Are you feeling stuck in your career? Have you lost sight of your end goal and are not sure where you’re going and why? You are not alone. I work with so many people who feel exactly like this and we work together to gain clarity and generate that all-important plan.
A recent survey by Indeed stated that 58% of workers are willing to take a pay cut in order to change careers completely and that unhappiness was named the number one reason that people shifted altogether. It also stated that the golden age for a lot of people to do this was 39. Interesting.
Are you happy in your career?
Are you happy in your career and the sector you’ve chosen? Or did you just fall into it and have gone too far down the career rabbit hole to change now? We all get used to a certain pay bracket and standard of living – and, as they say, with age comes great responsibility so it’s often not just about your individual wants and needs but that of your family or your responsibilities. Many people want to change career and make that leap but they fear it is just too much of a change and there are too many sacrifices.
The survey, however, went on to report that 88% of people that did change careers altogether were definitely happier for it and were leading a healthier life, mentally and physically.
For some of us, downing tools and uprooting to a new career is a step too far but there may be possibilities of shifting mindset to achieve happiness in the role and sector you’re in.
Go back to the beginning!
I work with a lot of clients on this and together we strip back and go back to the beginning – asking what matters to them and what they are working for in the first place?
This exercise can be quite eye-opening as often people haven’t stopped to think about this for a long time. People can be so busy providing and doing what they think is right that their end goal for them personally has gone by the wayside.
Once we have established this along with their values, we look at their situation and what exactly is making them unhappy and try and peel back the layers and make adjustments where necessary.
Set your boundaries
A lot of my clients suffer with setting boundaries. Probably the worst bit of career advice I have ever received is to say yes to everything. By saying yes indiscriminately you might have access to wider opportunities but if they don’t align with your personal goals and values then what’s the point? In addition, it’s often difficult to be considered as strategic or leadership material if you’re the one that always says yes as it is very clear that you are a do-er and not necessarily someone who can stand back weigh up options and push-back.
Saying yes to the right things at the right times will ultimately stand you in better stead.
To start getting unstuck, a great piece of advice is:
Ask yourself: why am I going to do what I’m going to do today?
What would the future “fulfilled” me want me to do today?
This up-levelling of your self-awareness will help you identify where the “stuck-ness” is coming from and how is your current role serving you and helping move you towards your big goals.
If this resonated with you or raised questions that you’d like to explore with a coach, please reach out to me at: natalie@elevateher.co.uk where we can discuss options for career coaching.
Our career coaching packages are based on our tried and tested signature coaching model "Elevate" and are designed to deliver you real results for your career.
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