Have you ever had that feeling heading into work where you drive a little slower just to delay the inevitable? You can feel the dread as you walk through the doors. You cringe at the sound of that certain co-worker calling to you. You feel deeply dissatisfied with your career. Sadly, this is very common.
People tend to stay dissatisfied in their jobs for 5 main reasons:
- You need the money. Maybe you have a family or you’re single and just need to pay the bills. Whatever the reason, you don’t want to rock the boat. You make a decent living and you don’t know what else you would do.
- You’re scared to leave. Even though you know you would be better suited elsewhere, you’re afraid to leave your current job. Perhaps it’s fear of failure, discomfort with change or concern about letting your team down – but you feel paralyzed anytime you consider making a move.
- You don’t know how to say no. You put yourself out there on more than one occasion to show your worth. Yet now, all of a sudden, you are the go-to person that everyone dumps their stuff on. You don’t want to let anyone down by saying no but you’re tired of being the pack mule for the organization carrying the heaviest load.
- You haven’t aligned your vision with your day-to-day reality. Perhaps you dream of living in a secluded house on the lake, running your own business and having lots of time off. Yet here you are, working in a stuffy print shop making minimum wage and constantly on the clock.
- You don’t want to start over. You know what you want to do, but it feels like way too much work to start over at this point. So, you stay stuck and miserable hoping that it will turn around for one reason or another.
It’s time to move on
If you related to any of the above reasons, then it is time to move on, my friend. All you need is a bit of focused planning to break free and move into a career you truly love. Oh yes, a good dose of courage.
But how?
If your current reality was still in effect in 10 years, how you feel about your decision to stay? Probably not so great. So take a moment today to dream up what you truly want for yourself. You don’t have to know the exact career but you should know generally the type of work you would love to be doing and how it would transform your day to day life.
Explore the options of how that could come into existence. What would it truly take for you to make a move? Trust that you can (and will) have that.
Then, start to network. Get out into the world and ask questions of people who are doing what you want to do. Explore what schooling, certifications, continuing education or starter jobs you could take on to move forward and create momentum.
Finally, start to take action. Map out your steps and how to responsibly transition from what you’re doing to what you want to do.
You can make a change. I have zero doubt about that. Just take it one step at a time. You can do this.
