You wake up before the alarm clock goes off, shut if off and lie in bed watching the digital numbers change while telling yourself that you really have to get up and get ready for work. After repeating that to yourself several times, you finally get out of bed. Forced to rush, you scramble to get ready, and bolt out the door. No stopping for coffee today. During the drive in, you're still thinking about how much you don't want to go. You feel your stomach knotting up as your mind races with all you have to do and how deeply you don't want to do it. Remember when you thought how exciting and fun it must be to work in a casino? The lights, the people, the fast pace, the glamour. People who work in gaming often say the business is like no other. While that's true in many ways, in one way it's not: Employees in every industry discover that, no matter how wonderful their industry and company may be, this can be forgotten over time or worn off due to making tight deadlines, working short-handed, dealing with budget cuts, listening to relentless negativity, or just plain discovering you're in the wrong job. In short, the best of us can get burned out. Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, in Now, Discover Your Strengths, discuss the findings of the Gallup Organization's survey of 198,000 employees in 36 companies, conducted to determine the percentage of those who believed they "have the opportunity to do what they do best every day." That study indicated that, overall, a mere 20 percent of those surveyed felt their strengths were used the bulk of the time they're at work. When results were broken down by business unit, those groups with larger percentages of employees who felt their strengths were engaged most often in their daily work, experienced lower turnover, higher productivity, and higher customer satisfaction. [Loving the Life] People perform best when they enjoy their work, and they enjoy the work that uses skills they have in abundance. When employees perform their best, the customers benefit, the shareholders benefit, coworkers benefit, even their families benefit. If we live to be 80, we'll be alive 4,160 weeks. Each of us will work approximately 40 to 50 years over our lifetime, which means we'll spend about 2,000 to 2,600 weeks at work—half of the time we'll be alive. According to Seth Godin, author of Survival is Not Enough: Why Smart Companies Abandon Worry and Embrace Change, "If all you do at work is hope to survive, your day can't be much fun." Not enjoying something that takes up such a huge part of your life impacts more than just you. When you come home after a hard day, do you laugh as easily as when you've had a good day at work, or are you quiet and withdrawn? Do you have or make time for activities you're interested in? Do you have energy for the things or people who need your attention, or do you feel exhausted and go to bed early? Do you ever talk about anything other than how unhappy you are? How do we let this happen to ourselves? Maybe the job you originally wanted wasn't available or someone else was chosen for it. Maybe you ended up accepting a position that was your second or third choice; but, since you knew that casinos often promote from within, you figured you'd only be in the job a little while. Perhaps you've started to feel passed over. If you're a top performer, perhaps you may have been rewarded the way most top performers are—with a promotion. Since then, your time is spent on things which typically don't call for the skills or strengths that got you promoted. Of course, some people enjoy the new role and thrive in it using the different skills; but many people become unhappy over time because what got them promoted was the real source of their joy. At some point in life, many of us find that the choices we've made have locked us into a position that requires us to make a living rather than make a life. Human resources professionals refer to this as "Golden Handcuffs"—when your compensation keeps you tied to your job. [Back to Passion] Career and business experts from Marcus Buckingham to Richard Bolles to Tom Peters acknowledge the importance of finding work that taps into a combination of your greatest strengths and your deepest values to create a life that brings you the greatest satisfaction. Getting the passion back in your work life isn't an easy process, but nothing worth having ever is. Here are some steps to begin: [Step 1:] Admit to yourself that you're not happy. As on any road to recovery, the journey begins with acknowledging that you've got a problem. Only then can you face reality and start to get out of the situation. The people who know you best probably know you're miserable, and have been waiting for you to discover it. [Step 2:] igure out exactly what's making you unhappy. Buy and read Buckingham and Clifton's Now, Discover Your Strengths. Inside there's a code that allows you to take an online assessment called Strengths Finder. Once you've identified your top strengths, you can evaluate whether your job is allowing you to use your strengths at least 70 percent of the time. Another great place to visit is www.authentichappiness.com, created by Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania. He has several free assessments that can help you identify key issues related to life, work and happiness. [Step 3:] Compare your current life situation with what your life was like when you first started to experience the greatest unhappiness. This can help you uncover if it's the way the job is currently structured or the tasks themselves which are the source of your unhappiness. For example, perhaps you're married or involved in a serious relationship but your job requires you to work 60-plus hours a week. Working that many hours may not have been a problem a few years ago, but now you'd like to have more of a home life, and work is now interfering with that. [Step 4:] Create a vision of what you'd like your life to be. This is the hardest part, and the spot where most people throw in the towel. You can't change direction if you don't know where you want to go, and if you don't know where you want to go, then any old place ought to be good enough. Writing out a vision of what you want your life to be like, both personally and professionally, is the only way you'll really be able to know if the changes you make are going to get you where you want to be. Otherwise, save this article, because you'll need it again. [Step 5:] Get a handle on your finances and get out of debt. Most Americans owe at least $7,000 just in credit card debt. If your compensation package creates the image of golden handcuffs, then your debt is more like the gunmetal grey of the traditional kind. You become a slave to debt, living to pay your bills rather than living for your purpose and passion. Call your local Better Business Bureau or United Way and they can connect you with a reputable debt counseling service if you need one. [Step 5a:] In the meantime, look at how you can make some immediate changes in your personal life and tap into areas that bring you joy and fulfillment. Maybe your schedule won't allow you to coach a little league team, but could you help the coach with some of his or her tasks? Is there a young person for whom you can act as a mentor? Your local United Way can match you with volunteer activities that will use your strengths, tap into your passions, and fit your schedule. Taking these steps will start you on the road to a happier, fuller, more productive life. If you're not enjoying your work, it becomes incredibly difficult to give the company your best. The customer suffers, your coworkers suffer, you and your family suffer. Keep in mind those 4,000-plus weeks you'll be on the planet. Do you really want to be miserable for 50 percent of them?

By Winifred Anderson

Winnie Anderson, SPHR, CPBS, CEIP, is a career and performance consultant who has worked in and consults with individuals and properties in the gaming industry. She can be reached through her blog at www.FromMyTulips.com.

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