At some point in your career, you’re likely to feel like you’re in a rut. Maybe you took a job for the money thinking that it’s temporary, and five years later, you’re still there. Or you’ve signed on for a position you were told was one thing and suddenly you realize you’re wearing 20 hats—and hardly any of them are the ones you thought you’d be wearing.
Though you may feel stuck when these career roadblocks crop up, there are concrete ways to circumvent them. Being stuck can leave you feeling helpless, but your life is in your hands. If you’re feeling stuck in your career, take control of the wheel with some of the helpful tips listed below!
1. Interview yourself:
Why do you feel you are stuck? What’s happening in your work or your personal life that may have precipitated this state? What has worked for you in the past to get back on track? The simple solution might be to get a good night’s sleep. Focusing on something else for a day or two can also work. However, if the condition persists, your strategy needs to shift and keep shifting until you get your groove back.
While we are creatures of habits, our habits can quickly become stale, leaving us feeling stuck or unsatisfied in certain areas of our lives. This is especially true for individuals who have been working in one position for many years. The truth is that it is natural to feel stuck during points in your life and these moments exist to remind you that you are always growing and evolving, and crave change after a while of doing the same thing day in and day out.
Regardless of whether you feel stuck because you are unsatisfied and are looking for more out of your career path, or because things have simply become repetitive and you need to find more joy and purpose in your current position.
2. Get In Touch With Your Values Managing your career is looking at a long-range picture of your professional accomplishments and your life. The trick is that sometimes we lose sight of the things that are really important to us because we go on autopilot in a job. Pause and look at what’s important to you—what are your deal-breakers, what are the things you must have and what are the things you must avoid. You really need to be true to yourself.
If, for instance, you really aspire to work for a nonprofit but are firmly ensconced in the corporate world, figure out an action plan to make that transition. It may not happen overnight—or even in a year—but you can plot a course now so that it becomes an eventual reality.
3. Take Up New Challenges
Your career path is generally one that you have some passion for, or one that you enjoy. It is also one that should inspire growth and should keep you engaged and challenged throughout the course of your career. During the course of your career, you may find yourself at a plateau where your work is no longer challenging or you are no longer finding the value in what it is that you are doing. If this is the case for you, ask yourself, when did this happen? Why don’t you feel the same way you do about your work as you did before? Where did you lose that sense of purpose?
Only by figuring out where things have dropped off will you be able to pick up the pieces and begin to enjoy the qualities that attracted you to your position in the first place.
4. Determine Your Personal Needs
Feeling stuck is like feeling hungry or tired; it means that there are needs that need to be met that are not being met at the moment.
Sometimes, this results in a complete change of direction in terms of your career path; and other times, it means that you just need to tweak some of the current aspects of your job so that you can continue to love it.
The most important thing you can do right at this moment is to figure out what you need and lack in your career. Is your career providing for you? If so, what parts don’t you like about it and what things do you need to change to fall in love with your job again? If not, what career do you want and what skills will you need to learn to get there? Once you figure out some of these harder questions, you will be better able to change your course to reach your destination.
5. Make a Plan That Will Help You Get There
Whether you’ve chosen to stick with your current position or go for a completely new one, you can’t just wing it. You need to make a solid plan that will help you to get to where you need to be. After you’ve made a list of your needs, break down that list into solid actions that need to be carried out, so that you can move forward with your career goals.
6. Stick with Your Plan!
Change only comes with consistency. Becoming unstuck in a situation where you feel trapped is not something that will happen overnight. You need to constantly work at it and work with the end goal in mind. This will either be changing your career or putting your current job through a makeover. Use that as your motivation while you are following your plan. You can be guaranteed of success when you do.
Culled from www.lifehack.com
