Just Because You're Good at It... Should You Keep Doing It?

Being good at something doesn’t mean it’s meant for you. In this episode of Raise the Anchor, we dive into what to do when your skills don’t align with your passion.

We talk about:

• How to set boundaries
• Ways to reframe tasks you don’t enjoy
• Cultivating gratitude without settling
• Making space for what truly matters

Listen now here on buzzsprout or watch the full episode on YouTube.

Transcript

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Welcome to Raise the Anchor, the podcast that explores what happens when we stop drifting and start choosing. I'm your host, Melissa Burbridge, and each week we dive into real, raw stories of transformation, moments when people dared to raise the anchor and change course. Whether you're navigating chronic illness, burnout, big life pivots, or healing from the inside out, you'll find inspiration and truth here on Raise the Anchor. This is your space for honesty, hope, and the courage to begin again. Let's raise the anchor and set your course. Welcome to another episode of Raise the Anchor. This episode is brought to you by Healing My Way Forward, a personal brand. I am looking forward to the topic today. It's been a question I get all the time. Should I keep doing something I'm good at just because I'm good at it? So let's chat over some coffee. No, there are so many mixed reviews. Would you want a doctor that is really good at being a doctor? Great bedside manner, great everything, but is only in it for the money. They don't really care what your illness is. They don't really care to investigate your illness. They could. They should, but they don't necessarily want to do that piece because that's not what they're passionate about. They want to be surfing. They want to be sailing. They want to be golfing. They're only in it for the money to pay for the retirement. You wouldn't want that doctor because there wouldn't be that passion piece to fight for you if there's something going on. So let's dig into this a little bit deeper. Would you want a nurse giving you vaccines when They're really good at giving that needle, but their bedside manner is awful. They're not gonna walk you through any process. They're not gonna listen to your anxiety or fears about getting that needle. All they're gonna be focused on is giving you that needle. That's not the type of nurse you want giving you the vaccines. It's the same at work. I know I'm going to talk a lot about healthcare, but that's currently what I work in. Let's say you have a nurse that's amazing at wound care, absolutely amazing at wound care, but it's not something she loves, but her coworkers know that she's really good at it. So they kind of are like, I'll give you these injections if you'll do these wounds. And then you end up becoming more of the wound care nurse, even though it's the last thing you want to do. And you want to be broadening your skills and say, doing more different types of injections. Or you want to be giving more IVs and learning about the medication going into the body and that kind of process. But yet you're stuck with all these wounds because everybody knows you're good at them. Is that what you want to be doing? So often, people who are struggling at work are like, I'm really good at doing these taxes, but I'm not really passionate about it anymore, but I really can't switch out into something else because taxes is all I know. You can go forward into doing something that you're looking interested in. You just have to figure out a step and have a plan to get out of that position you're in. Everybody can switch. I know I'm gonna get some hate for that. They're gonna be like, no, I went to school for a gajillion years. Everybody will judge me. Nobody will like see why I'm doing what I'm doing and they're gonna just place so much judgment. That's not a them piece. That's a you piece that you have to work past. That's a mindset that you have to bring yourself forward past. So I highly suggest digging into that a little bit more. I have some notes here because I wanted to bring a little bit of the science in behind it. So doing something you are really good at can lead to potential or burnout. It can lead to burnout because you're constantly putting your energy in behind doing that thing that you hate to do. because you're just dreading it you're stressing yourself you're building up that cortisol levels all the time you're wearing yourself out um you're dreading going to work that day so you're you're putting that strain on your body and it can lead to burnout it can impact your self-esteem because you're like i am good at vaccines that's all i'm going to do um no like you're impacting your self-esteem because you're great at other things. That is not the only thing you're good at. So conflict and desire. So you're conflicted every day before you want to go to work, but you find this little coffee that you're absolutely obsessed with and you do anything you can to get near having that coffee. Myself, I'm a nursing services manager. I'm okay at my job. I'm good at certain areas, but they're not areas that I necessarily want to work in. I don't necessarily want to be the discipline nurse. I don't necessarily want to be the one that is always holding you accountable. I want to be coaching. I want to be doing all of these other things. I can be pretty good at deflecting when I need to because it's something I'm not comfortable with but that's a strength that I've built over time it's not a good strength it's actually more of a weakness in my mind um deflection and not accepting uh because I'm so more much more passionate about this piece I love coaching I love helping um which should go hand in hand with nursing but necessarily The psychology behind the nursing piece, the mental load it can take on you. It can affect your mental health massively. So that sometimes can weigh on me more than, you know, doing the actual job. I'm so focused on doing the tasks at times instead of doing what I'm passionate at. Because you can be... So that can sometimes eat away at you. Should I keep doing it right now? Yes, I'm good at it. I want to be helping. I'm making a difference. It suits my lifestyle right now. But I also want to be doing this passion project and helping others through this podcast. I want you guys to learn how to not keep holding in everything you're holding in because you think you have to. I don't want you to get to the point where you're having panic attacks or calling in sick all of the time because you don't enjoy what you're doing. And that is what I did before. Yes, I had PTSD, but I was also dreading going to work. I was a robot going to work. There are times I did not remember what I did that day. And when your nurse is running like a robot and can't remember if she gave the right amount of insulin, that's not the nurse you want. if you're autopilot. Sorry, can't think, haven't had enough coffee yet. Autopilot is not what you want your nurse running on. It's not what you want your doctor running on. It's not what you want your pilot running on. Although, yes, autopilot in the sky, you know, as long as the pilot is actually awake and paying attention, that's what you want. Strategies to kind of addressing the conflict within yourself to make you be able to stay in something you don't care for, but have to while you figure out what you are really passionate about. cultivating gratitude in your life. I have been writing three things I'm grateful for every single morning in a little journal. I don't read it to anybody else. I just do it for my little piece. It helps me set an intention before I leave for work every day. Reframing the task. So trying to find the aspects in the task that you can appreciate or be beneficial. So for that doctor who's trying to give a diagnosis, even though they're not passionate about being a doctor anymore, it could be just the gratitude that you're getting back from that patient. because no other doctor has listened to them. For the nurse doing the wound care, take it as a compliment that you're good at wound care, but look for the pieces of nursing that you're good at and reframe it to your co-parts as this is a piece of nursing I want to gain knowledge on. So I would appreciate if you don't give me your wounds and I can do more of those IVs to learn more about those meds and broaden my things. I would be happy to teach you how to do these wounds so we could do them together and passing on your knowledge to them. Set boundaries. Make sure you have those strict boundaries. Okay, I will do six of these wounds for you. If you do this for me, and can we both Do this together. So setting that boundary so that they know that they can't come up to you and bully you into doing what you're good at just because you're good at it. Seeking alternatives. So trying to find those pieces that interest you. So I have been doing a lot of reflection lately on podcasting. So I've been looking at new ways to broaden the podcast to make it bigger, to grow it, but also remembering that I am prone to burnout. I'm still in recovery burnout. So finding those little faucets. So focusing on getting an episode out each week, making sure those socials are up each week so that this podcast finds who it's meant to find. I'm trying to grow my email list without going crazy and bombarding your inbox. I would love to be sending out more than one a week, but I know that people's tolerance for emails is usually not more than that, but I absolutely love writing those emails. So if you're not in the email list, I highly suggest going to linktree.com backslash raise the anchor and joining. They are a passion of mine. trying to delegate or eliminate, that can be a little bit of an issue in certain positions. So delegating to somebody else that is your counterpart is kind of hard. But if you're an RN, an LPN, you can somewhat delegate a task off as long as it's in their scope of practice. For a doctor, if you have a student doctor that's passionate about certain parts, you could delegate it off. Just finding those simple things that you can do I know some doctors can get to specializing so it's not something that they do anymore but they have knowledge on it so just finding that balance yeah I think those are those are the biggest things that you could be doing is Reframing the task, delegating or eliminating, seeking an alternative, cultivating gratitude and setting boundaries. You don't have to stay in the position you are in doing what you don't love. I wish I had a little more meat behind this. You certainly wouldn't want a mechanic doing your brakes that isn't passionate about doing the brakes or isn't good at doing the brakes because that could set you up to crash down the road. So just kind of start thinking about this process and we'll dig into this more on further episodes. But no, you don't have to be keep doing something that you're good at just because you're good at it. You absolutely should look into something that you're You should have that feeling of wanting to get up the next morning, wanting to go in and do the thing, wanting to have it almost feel like it's a piece of you. So if it feels like it's heavy work all the time, it's going to make you not want to go and do that. And that's not what we want in life. We want to be wanting to get up. Yes, we have to make money. We have to pay our bills. Life is definitely not cheap anymore. But we have to find that mental health balance. And that is something that people shy away from. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this episode because I'm telling people they should go after that change. They should leap. One of and upcoming episodes is going to be Failing Forward. Gay Hendricks makes a beautiful book, The Big Leap. I suggest reading it. It's like one of my favorites for trying to change your mindset and going after something that you want. You should not stay in something that makes you dread every day. It's just not good for you and it's not good for who you're around. It can change a lot of things and can lead to a lot of problems. So I hope you find this episode beneficial. I'm going to do a little commercial at the end. If you are not on the email list for Healing Your Way Forward or Raise the Anchor, it's the same email list, linktree.org slash raise the anchor. We're going to dig deep into different aspects and you'll be able to join different email lists within those email lists I'll send out polls to make sure that that's a thing that you want to be doing we're going to be doing a five-day challenge soon I know if you're listening to this episode in a few months we are going to be running this five-day challenge off and on there will be giveaways we're going to jump into doing retreats at some point so being on that email list gives you the first in as to what's going to happen next with this brand that is your commercial for now I hope you have smooth sailing for the rest of the week happy happy summer Thanks for tuning in to Raise the Anchor. If today's episode spoke to you, share it with a friend or leave a review. It helps more people find their way to healing and hope. Follow along on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube for behind the scenes, extra content, and real life moments. And be sure to join the email list at linktree slash raise the anchor so you never miss an episode. Until next time, here's to calm waters, steady winds, and the courage to chart your own course.