Is it possible to break bad habits and change a personality?

[prand]

I'm currently actively looking for new work. I'm becoming very frustrated by the changes in my current job, finding it very difficult to be motivated and go with the changes. I have been slipping into some bad habits, as I've lost the ability to care about the details like I used to.

I feel almost like I would be unemployable due to the deskilling effect of the previous 2 years at my current place.

Would a similar role in a new company be enough to jolt me back to the sparky, enthusiastic and effective guy I used to know? Certainly the efforts of job searching are inspiring, especially when thinking and practicing about how to present myself and what to say at interview.

Have people found a new job enough to re-ignite passion for work, or do the same old lazy behaviours come back again soon enough?

[kiethton]

Watching with interest....Special Liquidation (with over a year certianty of contract has the same effect...) although I hope that a more stimulating work environment where you are actually able to do things may help.

[Flip Martian]

Yes, moving on can re-ignite etc but it has to be something you're interested in or you may well fall back into the same state you are now. Doing the exact same thing somewhere else is probably not going to help.

[edc]

You can certainly change behaviours, style and approach with the right training and coaching. I can see this transformation in a number of the employees in our business where we have instigated formal training programmes and informal coaching. What is disappointing is that the managers around you seemingly don't have the same insight as you do.

[StevieBee]

Whilst a new job can certainly reignite the flame, you should take some time to consider if the changes in your current role are the sole reason for your shift in attitude or whether they just happened to coincide with you reaching a point in your career when you begun to feel unchallenged to the point at which the job just became a daily trudge.

What you want to avoid is side stepping and finding yourself in the same boat as this could make your approach to work worse.

[prand]

StevieBee said:

Whilst a new job can certainly reignite the flame, you should take some time to consider if the changes in your current role are the sole reason for your shift in attitude or whether they just happened to coincide with you reaching a point in your career when you begun to feel unchallenged to the point at which the job just became a daily trudge.

What you want to avoid is side stepping and finding yourself in the same boat as this could make your approach to work worse.

Spot on. This is what worries me. My new family takes up a lot of energy and thinking time, my industry and role type is undergoing a lot of changes, plus me questioning the point of it all after becoming established in middle management, just responding to escalations over the same issues where politics and budgets prevent real solutions being put in place.

I clearly want to give myself a boot up the arse, but is a new job, a new challenge the answer when in essence it will be the same challenges wrapped up in a different company logo?

This is IT I'm talking about.

[ChasW]

I was fortunate earlier in my career when I moved from a hostile confrontational management culture to a truly collaborative, risk taking environment that encouraged problem sharing. It enabled me realise my potential, change and progress rapidly. So it can happen, but be careful in assessing a new working culture.

[rog007]

You find yourself in a not uncommon situation brought on often by not just work related issues, but also home, relationship and that period in life when you begin to question what it's all about.

So accepting it's normal, and indeed anticipated, you have to forensically, and honestly, investigate why. Once identified, tackle the root cause. If it is the role or the company, then a move may well be the right thing; moving to what will require another set of audit criteria that you will need to go through in order to ensure you meet that criteria rather than just perpetuate the problem. A good coach or executive career advisor can be an excellent sounding board to help you bring this out and help you consider the alternatives. Good luck!