5 Warning Signs That Your Career Is Dead (And You're About To Get Fired)

By Irene McConnell (Kotov)

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There's a certain type of employee who is “over it”.

His time at work feels like a drag. He is a dead weight on his colleagues. His manager dreams of firing him. 

Do you know this person at your workplace? Are you, perhaps, this person? The only thing that's worse than being this person is not being aware that it's you.

Here are some classic signs that your career is dead and, if you don’t wise up quickly, you’re going to get fired.

 

1. You Only Love Results.

And you hate the process of getting there. 

For example, you’re ecstatic when you make a sale because it means that you’ll be getting a fatter commission. But you’re miserable when you have to work on parts of the business where positive results don’t directly benefit you.

Most successful employees view work the other way around - they've learned to embrace and relish the challenge which they encounter on their road to success. 

Of course they toast their victories, however what they really love is the personal growth which comes as the by-product of of wrestling with sizeable challenges.

This approach makes them tougher, more fulfulled and more driven employees - which, in turn, leads to more success.

 

2. You Don't Care About The Mission.

Have you ever met a someone who is not a foodie working in a restaurant? Someone who doesn't care about issues of pensioners managing a retirement fund? Someone who doesn't value precision working in logistics?

Those people just go through the motions; their work lacks life and heart.

If you don't have an intrinsic connection with the issues with the issues which your industry faces, you will be outmanoeuvred by people who do - because for them work will not seem like work, but a mission they ought to do, regardless of rewards it brings them.

They will out-think you, out-work you and they'll do it with a smile on their face. 

 

3. You Complain.

Everyone is a problem - except you. Your colleagues are stupid. Your boss is an idiot. The company just doesn't care. There's a problem which annoys you here. And a person who makes you angry there.

You share these opinions with anyone who will listen at every coffee and smoking break you take.

Complaints are just symptoms of lost power. You wish something was different and you have no way to change it, so the only option you're left with is to demean it and project it outwards.

You might feel temporarily good about yourself as you're complaining, but you also end up making yourself look like someone who is unable to effect change in the eyes of people who can. 

Those people will push you out of their circle and you'll end up being surrounded just by other powerless people who will willingly listen to your sob stories - and waste your time telling you their own.

 

4. You Dabble In "Making Money Online".

One day you'll have an online business which makes money by itself while you watch TV, you'll make a million dollars overnight and you'll walk into your boss' office and declare:

"I don't have to work any more. You're fired!".

That's the dream which the online internet marketing community is selling. Have you bought into it? 

The reality is that if you're dreaming of escaping your job, and are planning that escape to be via starting your own business, you'll bring exactly the same issues which are plaguing you at work into your self-employment.

 

5. You Don't Like Solving Problems.

There are two types of employees: those who see their work as  stuff that has to be "done". Their workday is a pile of tasks which need to be completed before they can finally go home.

Then there are people who view their job as an opportunity to solve problems which they believe have to be solved.

Steve Jobs went to work because he wanted to end the problem of boring, unusable personal computers (and later, to fix the problem of clunky, unresponsive music industry dominated by a few fat-cat record companies).

Richard Branson goes to work with a desire to solve the problem of consumers getting short-changed by lazy companies.

You could say that Facebook is starting to become a solution to a societal problem of not knowing how to connect with people just like you.

What problem do you see in the world that you believe needs fixing? And what will you do about it? Finally, when are you going to give yourself a job which enables you to make that difference?

 

Irene McConnell runs Arielle Careers, Australia's #1 executive personal branding agency.

 

 

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You might like these blog posts Social Selling Tools Tactics and Best Practices, How to Encourage Employee Voice and Increase Employee Engagement, Talent Mobility Will Make You See the Importance of Employee Happiness, and Is Workplace Conflict Having An Impact On Your Bottom Line?.

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