When one's emotional state, identity and self-esteem are overly dependent on a corporate framework, and the financial rewards that come with it.
In such cases, challenges at work or redundancy can be catastrophic and entirely unsettle a person's sense of self and wellbeing. This makes people do everything they can to protect their position, even if it means compromising on their values.
Poor work-life balance.
Loneliness & social isolation, often due to work-demands.
Lack of an identity beyond "what you do" at work.
Denial & believing there's no solution.
An underlying sense of anxiety.
Working hard to make yourself feel like you have value & fill a void in your life.
Fear of turning back, losing what you've worked so hard to achieve.
Feeling like everything you do is selfish, contrary to your good acts and nature.
You should consider using a few of these coping strategies to help you improve your mood and increase motivation.
Speak to your friends or family, and let them know work is affecting your health.
Join a gym or health club to increase energy, break up tension & release stress.
Drink more water & cut down on caffeine (if you're overly reliant on it).
Be good to your gut, with probiotics & a healthy diet, full of vitamins. This directly affects your mood.
Get some sun. It's proven to boost mood, and in the UK winter months, you're likely not getting enough vitamin D!
Practice mindfulness — there's plenty of science behind it & it doesn't require religious or spiritual beliefs.
Go for a weekly massage, sauna or steam room.
Coping strategies are great at helping you improve your mood and increase motivation. They, however, do not address the root cause of the issue, which is corporate addiction & attachment to the wrong job. It's critical to have a plan of action to combat corporate addiction, alongside the strategies you're using to help manage the symptoms.
The biggest prevention to overcoming corporate addiction is denial. Firstly, we deny that we're spending our lives in the wrong jobs in exchange for our salary and status. This isn't our fault, we look around and see most people doing the the same; grinning and bearing a stressful job, to go on making a living and rising up the ranks. We accept this as 'just the way it is' and lose motivation to do anything about it.
Secondly, we deny that there is a solution. This is mostly due to the fact that we've never been taught how to properly manage our careers, or craft a strategy to land a specific job we want. Not at school, nor university, and rarely by the companies we work for. Those of us who have reached out to professionals often find the wrong support i.e. business or life coaches, who don't have the full expertise required for managing an individual's long-term career development.
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If you believe you could be suffering from depression, or your attachment to your job comes from a desperate need to prove yourself to others (i.e. parents or a partner), consider talking through your issues with a therapist. CBT and talk therapy can help you boost your self-esteem, and build your innate sense of worth, rather than having to rely so much on external factors such as money, status, and what other people think of you.
Getting the right support is critical. Building a personal relationship with a quality career coach can do wonders for your confidence, sense of direction & overall fulfilment in your career. They're here to understand the problems you're facing in your working life, and help you overcome them.
Many executive's and middle managers worry that making a career, job, or company change will mean taking a step back in salary, status, or other benefits. However, a career coach will help you take your skills and experience, and pivot around them, allowing you transfer your expertise into a more refined version of your role, or even something entirely new, that better suits where you are in life today. All of this without sacrificing the things you've worked so hard to achieve.
Ultimately, a career coach will help you redefine what's important to you, cut stress out of your life, and find the job you're meant to be doing.
We'll help you address the root cause of the problem & find the job you're meant to be doing. Book a free 20-minute consultation with one of our Career Guides today & take action against corporate addiction.
