Everyone who, as a young person, thinks about a dream job looks forward to their career prospects with commitment and enthusiasm. The reality a few years later is usually different, when the routine has gained the upper hand and the enthusiasm has evaporated. The demands on the individual have increased. Above-average performance, continuous long-term commitment, flexibility, mobility, regular training and qualification have become “normal” parameters in a society in which performance and professional success are becoming increasingly important. In addition to the fear of losing one’s job, this creates a working atmosphere that for many people is characterized by tension and pressure. The number of sick days per year has been falling steadily for several years, but the proportion of psychosomatic illnesses is increasing. The performance led society demands a very high price to be paid from each individual.

We cannot change these growing demands in our professional life, but it is therefore really important to ask ourselves regularly:

• Am I working in the job I have envisioned?
• What wishes and needs for my personal and career do I have?
• What do I want to achieve in my life and what priority should my work have in my life?
• Does this company suit me and my values?
• What challenges do I have within my department, with my boss, my colleagues?
• Are my talents best used in my current professional role?
• Am I stretched enough or too much in my current role?

The higher the demands in professional life, the more important it is to question yourself carefully and critically –

• What is important to you in life and at work?
• What would you like to change?
• When does it make sense to look for alternatives?
• Where could you compromise and where can´t you make compromises in order to respect your own values?
• What of your current challenges (beyond dissatisfaction/stress/pressure) might lead to illness and professional disinterest?

Only those who have clearly defined their own values and point of view can go further and think about ways in which they can represent this point of view towards the company/manager/colleagues/partner/friends, and can represent it in such a way that there is no conflict, but rather a constructive exchange.

There are a multitude of possibilities that help you to determine your own values and point of view: whether via professional coaching, whether training courses to assess your talents, strength and potential, or to analyze your own work style and your self-perception and others up to the creation of a personality profile. Then it is important to make your own point of view understandable to others, to adhere to it and make the necessary changes in either your personal or professional life.

Knowledge of self-presentation and negotiation skills, self-management and time management, as well as crises management and conflict management skills will help. With those, you would have a good toolkit with which you could actively shape your environment. If you want to achieve full performance over decades and strive for a constant level of long term success, this would only be achievable if the place where you spend most of the day is designed in such a way that you feel comfortable. And even if you do not succeed in adapting your “working atmosphere” to your own basic needs and you no longer see any opportunity for yourself to be “happy” in your company or role, your self-assessment of the situation is important in order to then specifically look for a new task that better suits your talents. Because only those who know their personal values and goals will find the right path.