The current job market, both domestic and global, is in a very strange place. All industries are feeling the same economic and technological shifts that are causing layoffs, fluctuations in hiring rates and an increase in applications to the same job posting. If you've been on LinkedIn's jobs page then you've probably seen how common it is for a job posting to go up and within 2 hours already have 100 applications. People are hungry.

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With today's "hustle culture", we have globally seen a rise in this work hard and be better mentality. The issue is not the culture itself (though it can be argued that "hustle culture" is doing more harm than good, that is a separate conversation). The issue at hand is that people are attaching their self worth and value directly to the results of their efforts, which increases the likelihood of burnout and crashes in momentum. So the question now becomes in this environment how can someone who has this want for more, truly maintain the drive that it needs?

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Know what you want. The biggest problem in this current self-improvement climate is the fact that a lot of people who subject themselves to intense work ethics don't even know what they're doing it for. It's easy to jump into something right away and push yourself to move through with it. But that steam will dry out quickly once you start questioning why you're even putting in so much effort. Looking through your values, morals, interests and what you deem as worth your time is crucial. Having this foresight before starting a career or continuing a project will save you time, money and your happiness. And if you find yourself in a position where you find out what you're currently doing is not for you but something else is, then by breaking down your goals, you can slowly start the transition process.

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Lower your standards. Most people dream big and that in and of itself is not a bad thing. It only becomes a detriment when you realize the massive gap between where you are now and where you want to be. That gap cannot be closed within days, months or sometimes, years. So in order to close that gap, breaking down large goals into smaller more obtainable ones is crucial. Lowering your standards is exactly that. If your dream is to become the founder of a massive tech company but you can't even maintain a consistent sleep schedule, then that's where you start. If you're dying to be moved up to your company's creative director but you don't know how to manage people, then start with researching ways to improve that skill. When you try to run without knowing how to crawl first then you are destined to keep failing.

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Failure is key, however failure through intention is what matters. Taking on challenges that are way beyond your scope is a perfect way to set yourself up for failure. This doesn't mean you shouldn't challenge yourself it just means your challenges should be relative to where you are currently. If you can bench 135lbs with ease but then one day decide to take on 315lbs, you're going to get crushed. Do that enough times and you'll injure yourself and be left without any new wisdom or knowledge. It's the same principle with anything else. Growth comes from steady increase not from immediate leaps. Yes, you might be lucky every now and again but if you put your trust in luck you'll find out very quickly why luck is a rare thing.

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Scheduling and consistency. The final piece to this discussion is one that might usually be at the very top. However for this blog post, it is put at the bottom for a specific reason. It comes after everything. You cannot build a schedule or implore consistency without first knowing what you want, lowering your standards and embracing reasonable challenges. Once you have figured out the aforementioned concepts then you can create a schedule laying out what needs to be done week to week, month to month and year to year. The only thing that keeps you from adhering to that schedule is consistency. Professionalism in this context is the idea of doing what needs to be done no matter the feeling. Showing up even if you're tired or angry or full of joy. Regardless of your internal turmoil and the external results you put in effort. That is what consistency is.

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At the end of the day, everyone's dreams and motivations for accomplishing said dreams are different. As is everyone's limits and their physical and mental capacities. For anything sacrifices must be made, challenges must be pursued and failure must be embraced. There is a concept in addiction rehabilitation which states how the addict acknowledging their addiction is the first and biggest step in the process of getting clean because once the addict admits to their problem the journey to recovery can start. That same principle exists in this context. You must first admit to yourself the reality of where you stand, only then can you muster the strength to maintain the drive for more.

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