. It requires you to be vulnerable, and let’s face it, no one really likes that!!
Now, if you struggle to think about things you enjoy about your work, it doesn’t mean changing absolutely everything you do, although it might. You might decide that what you’re doing isn’t your dream, but someone else’s or that you’ve got new interests, or life has changed in the way you work can no longer be accommodated. Or it can just be about stopping and giving yourself time to think about your work in terms of things like the tasks you do, the way you do them, the hours you work, the environment you work in. Thinking about what are the aspects of your work that you do like, then spending some time thinking about how you could do more of those things.
If you love working with a particular client presentation, can you start to market your business so you attract more of those clients?
If you really enjoy your organisation, are there tasks within your own business or the business you work in that you can take more responsibility for? If you prefer working outdoors, how could you shape your practice to accommodate this? If you’re a night owl and hate getting up in the morning, can you adjust your working hours to suit your lifestyle? I’m sure there’s lots of clients that would like after hours appointments.
On the flip side, what are the aspects of your work that you don’t like? And are there ways you can do less of that? Can you outsource some of the things you’d rather not do, so you can focus on the aspects of your work that you do enjoy? Can you start to change the types of client presentations you work with?
Now again, if you work for yourself, these things are often easier to change and shape the way you want them to be. But also, if you work for somebody else, maybe it’s time to have one of those conversations with your manager or employer around what a really satisfying work life would look like for you, and can you work together to find ways to accommodate that? I believe the research says a happy employee is a more productive employee. Anyway, just something to think about.
I wrote myself a little quote when I finished studying:
“Be the star in a show you want to attend, not just a character in someone else’s play.”
How can you start to write the script for your own show? What if the things we do outside of work also impact on how much we enjoy our work? If you’re struggling to get adequate sleep, and turning up to work tired, I bet it’s pretty hard to enjoy what you’re doing. You’d probably rather be back under the covers or on the couch watching Netflix. If you have so many tasks or responsibilities once you get home, again, you’ll probably be exhausted a lot of the time. Can you think about any ways you can share the load with someone else? Or let go of some of those things? Something to think about.
If you’re always acting as the support, confidante, advice giver in your private life, then the boundary between work and home might seem blurred.
You might feel like you never get to take the therapist’s hat off. Where can you factor in time for yourself? And how important would looking at your boundaries with others be? Now I’m in no way saying don’t be a caring and supportive person. I just think it could be helpful to think about how this plays out in your life.
Can you gift yourself some time to think about your work and whether it fits for you in your life, and what you want to be doing? If you find journaling helpful, I’ve created a beautiful online fillable journal that takes you through some questions I think will be helpful.
Can you pay attention to how you’re feeling before you go to work, during your day and when you’ve finished? Are you willing to look at aspects of your life that might not be working for you anymore? Whether that’s your work life or your private life? And then think about making some changes. Changes in service of your own well being.
I do hope you are, you deserve a full and meaningful life. No matter what your tricky mind or other people may tell you.
If you’d like to find out more about my Compassionate Prompt Journal, you can find it in the shop on my website at www.drhayleydquinn.com.
Thank you for tuning in. See you next time. Go well, and go gently with yourself.
Thank you for sharing this time with me today. I hope your time here was helpful and supportive. If there has been something in this episode that you have found helpful, I invite you to share it with another person who you think might benefit. I’d also love it if you’d like to leave a review wherever you tune in. Reviews really help to increase awareness of podcasts, meaning I can spread helpful information more widely. All reviews are welcome and much appreciated. As I know they take time out of your day. If you’d like to be notified when the next episode airs, please use the link in the show notes to join my mailing list.
Music and editing by Nyssa Ray. Thanks Nyssa. I wish you all well in your relationship with yourself and may you go well and go gently.
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