Susan Cain provides career advice that is helpful to both introverts and extroverts in the book, Quiet.  She suggests paying attention to the gravitational pull that attracts you to some kinds of work.  The opposite is worth paying attention to also; what kinds of jobs do you dislike?

Most of us have worked a job where we have loved or hated the work.  I was employed at a temporary agency when I discovered work that I loathed.  Answering about ten phone calls every three minutes for an entire day and connecting the caller (sometimes) to the correct department. (My apologies to all the people who called several times because I accidentally hung up on them.)  By lunchtime (or maybe the first ten minutes) I wanted to knock the phone off the desk every time it rang. I called the agency and begged for another assignment.

There is work we despise, and there is work we love with every fiber of our being.  Cain suggests paying attention to the work you volunteer for easily.  What do you sign up to do that you are excited to help out with?  Are there projects that you can’t wait to get started on?  Or, maybe YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND TIME to do this one thing.  You lose track of time when you are caught up in doing what you love to do – when you look at the clock and cannot believe that three (or more) hours have passed and you hardly noticed because you were so caught up in the work.

Take note of the gravitational pull of your heart.  It may be pointing you in another direction.

Marlayne Whitlock, MA, LAPC

mwhitlock@ GROWcounseing.com