Why Be Content When You Could Be Happy?
Are you making the most of your career potential, or have you taken the easy route and settled for ‘good enough’? Here’s why little steps now could mean big progress soon…
Happiness is an individual thing. One of the beautiful, chaotic things about being human is that different things make different people happy. But doesn’t everybody just want to be rich and give up work entirely? Not necessarily….
In the middle of last century, pioneering work by American psychologist Abraham Maslow studied the top one per cent of the population to work out what drives them to succeed. The result is his now-famous ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ that comprises – in order of impact – survival, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. This concept is usually portrayed by a pyramid, with the basics of survival and safety at the base, building up to the more important, but less essential layers of esteem and self-actualisation at the pinnacle.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, source: Wikipedia
Self-What Now?
This may sound like a soundbite from a self-help book, but it’s actually pretty simple; it just means doing what makes you happy. Maslow puts this at the top of his pyramid of needs for a very good reason: it’s what you were meant to do, given solid foundations to build upon. This is all about realising your potential, which led Maslow to observe, “What a man can be, he must be.”
Well Done! What’s Next?
If you’re content in your work, then well done – you’re already doing better than anyone who’s still struggling to survive. You’ve met your daily needs and could reasonably carry on as normal with no negative impact on your day-to-day life – and that’s not to be taken lightly! But…
Is that enough? Are you willing to stall your ascent of the pyramid halfway up? Or do you want to see what you can really do and take it to the top? Will there come a day a year from now – or five years, or ten – when you look back and think, ‘I wish I’d pushed harder to do the things I know I can do’?
We Walk It Like We Talk It
You don’t have far to look for inspiration; our very own MD, James Kingston explains, “I left my role at Thatcher Associates as I didn’t want to settle for ‘content’ any more. I wanted the opportunity to really build something and get out of bed in the morning every day with a smile.” And how did that baller move work out for James? “Four years on and we’re now a £2.5m award-winning business, with a really exciting vision that takes us to 2020 and we’re ahead on our targets, year on year.”
You don’t have to start up your own business to make the move from being content to happy, but that’s what gave James the motivation. What would make you happy?
It’s All About YOU!
That’s why Kingston Barnes takes the time to get to know you as a candidate before we even think about putting you forward for a role. We’re not here to tick boxes and hit quotas. We’re here because we’re passionate about putting the right people forward for the right role and that’s why we do our best by both our clients and our candidates. We want to help you make the most out of your potential as you climb your personal pyramid of needs.
We know that if you’re ticking along and doing OK in your current role, then you might not be looking for your next career move right now. But what if your dream role came up and you missed it because you settled for good enough?
We’ve already helped hundreds of people to realise their potential and make the move from content to happy. Could you be next? Even if you aren’t looking to move on today, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a friendly face out there looking for your dream job?
Call us today on 0117 325 2233 or send an email to office@kingstonbarnes.com and tell us what would make you happy in your work. You never know – maybe we can help…