LibraryPatternsFind Meaning in Your WorkI was excellent at work I loved and got promoted into…
Problem
Toward Craftsmanship

I was excellent at work I loved and got promoted into work I do not. My reward for competence was removal from the thing that made me competent and engaged.

Part of the pattern: Find Meaning in Your Work
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The coach is replying…
The path forward
  1. 1Name what was lost in the promotion
  2. 2Reclaim one piece of it
  3. 3Consider whether to step back
One thing to try this week
Identify one way to reconnect with the type of work you loved — a side project, a collaboration, a portion of your time — within the current role.
Related problems
A reorganisation or acquisition changed everything, and the meaning I used to find in this work died with the old version of it. The job has the same title but a different soul, and I am grieving a workplace that no longer exists.By any external measure I am successful. It does not feel good. Something is missing.Early in the career the work carried genuine passion. Over time the passion became professionalism — competent, reliable, committed, but no longer driven by what originally fuelled it. I do it well because I am a professional. That is all.Every rejection feels personal, and my mood rides the last yes or no all day.I am good at my job and I know it. But I feel almost nothing when I do it. It feels completely hollow.I am here for the pension, the insurance, the stability, and the known quantity. The meaning is thin or absent. I have been honest with myself about the financial reasons and not honest about the cost to meaning.

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