What It Really Feels Like to Level Up Professionally

Our jobs are a huge part of our lives. Working 8 hours a day, five days a week, is a huge undertaking, and it can be exhausting. However, industries where people have regular opportunities to grow generally see a high rate of employee retention and engagement. Most industries have some sort of upward growth that allows bright and exceptional employees to rise through the ranks. Some of these positions require additional education, such as rn to msn programs; however, many promotions or professional development can be done with the skills you already have, plus a little extra training from your employers.

That being said, what does it actually feel like to experience professional growth? How does it happen, how are people affected, and how can it happen to you? Read on to find out.

Confronting Self-Doubt

Many of us are plagued by doubts, in some cases for our entire lives. Between mental illness and things like imposter syndrome, it can be very easy for work to become a reminder or a trigger for these issues. These issues can be treated with therapy or medication if serious enough. However, often when we feel we are being crippled by self-doubt, reassurances from friends, family, and sometimes colleagues can be a huge motivator.

So when you finally land a promotion, or get trusted to lead a project or a group of people, it can be incredibly validating, like someone has finally seen your efforts and your skills and recognised that you are really good at your job!

Now, admittedly, sometimes getting a promotion can have a negative effect on one’s confidence. Imposter syndrome, depression, anxiety, and many other mental illnesses are insidious in the way they make us doubt facts. If the idea of being rewarded for the work you put in makes you cringe or causes feelings of fear, or that you don’t deserve it, we recommend speaking to a therapist about it.

However, regardless of the situation, getting a promotion is usually something to be celebrated, as not only do most promotions bring with them several major employee benefits, but they also provide the validation and evidence that you are really good at your job.

Clarity in Career

Of course, a promotion doesn’t just represent new responsibilities; it represents new potential. Your promotion might show you sides of yourself you didn’t know you had, or open doors that would have remained shut otherwise. It could, alternatively, show you that you really don’t like your job, and the time has come for a change.

• Either way, the eventuality of getting promoted results in a certain level of clarity.
• The promotion will reveal things about yourself and your life that could potentially illuminate some missing element you’ve been thinking about for a while, or grant you the resources to put plans into motion in your personal life that you’ve been holding off on.

Opening Doors

Additionally, higher-level job roles tend to open up avenues to other areas of work. There are usually many senior staff positions in the job market, and having reached these levels in your own area of work will grant you easier access to these positions elsewhere.

However, after getting a promotion, it may be worth sitting back and taking stock of your career thus far. How do you feel about the way things have gone? Where do you want to go? Is this promotion bringing you closer to who you want to be, or who you envision yourself as?

Take some time to assess what this promotion means to you, talk with people you love and trust about what they think and feel, and use this promotion to also level up your personal life in whatever way you can.

A New Beginning

We’ve spent a lot of time waffling about what to do if you get a promotion, but obviously, everyone’s situation is different, and depends on where they are in life, the work they have, and how much they like that work. But getting promoted sets a few facts in stone: you’re good at your job, your talents are valued, and your employers believe you are capable enough to take on the additional responsibility.

All in all, no matter what you do with your promotion, the reality is that levelling up in your career represents a springboard from which you can take your life in exciting new directions, or solidify the things you enjoy about your life as it is.

Either way, be sure to congratulate yourself.