Common career mistake can leave you ‘burned out and unhappy’

Accomplishing a longtime career goal — whether that’s crossing the six-figure mark in your salary or getting a huge promotion — might seem like the solution to feeling completely satisfied at work. But chances are, you could still feel empty, bored, or unfulfilled even after achieving this milestone.

That’s normal, Joseph Fuller, a Harvard Business School professor and co-chair of the school’s “Managing the Future of Work” initiative, tells CNBC Make It. “Our careers rarely align with every expectation we have for them,” he says.

The same logic applies to any professional goal you pursue: If you have unrealistic expectations that a raise or switching jobs will solve all of your problems or be exactly as you’d imagined it, you could be setting yourself up for failure, Fuller cautions.

A common career mistake people make that can leave you “burned out and unhappy,” he adds, is not being honest about your priorities and the trade-offs you’re willing to make at work. 

“It’s a piece of advice I give my students all the time: The people who are unhappiest in their careers are the ones who haven’t been honest with themselves about the objectives they want to prioritize in their career, and what they’re willing to give up to meet them,” Fuller, who also co-hosts the podcast “Managing the Future of Work,” explains. 

For example: If it’s important to you to have your weekends off and maintain some semblance of a work-life balance, you might not want to take a job that demands 80-100 hour workweeks, even if it pays well or the title looks good on paper.

No job is perfect, but you can find a role that checks most of your boxes if you’re clear on your top priorities and which trade-offs you’re comfortable — or uncomfortable — making before accepting an offer.

You can evaluate a company’s culture during an interview, Fuller suggests, by asking how the company supports employees’ professional development, gives feedback and responds to challenges, among other questions. 

Finding a job where you have a sense of control and are excited about the work you’re doing can help you stay motivated and ward off burnout, Fuller adds.

The other trick to finding career satisfaction is to work your core values into your day-to-day responsibilities. Fuller says you can pitch your boss a meaningful side project, organize more office socials or volunteer to lead a weekly meeting depending on what you most value.

However you define success, “You want to work for an organization whose objectives align with your own goals and ambition,” says Fuller, “whether it’s earning six figures or changing the world.”

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