Reading Practice: What Options Can You See?

(Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of posts that invite you to participate in problem-solving with the Bright Idea Deck. Read the situation. Study the cards. When you're ready, post your ideas to the comments section, and let's see what solutions our collective insight will generate!)

Your friend, Anna Beth, tells you she's really unhappy with her job. She wants to break free and do something else, but she's having terrible trouble coming up with a way to find other opportunities. She needs your help to come up with a way to find the courage and energy to leave one job and find another.

With her needs in mind, you come up with a simple four-card spread:

1 - Something Anna Beth needs to know before taking action
2 - A first step toward finding a new job
3 - A first step toward leaving her current job
4 - A sign that it's time to make the transition

You shuffle your Bright Idea Deck, and draw the following cards ...

(Click any card to see a larger version!)

So ... how about it? As you brainstorm with Anna Beth, what ideas, interpretations, and insights can you offer, based on your personal responses to these cards?

Comments

[Sophia]

Ok, I'll play. :)
1. Anna Beth needs to know that she has many things she's learned from this job that she can take with her, as well as all that she had before she started this job. Dissatisfaction is a sure sign we need to change something and this card definitely shows her leaving her job. It doesn't appear she can do anything productive to "fix" where she is, no amount of creativity is going to make her any less satisfied. A new job with a new company/or field is in order.
2. The first step is to look at the gifts she has inside herself. To look with fresh eyes at the talents and skills she has and maybe not been using. She needs to keep her eyes and ears peeled for opportunities for these gifts to manifest, as she is surrounded by drought/desert, but right at her feet a lone plant springs up through a crack in the earth. There IS water there, somewhere. The plant found a way, so can she.
3.It appears she may need to destroy any "product" she has claim to making/inventing so that her current colleagues don't use her work? She must clear her own path, make a clean sweep. Get rid of old stuff/ways of thinking that holds her back from building new things.
4. She'll know it's time to go when she reaches the point in her current job where there's absolutely no upward mobility, where she can pretty much do her job with her eyes closed, so there's no challenge and really nowhere to go, no advancement opportunities and no way to make things happen there.

Hmmm?

Seems too general to me...

[Patrick]

Sophia's explanation for cards 2 to 4 correspond largely with mine.

For card 1 I would say that Anna Beth needs to know the source of her dissatisfaction, otherwise she'll risk being dissatisfied in her new job as well... Is she really dissatisfied at all...

[stacey]

I agree with Sophia and Patrick, but I am going to throw my very similar ideas out there anyway.

For card one, Anna Beth should take the time to sort out what makes her unhappy and dissatisfied in her job. As Patrick stated, what is the source of her dissatisfaction? Does it lie within her (i.e., does she feel that she is not challenged, is this not the right work for her, does work impact her home life, etc.)? And/or does it come from the work environment and co-workers (boss, colleagues, structure of the company, advancement in the company, etc.). In turn, she may also want to think about what would make her happy in a new job.

For the second card, the first step she may take is to think about the gifts, the talents that she has. In other words she should think about what she will bring to a new job. What are her strengths and likes, and how will these inform her search for a new job. Also, she should think about the gifts that the new job could bring to her (perhaps a raise, job fulfillment, challenges, etc.). She may also want to think carefully about each gift. Is it a gift she wants right now? Is this gift the only thing that matters or is there one that matters more than others? Is this the gift she should solely focus on?

For the third card, she may think of ways to break out of what she is comfortable doing, to try something that may make her feel uncomfortable, but will give her a new start. For example, revising her resume, hitting up employment agencies, looking for jobs, and talking with a career counselor. These take time, energy, and may even be a little intimidating and uncertain. The process may have her look at carefully herself and really grapple with what she wants and how she needs to change, get rid of bad habits. This may not always pleasant, but in the end may offer her help and satisfaction in her new job.

The last card lets Anna Beth know that she is feeling constricted by the job and sees no future in it. She is just wandering around with no direction, no movement ahead, and feels blocked. T

My apologies for redundancies, but I wanted to take a stab at it.