| Topic Name: |
How do you deal with stress? Help? |
| Message Name: |
Arms Length |
| Date Posted: |
01/23/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
No one ever said consulting was easy, but it doesn't have to be agonizing.
I am so burnt out these days, it is absolutely ridiculous. I feel like I've been sold a cheap bag of goods. I'm not doing any of the work that it was inferred that I would be doing when I got hired. I've essentially become a grunt for one of the higher ups, doing work that is neither meaningful or challenging but is necessary. I didn't need to go to grad school to do this work. I'm quite confident that any one of the bright people on this message board could do the work I do everyday without much training.
I'm reaching the point of absolute frustration and anger that I dread even coming into the office and having to deal with my direct supervisor (who is a self-serving jackass). I think all of this frustration has amplified the day-to-day stress that is typically associated with consulting. Double whammy!
Since I started working here, I've lost motivation, the enjoyment of the work and the will to keep going (even though I still somehow find a way). The manager who hired me has told me that he thinks that I'm a very bright guy with good skills. But I know that my lack of desire and motivation is showing in my work. They're just not getting what they want out of me.
I feel that I could snap any day now. And as I stay late tonight after all the bosses have left knowing that I will be stuck here for several more hours, I can do nothing more than wade through the knee-deep river of crap that I'm in and just try to survive.
I want to leave this job badly, but the economy has cornered me here. of course the next logical step would be to talk to the boss and level with him. I don't know how the office manager is going to react if I told him that I no longer want to work on the project that I was explicitly hired to work on, and I also don't know how he would react if I told him that my supervisor is a piss poor co-worker and supervisor.
If I know that I'm going to quit this job as soon as the economy heals and hiring within business/strat consulting firms starts kicking up again, then why would I "rock the boat" here by laying everything on the line? Wouldn't it be more prudent to suck it up (somehow), leave on the best terms possible, get a good recommendation and move on, or should I speak my mind and let the chips fall where they may?
Make no mistake about it, I'm miserable, to the point where I get a sick-to-my-stomach feeling every Sunday evening just thinking about the fact that I have to be here at work on Monday morning, no joke.
Any advice? Anyone feeling the same way about their job? |
| Message: |
Coming from someone who has been through this cycle numerous times, it is easier to deal with the situation if you create an arms length approach to yourself. This way you can offer yourself advice that is otherwise difficult to innovate or muster.
You can create an arms length or out-of-body experience by some of these methods.
1. Focus on Branding yourself - Do you work under a name other than your proper name, that helps. Create a simple catch phrase that embodies your Vision, Mission. Focus on that and build your reality around that, think in terms of Force Fields ( inhibitors and promoters). When you see yourself on paper, you can see strengths, trends, desires, visions, etc. Work it!
2. Options create relief, if they only exist as a hope at first. You are probably feeling cornered. But you have options, start listing them, organize your thoughts on paper. Be specific about schedules/dates, milestones.
3. Write about "the best of all possible situations" for yourself. Think big.
4. Read a book about consulting, it helps put boundaries on activities around consulting. eg - Flawless Consulting, Million Dollar Consulting. Also, Jump Start your Business Brain by Doug Hall - Much Recommended.
5. I have fired three employers before, that is why I turned strictly to consulting. Focus on the upsides of consulting, commit to using your current -ive condition to springboard into that Vision you just wrote about. DON'T work in a vacuum, learn fast and fail cheap - talk it over with the people close to you (you are obviously making good use of Vault!...)
Best Wishes, commit to escaping in the way that best suits your long term goals. It will get better!...
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