What would you do in my situation?

[startinganewforonce]

Probably not an AIBU but I do need some advice.

So I currently work as a customer care specialist in an office, my team are lovely and the pay is great but the role itself just isn't doing it for me. Since having my daughter everything has changed and I really struggle find the motivation, pay attention and have so many tasks to do in so little time. I can't stand sitting at a screen all day. I am currently in the process of becoming a personal trainer and nutritionist but my employer does not know this. I have my half year review tomorrow and I know it's going to be rubbish because honestly, I don't have the motivation or care for it. Do I tell them what my future career plans are? I'm finding it hard not to tell them and I hate the pressure I'm under and being told I'm not up to standards and it's because I don't want to be, it's just a job to me at the moment to make money until I'm certified to do what I want to do. I just hate feeling like I'm rubbish at my job. What could happen if I tell them?

Well how long til you're qualified and can hand in your notice?

I wouldn't tell them until I was handing in my notice.

Nah, nothing good will come out of it. Just "yes, sir. No, sir" them and continue as you are until you can leave.

Why would you tell them? What are you hoping it will achieve?

No I wouldn't. I would just work my hardest at the job and hand my notice in once qualified and ready to go with my next career.

If you tell them they will likely fire you. Be fair and do your job as well as you can until you are ready to leave.

What is your financial position? How long could you survive without this job? How much do you have in savings? This is all relevant. Personally I would echo the above posters and say don’t tell them until you’re ready. Is it possible you’ve read too much into it? Perhaps they haven’t even noticed your flagging morale! I would go into the meeting with a primary aim of sounding out how much they’ve noticed your enthusiasm dropping off.

Well they are right to pull you up on not being to standard required but unless you’re leaving very soon I wouldn’t say anything

It is entirely reasonable to do a job for the money - the firm does not own you. Go in, do your job, go home.

I wouldn’t share my plans but would say I need a new challenge, perhaps they could offer you something more/new that excites you whilst you are finishing your certification. Being in a boring/unfulfilling job is awful.

First of all, you are almost certainly doing much better at your job than you think you are. It's incredibly common for new parents to feel that you must be doing a rubbish job because you know that you aren't giving it the same focus and commitment that you used to, but actually that may not be translating to the performance drop you think. So absolutely do NOT rush in there with apologies about how bad a job you are doing. Listen to what they say about your performance first, and respond to that - don't preemptively sell yourself short.

Second, feeling that work isn't nearly as interesting to you as it was pre kids is also very normal. That phase passes to some extent, and to some extent you just get used to it. So do not blow up a good job now because of how you feel now. You may feel very different in a year or two.

Third, in the nicest possible way, only a tiny proportion of many, many people who want to be personal trainers and nutritionists can make a reliable living from it. By all means study but again, do not blow up a good job for something this speculative. Also note that being a PT is very hard to combine with having young kids as the clients largely want to meet before or after normal working hours or on the weekend, at exactly the times it's hardest to get childcare and you want family time.

Don't say a word about your future plans.

If you do want to leave, would you consider working half time, so that you have a guaranteed income?

If you need the job and are underperforming you’d be daft to say anything