No ambition at work

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turtle18

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My boss keeps pressuring me to come up with some career objectives. The problem is, I don’t have any. I see all the stress that comes at the next level plus having to work evenings, weekends and being on call ALL THE TIME. I do not want that for my life-I think it completely degrades the quality of life. I consider myself very blessed for the position I am in. What exactly should I tell him? Lack of ambition in corporate America is seen as a huge weakness. I have already hinted to him that I am happy where I am but he keeps saying we need to come up with a “plan to move me to the next level.” :eek:
 
I’d be curious as to what you do and how old you are, as both would appear relevant to your situation.

That said - there are many many people out of work, and if you don’t want to do “X,” (whatever X is) someone else likely will. Many corporations have an “up or out” approach when it comes to employees, perhaps to keep employees motivated or for other reasons. If you yourself see yourself as lacking in ambition - and I’m not saying you do - your employers surely will see it too. You also may be in direct competition with your coworkers.
 
I am a Manager at a Fortune 500 company, and while there are indeed career paths up the managerial ladder, there are also different career ladders. For example, for engineers there is the technical ladder in which they can progress and grow in knowledge and in taking on more difficult assignments and projects. Perhaps that is an option for you that you might want to look into.

DGB
 
You may consider finding ways to develop yourself within your current role. You can make it clear that you aren’t interested in moving up right now but here are some things you want to work on to continue developing.

This does 2 things:
  • it reassures your boss that you aren’t planning to just get by
  • it keeps your options open in case you ever need/want to look for another position
 
turtle18 said:
My boss keeps pressuring me to come up with some career objectives. The problem is, I don’t have any. I see all the stress that comes at the next level plus having to work evenings, weekends and being on call ALL THE TIME. I do not want that for my life-I think it completely degrades the quality of life. I consider myself very blessed for the position I am in. What exactly should I tell him? Lack of ambition in corporate America is seen as a huge weakness. I have already hinted to him that I am happy where I am but he keeps saying we need to come up with a “plan to move me to the next level.” :eek:
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Wow! Isn’t it okay anymore to just be happy where one is? What’s wrong with that?

I’ve heard some people can move up to their “level of incompetence”, even!

I see nothing wrong with staying right where you are, personally. A lot of people are in those higher paying jobs, but are they really happy? Can they have a happy marriage and family like that, as well? I wonder…with one person always absent like that.

Even doctors generally are not on call all the time. They take turns.

I wish you could just level with him, admit you’re happy right now, and if you moved up, it’d leave you less time for yourself and family, that your own time and family is something that’s very important to you.

Isn’t there someone else that would LOVE to be in charge? Why can’t he do that and let you stay where you are?
 
So many people today are MISERABLE! They come from dysfunctional families, have all this problems with relationships, divorce, at work, at home…stress. Finally, SOMEONE is HAPPY!

You would think people would be congratulating you, happy for you! Instead, the greed factor and ambition. I see nothing wrong with being HAPPY! It’s a lot of people’s objectives, and some people go through life, unable to find a job, or a job that fits, or a job one’s happy with. You HAVE! To me, that’s a success!

Unless you’re unable to pay your bills or something, you’re probably okay.

I wish they’d stop pressuring you. Move up, why? So you can be stressed out, on meds, seeing a psychiatrist, counselor, and possibly a marital, filing for divorce, or having it filed against you!

Gosh! I agree with you. If you’re okay, financially, I see nothing wrong with staying at that level.

That’s just me, though. Good luck, and if nobody else says it, “Congratulations” and being happy in your job!

The rest is unhappy…want more…bigger house, more cars, bigger plasma. God bless you, and more power to you!

👍
 
Don’t lie. I’d say that much. At the most, use “mental reservation”, but it may just be best to spell it out perfectly for him and pray to God that he can accept what you tell him in a good way.

God Bless.
 
Thanks for the advice…two years ago the programming manager spent all of Christmas Even trying to fix a production problem and then had to monitor it on Christmas day. There is no amount of money worth ruining the holidays like that. It’s not like we are saving people life’s or something…it just computer stuff.
 
jlc2k2 said:
You may consider finding ways to develop yourself within your current role. You can make it clear that you aren’t interested in moving up right now but here are some things you want to work on to continue developing.

This does 2 things:
  • it reassures your boss that you aren’t planning to just get by
  • it keeps your options open in case you ever need/want to look for another position
Click to expand...
I agree with this. It shows someone who is open to new ideas and willingness to learn and be flexible.

The ‘I am happy were I am’, no matter how much people understand it on the personal side, will not put up with it in an office

Angie
 
I’d like to offer a slightly different take on things.

First off, no one is going to congratulate another employee on, in essence, “being happy,” or “being where they want to be,” etc. The company’s goal is not to make their employees happy or to see them get content; it’s to make money for their owners, who may be shareholders; individuals, etc. The best businesses to work for IMHO are those that understand that happy workers give a better product or service, but…some just don’t care; some don’t know to make employees happy; and some figure, “if you’re not happy, you’re replaceable.” Some think happiness equals money or status and for some people the two really are synonymous. I’m not really sure where OP’s company is, but the fact that they are pushing OP to higher things does not necessarily mean they are bad; maybe they see great potential there; think OP can go on to better things, etc.

Second, I really don’t look at more responsibility/promotion/“high goals” as leading to divorce, problems, etc. - quite the contrary. I see it as opportunity: Opportunity to use all God’s gifts to their highest potential; opportunity to be a good provider; opportunity for personal fulfillment; etc.

Third, there’s a school of thought that in this world, in business, “if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward, i.e., there is no status quo.” I happen to agree with this: If you’re not moving forward, someone else will step up to fill the void. If you’re happy where you are, someone else will want to pass you – whether another company or another co-worker! Today “being happy with where you are, and having no goals,” could be read as “someone who doesn’t recognize that you have to evolve in business to meet changing times,” and it becomes tomorrow’s “your new supervisor is an ambitious fellow 5 years younger who wants to achieve more, wants to fulfill his/her potential that you have but won’t try to achieve,” etc., and you get phased out – and you become a 50-something who lost their job.

To OP, I’d say – OK, so someone had to work a holiday. Lots of people have to: Police; fire; medical professionals; certain legal professions (the courts are always open in a true emergency); etc. 1) Find some realistic goals, which challenge you to “be all you can be” (apologies to the US Army!) and 2) work hard and meet all of them. Really and truly having zero ambition is noticeable IMHO, and is not where you want to be, professionally speaking. I work with several people who have zero ambition, and to a person they all come off as people going absolutely nowhere fast. Worse, none of the “higher ups” have any real regard for them, and it’s a short step from there to being shown the door.
 
A final point I forgot: “Having no ambition” is often very close IMHO to coming off as “being happy with average work.” I’m not saying we need to be perfectionists, but the folks I work with, who lack ambition, all have another common trait: They’re happy doing average quality work. Me? I want to do an absolute great job on everything, because God don’t make no junk and neither do I! These co workers have no sense of wanting to be better at what they do; it shows in their work; and they’re never given the opportunity to do better, because the bosses know of the employees’ lack of care.

As H. Ross Perot once said – “If all you can be is a chicken plucker, be the best chicken plucker there is!” He was wrong about a lot of stuff, but IMHO he was right on about that. Maybe OP’s goal should be “be the best IT person this company’s ever seen!”
 
I have seen companies where it is expected that everyone every year will review their goals even to the point of filling out pages of paperwork on future goals, how you met last year’s goals, etc. It’s something that corporations sometimes do as part of performance reviews for people. Maybe your boss is pressuring you because he values your work and wants to keep you around but has to judge you according to some corporate criteria and career goals is part of it. Certainly there is something you can come up with - wanting to expand knowledge, for example, is a career goal that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to move up the ladder. I realize it’s difficult to come up with something if you just want to stay put, but you may have to come up with some goals to keep your job in the future. There is a joke about having 20 years of 1 year experience.
 
I think Monicad and Sunbreak are on to something. I don’t think you have to necessarily be concerned about getting a new position, but you still should be able to think about some ways you could improve in your current job. It may well be that your supervisor thinks there is a performance issue, and you might not see it.

Pretty much every job I’ve ever had has been low-level, but I’ve always been regarded as an excellent employee because I worked hard and came up with better ways to handle the responsibilities I had. I do tend to be something of a perfectionist, but I get a lot of satisfaction in continuing to grow and get better at things. Even when I had no interest in “moving up” (because it would have meant a change in hours that would not have been compatible with my family life), I still worked enough to show my bosses that I was serious about doing my job and doing it well, and I didn’t want to just coast.

(For the record, I take the same approach to the rest of my life - I think a person should constantly seeking to improve as a spouse, parent, friend, and so on. The “if you’re not moving forward, you’re sliding back” idea that PolarGuy mentioned can probably apply to the rest of life, too.)
 
turtle18 said:
I work in I.T. and am in my forties.
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Then you need to either aggressively obtain new knowledge and keep up with technology or enter the management track.

Don’t only think of this job, but think of the next one after you lose this one. What will your resume say? How will you combat the ageism in IT hiring?

In your forties and fifties you either need to be a technical expert or a manager.
 
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