Practical advice for people who hate their jobs and their professional lives

What advice would you give to someone who absolutely hates her job but their professional life? This was really important to me because one of my missions was my company called Raeallan is to find lost leaders. Leaders who either have not been able to acknowledge their leadership or understand that they are leaders because they think everyone is. Or they feel lost in their career. They feel lost in university. What do I do next? They feel lost five years in their job. What do I do next? They feel lost twenty years in their job, thinking, "how do I follow the path that's truly my own?", "How do I follow the path that is right for me?" And all these people are lost because in most cases they follow the path of success that was defined by the people, by their parents, by their friends, by society, by other sources. They were told to go to school, get a degree, get a job, get married, have two kids, have a nice house and a white picket fence, and two kids. But really, that's not the path for everybody. The first thing you should know is that you're not alone. A lot of people are in this just the same situation. Let me give you two important statistics. 80% of people who start something in university the first year end up doing something completely different. And number two, there was a different study that came up that said that 74% of people in their current jobs are either dispatching or unhappy about their jobs. So, you are not alone. But what you can do is actually try to figure out a way to find the best path for you. And what you can do first off is really start thinking about understanding your personal brand, understanding your values, understanding who you are. This requires a deep self-assessment, a personal assessment, into things that are important to you like your values, your interests, your skills, your passions. Look at every experience that you've ever had - whether it's a summer job or other types of volunteer experiences or personal things and look at the things you loved. Look at the things you hated. Look at all of those things and think about what is the thread that combines these things. What is the so what? What is the why behind all these different things? Because you need to take ownership of your career or of your professional life. Because no one is going to do that for you except for yourself. And what that really requires is self-assessment and assessment of who you are and what your personal brand is. I wrote an article on that to present about it all the time and it just takes time to invest in it because it takes a lot of time. It takes about, you know, 50 to 100 hours of, you know, reflection, and assessment from your own reflection but as well as assessment from other people, getting feedback from people, doing computer assessments, but if you can take that 100 hours and create a life for yourself professionally and even personally that is deliriously happy the rest of your life, isn't that worth it? The moment you start following a path that aligns your passions, and a purpose, on a path that makes sense towards your authentic leadership and makes you deliriously happy the rest of your life, you want the rest of your life to start right away. It's an amazing amazing feeling because it's very empowering to find that out. So take the time to invest on what that is and figure it out. And don't be afraid to ask for help. You have to know that if it's not working for you, then you should get out. There's always gonna be something out there for you as long as you're willing to work hard and understand what your passions are and network with people and really share, you know, what it is you want to do. Some people, if it's so toxic for them, they leave right away. And what you'll find is that by just even leaving, taking a Sabbatical - even a 3-month Sabbatical, you'll find that it gives you an easier way to reflect and think about it then do I get another job? Some people even have a hard time looking for a job while they're working because it's just so consuming to come home - they're all fatigued, they don't have the time to think about anything else. So, you can take a Sabbatical - whether it's a week, two weeks, a month - you might find really helpful to you. Get out there and start talking to people who are doing the things you love to do. Start working and having coffee dates with these various people and share your ideas and talk about what is about your job that you don't like or you do like. And if you have a good relation with your manager or director, talk to them because if they really care about, you know, who you are and what you're all about and your contribution to the organization, they should be willing to do what it takes to help you. And if they're not, then that type of organization you need to exit anyways. You can either accept a situation as it is but then again, you still mean you hate your job. You can try change for the better and try to make your situation better by, you know, trying in different responsibilities or trying to find a passion within your job or maybe taking a different position in a different department. Or can exit the situation and try to do something totally different. But know that this is a very common thing and know that there's help out there. But definitely it's not worth it to spend 50 years of your life hating your job because think about what you're going to be like when you're 70. Are you gonna be deliriously happy having lived the last 50 years?