In a perfect world, we’d ditch a job the minute it started making us unhappy. But will bills to pay and longterm goals to consider, we all know it’s not always so easy.
But Fearne Cotton has shared some advice for finding purpose in a job that you hate, even if you’re not in a position to leave it just yet.
Speaking at Stylist Live, the presenter-turned-author revealed she previously hit her own career slump when trying to climb the media ladder.
“I realised, ‘I don’t want to be on the telly. I don’t want to do any of this stuff anymore, I’m over it’” she said.
She started to be “more honest” about her own wellbeing and feelings, which ultimately led to a career pivot (she’s now host of The Happy Place podcast and has released a series of books about wellbeing).
According to Fearne, the key to finding purpose is “just finding something that you do really well, and that you really enjoy”.
“It could be just like being nice to your next door neighbour, and always checking in on them and making sure they’re OK. That’s purpose,” she said.
“Or when you’re at work, even if you hate your job, you can find purpose in it by making sure that you’re nice to the people you work with, that you make the person next to you smile, that if you’re serving a customer that they leave feeling like they were seen and heard.
“It’s all that good stuff, because if you find the purpose in it, then that in turn might lead to you finding a job that is more suited to you.”
And if you’re still dreaming about a big career move? Read this advice for making it happen.