Tinukemi Olaoye

Professional. Entrepreneur. Coach. Author. Teacher.

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Handle Career Dissatisfaction with This 2-Step Formula

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Your daily work occupies a major position in their life. It is your personal and unique offering to yourself, to your world and to God, your Creator. Therefore, it matters what you do, how you do it and who you become in the process of doing it.

Unfortunately, many people find it difficult to fulfill their true work potentials because they are currently dissatisfied with their careers for various reasons. As it happens, constant dissatisfaction is not a positive thing; it can have far-reaching negative effects on a person’s health, their self-esteem and confidence, and even their relationships.

This is why the reasonable answer to career dissatisfaction is to deal with it. Let us look at a simple 2-step formula to handle career dissatisfaction.

Step One: Identify the real cause of dissatisfaction.

When a person is facing career dissatisfaction, it is advisable to determine where the real problem lies. If you do not zero in on the real and true cause of the dissatisfaction that you feel, you may end up taking unrealistic steps to deal with it.

Very importantly, you need to differentiate between the intrinsic nature of your career and the external incidents of your career. The intrinsic nature of your career involves the very core of the work you do on a daily (or regular basis).

The external incidents, on the other hand, are the other things that you have to pass through to get the work done like: the location or ergonomics of your working space, unreasonable business policies, irrational associates, colleagues or superiors, or the long commute to your place of business.

Admittedly, all these could bring you a huge amount of stress and dissatisfaction, but they don’t necessarily have to do with the nature of the work itself.

You need discover the real source of the problem. For instance, if you were to do the same work under different conditions would you be satisfied?

Step Two: Take the required action.

When you realise the source of the dissatisfaction, it’s easier for you to take the required steps to change the situation. The change you seek may or may not happen immediately, but working towards a solution will have a positive effect on you. You won’t feel like you are in a situation which you cannot understand or control.

The required step will depend on the source of the dissatisfaction that you have identified in Step One. You may need to discover which career will be more suitable for you (if the dissatisfaction has to do with the nature of the work), or you may need to get more skills, look for an easier way to commute or find a specific way of dealing with your colleagues/boss.

When you understand the situation better and know what to do, you will be on your way to getting unstuck and dealing with career dissatisfaction. And if you keep moving in the right direction, eventually, you’ll be standing where you need to be.

All the best!

**I discuss more specific and practical steps on how to deal with career dissatisfaction in my upcoming book Create Your Ideal Career. If you would like to get this book or you would like more information, please visit www.TinukemiOlaoye.com or send an email to services@tinukemiolaoye.com.

Three Ways to Take Charge of Your Time

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It’s a common phenomenon. You suddenly happen to catch a glimpse of the time: It’s the end of the day. Or it’s time to move on to something else. You still have quite some work to do, but you call it a day and hope that you’ll do better tomorrow. Alternatively, you decide to bring some of the work with you into what should be time for family, relaxation or rest.

One of the most difficult things to understand in the world of work is how fast time flies. These three tips will help you to take charge of the time you spend working.

One: Plan your work the evening before. It’s great to plan your day in the morning, but taking it further by planning it the evening before will work wonders for you in two ways. Firstly, when you have an idea of what the next day would involve, your subconscious mind starts to work on it. In a sense, you have begun the work in advance and you’ll find yourself flowing better the next day when you get to work. Secondly, it helps you to feel in control of your day and your time. This is both important and effective. The feeling of competence increases your confidence in getting the job done.

Two: Understand your most creative time. Some people feel very sharp in the mornings before lunch time and others find themselves better stimulated in the late afternoons. It’s a little different for everyone. Understand the time that works best for you and as much as you can help it, prepare to do your most challenging work then.

Three: Manage the mood-killers. Mood-killers are activities that you carry out or even people whom you indulge from time to time. They are not bad activities or people in themselves, but once you get involved with them, they tend to reduce or affect your accuracy and ability to work, and working becomes a real drag. It could be a heavy lunch, time on social media or a really chatty colleague.

Time is our most valuable commodity at work or in life. Use any or all of these tips to take charge of it and make the most of it.​

Create a More Productive Work Environment in 3 Easy Steps

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On a day by day basis, there are different factors that help us to do our work more productively or hinder us from working to the best of our ability and capacity.

Interestingly, many of these factors are subtle, but they can make a huge difference in how well we work. This true whether we’re in employment or we’re running our own business or other endeavour.

One such factor is our work environment.

So, where do you work?

By asking that question, I don’t mean to know the name or address of your organisation. I’m asking about your direct work environment- the place or corner from where you get most of your work done.

Your work environment is an important but often undermined factor in your daily work and it has more to do with the output of your work than you may realise.

Creating and maintaining a productive work environment goes a long way in affecting your mood, your emotions and even your cognitive ability. All these determine the quality of your work and how fast you work. For this reason, it is in your best interest to create an ideal work environment that enables you to perform optimally rather than hinder your work performance.

Here are three easy steps to create a more productive work environment:

First Step: Deliberately observe and take stock of your current work environment.

How would you describe your regular work environment? What does it look like? Is the room dark or bright? Is your desk orderly or cluttered? Is your chair comfortable? Do you share your workspace with quiet or talkative people? Is the place cold or warm? Do you sit down a lot or move around a lot? Are your coworkers hostile or warm? Are they plenty of interruptions during the work day? Do you get a lot of chit-chat, phone-calls or visits?

Second Step: Reflect on the effect of your current environment on the work you do.

Your environment affects your psyche and your energy which in turn affects your work. At this point, you need to determine how your environment (as you found it out to be in step 1 above) helps or drains your ability to work.

For example, all the chit-chat and interruptions may bother you or steal more time from you than you realised. Or, perhaps your desk is usually so cluttered that you feel overwhelmed and drained even at the beginning of the day.

Third Step: Take action to create a better environment.

Now that you have found out the effect of your environment on your work, do you need to change? Of course, they may be a limit to how you can change things especially if you work in a shared space.

Even if you could many things at once, it is best to make gradual changes. You may just need to speak with a couple of coworkers about their interruptions or turn your phone on silent mode. You may need declutter your desk, change your chair or change your working area if possible. You may even make a small but significant change by bringing in a lovely scent to keep the air constantly fresh.

Like it is said, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. I changed my workstation and the effect was huge. It helped me to shift my mind into ‘serious work mode’ and my productivity increased. This was no small feat for me.

If you would like to increase your performance and productivity, take these simple steps to determine what needs to be changed and how you can make the changes happen as soon as you can.

5 Ways to Find the Energy to Go After Your Vision

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Do you struggle to find the energy to pursue your vision? Believe it or not this is a valid challenge worthy of mention. Have you ever been in a situation where you know what you ought to do, but you just can’t seem to find the physical, mental or emotional energy to do it? Well, I’ve been there. So I know that it can be just as big a hindrance as not finding the time to do what you ought to do. In fact, when you have the time and you don’t have the energy, you may feel quite guilty of ‘wasting’ time. And, of course, that doesn’t help. So what do you do? I’ll be practical and share a few tips that have worked for me in the past.

  • Pray. Yep. There it is again- prayer. Ask God for help and He will help you. Believe me, if you trust Him enough to turn to Him for help, then He is willing to help you and He will help you. It works, all the time.
  • Sleep. You read that right. Create the time to really sleep. Many times, when you can’t seem to find the physical or emotional strength, the reason is usually the simplest one: you’re tired. And when you’re tired, you need to sleep very well. Don’t feel guilty about getting in those extra hours of sleep. You cannot be creative or energetic when you’re tired. You’re actually doing yourself and the world around you a favour if you sleep well. Recently, I allowed myself to enjoy the ‘guilty’ pleasure of some extra sleep. It was so refreshing, and I felt renewed and energised. When I got back to my work, I got twice as much result in the regular amount of time.
  • Go Somewhere New. Go somewhere that you have never been before. You don’t have to take a trip out of the country or the state. It can be as simple as going to the other side of town to have lunch or meet up with family, friends or colleague. This will refresh you.
  • Watch Your Nutrition. As basic as this sounds, many of us don’t do this right. Eat as healthy as you can, drink as healthy as you can and give your body the right kind of raw materials to work with in the right measure.
  • Get Active. Walk around. Do some extra exercise. This will help you to get your blood and all kinds of juices flowing right in your body. And it will help your energy level.

Incorporate some of these tips into your regular routine, and not only will you be get the physical, emotional and intellectual momentum that you need, you will also be able to sustain it. It will all be worth it in the end.

You can be all that you were created to be.

How to Create the Time to Fulfill Your Vision

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In my experience with some of the people I meet, their problem is not about knowing their vision in their relevant season of life. These ones already know what they want to do, they have their vision, but they just can’t seem to find the time to actualise it. The legitimate needs of life get in the way- family, work, extra business, social commitments, and even rest and relaxation.

Yes, these needs are valid. All the same, you can’t afford to wait for a perfect situation. That time will never come. Many of life’s commitments will only increase as time goes by and your many roles will become even more robust and demanding.

I get it and I’m here to help. There is always a way out. If you’re struggling for time in the midst of your regular routine, but you’d still like to get started on what has been laid on your heart, this is for you. You can use the following tips to help you to create more time to fulfil your vision and live the life that you know God has called you to live.

1) Pray. Ask God for help. The whole point of having a relationship with God is to be able to lean on His wisdom and strength. He can show you where you’re ‘leaking’ time, and strengthen you to use your time more profitably and productively.

2) Measure Your Activities. Take one week to measure your activities. Draw up a calendar of your time for one full week, hour by hour. Then at the end of each day, fill in that calendar with the activities that you did for that day. When you do this for a full week, you will have a clearer picture of what you usually do with your time. This is very important because when you have an idea of how you use your time, then you can make an informed decision.

3) Reassign Time Slots. Now that you know how you usually spend your time, it’s time to bring out the scissors. You have to be determined about this. No matter what we all say, everyone has some ‘down’ time they can spare in their daily or weekly routine. Carve out blocks of time as much as possible during the week. Be realistic about this. It can be one hour every day, or two hours twice a week, or one hour three times a week. Dedicate that time to pursuing the desires and ideas that God has put in your heart. Every little bit of time will add up.

4) Get External Help. You’re trying to change a habit here, and you need every bit of help that you can get. Your external help could range from one point to the other. You may decide to work with a coach or get a partner that can keep you accountable. Or you may decide to set an alarm 30 minutes before your allocated time starts to help you prepare, it’s really up to you.

So, there you go. Use these tips to help you create more time to be the person you were meant to be. It will take discipline and sacrifice to form new purposeful and productive habits, but it will be worth it in the end, I promise. You can do it. If you need a cheerleader, send me an email on contact@thelifeaholic.com and I’ll encourage you.

You can be ALL that you were created to be.