Think about a typical day at work. Are you excited about what you’re doing, or are you dreading it and waiting to sneak out at 5? If the latter, you’re not alone. According to Gallup, 13% of workers worldwide are engaged at work while the other 87% are either not engaged or actively disengaged. That’s a lot of people spending a lot of time miserable at work. In the US the numbers are 30% and 70%. Better, but still not great odds for you and me.

We want to be in the 30% of people who are inspired and motivated and enjoy what they do!  Not only because we’ll be happier at work, but also because people who are happier at work perform better and get recognized for it. But most of all, you’re going to spend half of your waking hours at work so you’d better find something you can tolerate. The alternative? Waiting it out and hoping that it’ll get better. You know the quote “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It may not have been Albert Einstein, but it still makes some sense here. It’s going to take a concerted effort to define and find the type of work that you thrive in.

We all agree that we want to be happy at work. Our whole lives we’ve been told “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life” or “follow your passion.” Those both sound great. On the other hand, they’re not actionable and they don’t tell us HOW to figure it out.

Do you remember the aptitude tests you might have taken in high school? They were pretty transparent. You love animals? Be a vet. You love travel? Be a travel agent. You’re good at math? Be an actuary. You don’t have anything that stands out? Be a ‘business person.’ A valiant effort, but it didn’t quite do the trick.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have work be a source of energy in your life instead of tiring you out? If 70% of Americans aren’t engaged at work, how can we escape being part of that figure? I’ll give you a hint – it isn’t that you can answer 50 questions and a machine will spit out your dream career.

The TED talk that changed my perspective

The year after I college I attended the local TEDx event. In case you don’t know, TEDx is basically a local event put on by an independent group that isn’t the main conference organizers of TED. Since it was in Boulder, Colorado we saw talks on organic foods and healthy school lunches. We saw a great talk by two sisters advocating for organ donation by default, rather than opt-in.

But by far my favorite speech of the evening was from Kristen Wheeler, a management coach based in Colorado. It’s called Evolution of a Job Hater and it details her journey of entering the job market only to find coworkers who excelled and loved their jobs while the hours dragged by for her. She found herself in the 70%, yearning to be in the 30%. Check it out below, it’s worth the ten minutes:

To summarize Kristen, we struggle and become discouraged at work because we aren’t doing the right kinds of work for us. If we can tap into our bodily signals of excitement, focus and motivation we can identify those things that come naturally to us. From there we can seek out those things in our everyday life or work. As a result we’ll be happier, do better work and be more successful.

So that’s a pretty aggressive summary. Let’s go into detail.

We are drained because we are doing the wrong kinds of work for us. When we say “kinds of work” we don’t mean Programming or Finance or Marketing or Recruiting. We mean building or predicting or persuading or networking. It’s the act of performing the work that resonates with us or doesn’t. If you’re trying to sell and persuading doesn’t come naturally to you, you’re going to have a hard time. On the other hand, maybe building relationships is your strength. In that case you’ll take a very different sales approach to the same problem, but this time it’ll be more natural and more effective.

The problem is that it’s not easy to figure out those natural or foreign types of work for us. How do we do it?

Again, this isn’t going to be a questionnaire. It’ll take some work, but you’re already at work anyway right?

As Kristen says, the key is to take note of those moments that become your oasis in the desert. When you find the time flying and you’re excited to take your work home or finish it the next morning, stop and notice what it is you’re doing. Ask what it is you like about doing the work, not just about the outcome. Ask if you’d feel the same way if you were doing the same thing but the circumstances were different. Try to pinpoint exactly what it is that you like about what you’re doing.

Do more of what’s natural

It’s not easy, but over time you might identify a few things that you naturally enjoy. Then the key is to seek those opportunities out at work whenever you can. While it can be useful to improve on your weaknesses, maybe it’s more important to get them to a manageable level and focus on your strengths.

Farmers don’t open restaurants and chefs don’t grow their own food. Flex your Native Genius.

One last story

Two years ago a friend asked me to help out one of his coworkers. She had a report she had to run monthly that took 3-4 hours to compile and it involved a lot of data entry. To help out I put together a tool that compiled that report for her and the process went from 3-4 hours to about five minutes monthly. While building that spreadsheet I was in the zone (and I have accepted that may make me a nerd). I loved what I was doing and I worked on it way later into the night than I should have. I was proud to send it the next day and hear her reaction.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that was a native genius moment for me. Kristen has since worked with me to identify that I value work that lets me create and coach. Making that spreadsheet was a moment of creation for me, so it was exciting and energizing.

I’ve since met with Kristen a few times and have been lucky enough to attend a Native Genius workshop with her. I can attest that her Native Genius is listening intently and helping people solve their problems. She has some great techniques for exploring your personality and seeking out your Native Genius.

How do I start?

Start with observation. Take note of those moments in your everyday life. They won’t be lightning strikes of inspiration, but more subtle realizations of your own mood. Maybe it’s meeting strangers or solving a problem for someone. Maybe it’s building or analyzing. Whatever it is, write it down. Note what you like about it. Kristen has some great material to help get you started on her site.

In the mean time, take a look at what Kristen has to say about the process – 3 Reasons Why Tests, Books, and Career Advice Didn’t Work for Me.

If you enjoyed Kristen’s talk, I’d encourage you to check out her site for more great insights from her, and subscribe to my email list to get even more of this type of advice from me. If you have a friend who you think might enjoy this article, please send it to them or use the social share buttons.

You tell me:

When was the last time you felt that drive at work? What were you doing? What do you think that means about what comes naturally to you?

That’s not easy, so if you can’t remember an instance just share your favorite TED talk and why you like it.