Are you still dating or are you married, to your career?

Dating is fun and exciting, butterflies, giggles, and an all-around good time. Marriage is a little different, however, I wouldn’t know from personal inexperience. The latter is definitely a different mindset, unpredictable at times, and more often than not leaves you feeling nervous and perhaps a little stressed out. This of course, depends on who or what you are 'dating'.

The feelings, in theory, that are affiliated with dating can also be sensed in your job or career – in the end, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. Oftentimes we discover, in hindsight, the factor that influenced our decision to make it or break our employment or career path.

Settling for a less than optimal relationship is not encouraged, if you settle for less than you deserve, then you are not ensuring your happiness and you have no one else to blame but yourself. So, why should happiness in your career be different?

If we put things into perspective, we spend most of our time at the office, on any given day. If we factor in our commute, that is a significant amount of time spent away from family, friends, and hobbies.

Are you committed to your job, or are you still playing the field? Playing the field doesn’t mean that you don’t have a career, on the contrary, it may mean that you are loyal to your field of expertise but you refuse to settle for anything less than what you deserve, therefore, you are dating your jobs.

These may seem obvious to some, but here are some possible scenarios that will determine if you are married or dating, your career or job:

• If you’re married to your career, you are loyal to the community of professionals in that respective field. You jump from business to business within the same position quite frequently. Sometimes, the factors influencing your move is beyond your control, you are loyal to your profession - because you love it.
• If you’re dating your career, you jump from one job to the next all within the same organization. The motive? To “try it out”. You're not quite sure that the position that you're in is for you, so you try them all.
• If you're married to your job, your commitment is to your respective employer. Typically, you are referred to as a lifer; you may jump from one position to the next, but you like your colleagues, the business, and the culture that surrounds you.

I’m not saying that one is better than the other, what I AM saying is that everyone will have their own standards when it comes to their professional lives. A lot of factors may influence your professional status, age, marital status, and education but at the end of the day, can you answer the following question affirmatively - Are you happy?