Struggling in Quadrant III, Its Common!

Going back to our model of assessment of ones professional life we must note that the scoring is done for what you are currently doing. WAP tool introduced in one of previous blogs allows one to assess his/her condition about what is being done and what is wanted. However in later blog a tool was introduced to let you assess where do you currently stand? Those who used this tool, must have found themselves in one of the four quadrants as shown below when scoring for passion and ability is done for their current work.

Quadrant I of Satisfied people was discussed in last blog. I was planning to discuss Quadrant IV today. However with the feed back I received, I was asked to explain Quadrant III. Those who found themselves in this Quadrant labeled as Struggling should not feel bad. 

Most of the people on this planet are expected to be in this Quadrant. You would be in there when you lack passion and even ability to perform your current work. The most important two reasons behind this could be, i. either you were forced to choose what you are doing, or ii. you started and then developed limited ability and limited passion and got stuck in this Quadrant.

Now the question is what one should do to improve the situation or get rid of this position. We found that people in this block lacked ability and also passion for their work. The first and most important step they should take is to re-assess their aptitude. It might be true that you have developed limited ability and limited passion for your work but you need to re-assess seriously. If this re-assessment shows that you want to pursue the existing work either you feel you may make it a passionate work for you or you may excel in it, then either through working hard on ability you move to Quadrant I or falling passionate for it would lead you to Quadrant IV. If you improve on both, you'll be in Quadrant II.

On the other hand if this re-assessment concludes that you are not interested in developing your ability or passion for the work you are currently doing, then you must go back to WAP  tool.  It would give you the other choices available with an idea about your degree of passion and ability.

Once you are done with this step, you may see a range of new options. Considering those options and working on them one can gradually move out of this quadrant.

Note: For those readers who expect that a quick fix is available or only reading can help, I am sorry to say, they would be disappointed. Please use the tools introduced and you'll feel the gradual improvement.

If you are in Quadrant I

Those of you who took time to read the previous blog Professional Life, Where do you Stand? might have been able to locate themselves in one of the four quarters mentioned in that block. The only exception could be if you locate your ability and passion at 2.5 score then things could be weird.

In this blog I'll explain the situation when you lie in first quarter. In order to be in this quarter your score (on scale of 1-5) should be between 2.6-5.0 for ability and between 1.1-2.4 for passion. 

As one can see that in this case the ability is in upper half of score line while passion is in the lower one. This situation arises in cases where someone has to take up a career due to one reason or another and then develop ability to do work with success. This could be due to family pressure, unavailability of other opportunities or availability of good chances to move up in a certain profession making it a priority. 

However if the said person does not have or has low level of passion for this profession, he/she would be in the first quarter. I consider this quarter as quarter of 'satisfied' people. They are in general satisfied with their work mainly due to their developed ability to do it and related financial gains. They are satisfied also due to fear of loosing in any other field as they consider themselves able only in that certain profession.

However for those who have been honest with their evaluation and consider that although they are able but they don't have the passion for their current profession, this quarter is of no good. They need to move horizontally from their position. Their ability to do their current job is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. It is advantage in a sense that it provides self confidence to them that they are able. It is a disadvantage as it puts their brains working and behaving in a certain way. They are unable to think of new ways to handle things.

If they really want to do things they have passion for, I would suggest them an hybrid transfer model. In this model they should change their field of profession to the one for which they share passion, but with care and time. They should start investing time and resources to make their place in profession of their passion. For a mid level executive or professional this transit period may vary from one to three years. During this time one may start working in profession of choice starting with 20% shift to maximum possible which in ideal case is 100%. However even if 100% is not achievable due to any condition especially financial constraint, any move or work in profession of one's passion would move him/her to condition of peace which is second quarter of our model.