OK I’m cringing a little at my own title here but I wanted to get your attention. If you’re feeling stuck in your career and starting to feel a little helpless this message is for you. I remember sitting in my cubicle with people around me complaining every day. I’m sure they hated every task. They counted the days, sometimes hours, until the end of work on Friday. They knew the exact years and months left until retirement. I can’t imagine going through my career that way.
For the record, I’m not talking about those within a year or even within 5 years of retirement age. By then, count it down! That is an exciting life change that should be celebrated to the fullest, and that includes counting down the months the way we count baby ages, well, I’m 36 months and 2 days from retirement and I couldn’t be more excited! That isn’t what I mean though. We’re talking people who knew their retirement date when it was still 25-35 years away. I refused to allow that to be my fate. I wasn’t going to retire miserable in a job I’d hated every day for the last 30 some years. The other option seemed to be, fall into another job that felt better for a moment. I mean, at least it wasn’t (fill in the blank with the prior job). Well, the new wears off eventually and they would go right back to counting down the minutes and just trying to get through the slog of work.
Does that even count as a career?
We all know at least a couple of people like this right? People who either fell into their current job or took it because they used to have passion there that has since dissolved. They’d probably never consider it their career. They somehow get to the point that they’re wishing their lives away by counting down the minutes till quitting time, the days till Friday, the weeks till vacation, and the years till retirement. Your life is now, right now. If that includes working, then you’ve got to find a way to enjoy it. Now we’ve talked in the past about learning to be positive which plays a major role in enjoying coming to work, even in the job you don’t like and don’t want. If you want to check that out click here. Today though I want to talk about the tactical side of it.
Photo by Krivec Ales on Pexels.com
It is one thing for me to have declared that I refuse to think, feel, and behave that way (insert a visual of me standing on a mountain top with windblown hair and my fists on my hips, shouting my declaration to the rivers and valleys below) it is an entirely other thing for me to do something about it. It would be easier in the moment to declare it, then resign to falling into the same trap that so many others had. So often people are made to play the victim in their own life but guess what, you have control. You have the power to say no, I’m not going to be stuck anymore. I am going to make a change to get out of a job that is no longer serving me. No, I won’t be passionate about my career overnight but the work toward it is going to empower and strengthen me so I can persevere to see it through.
So, without further ado, let’s talk the top 5 reasons people feel stuck and what to do about it.
Lack of clarity on what you want
People spend so much time thinking about how to avoid what they don’t want. They miss out on understanding what they do want. If you don’t even know where you want to be, what benefits you want to have, what type of work you want to do, how can you hope to get it? OK, I know some people don’t know exactly what their dream job is. That’s fine. You do need to know if you enjoy working collaboratively or going solo. Do you want flexibility in hours, or do you appreciate knowing the schedule? Do you want something that you can see and feel the impact (education, medical, or social fields). Is it more important to emotionally leave at work at the end of the day? Understanding what you want will help drive you toward it. It will also help in enjoying in the role you’re currently in.
Not building experience in your gaps
We tend to know what we’re ‘bad at’ but we seldom treat that knowledge objectively and as the gift it is. Instead of just knowing, I’m bad at public speaking, and then avoiding it. discern what exactly your gap is in that and run toward it. Strengthening your weakest parts makes you stronger as a whole. Demonstrating you can actually see your blind spots is more attractive to leaders and team members than hoping they don’t notice you have them. Now, there is a chance that you truly don’t see your blind spots. That is ok (that is why they call them blind spots). Here is a great opportunity to build some street cred and simply ask people. Find some trusted people in a couple different roles (your boss, your coworker, and your mentor will all have valuable, different perspectives) and ask them; What do you see as my strengths? What gaps do you see?
Inability to translate your current skills across your career
This one is so tough. As such, is one of the tenants I hope to achieve with this blog. I want to help people understand their skills across areas of life and translate them. That means your career too. It can take an outside perspective to see how the skills you have apply to where you want to go. If you’re wanting to do this step on your own, take out the job description of role you’re interested in and start responding to qualifications. If you’re interested in working through this with an outside objective party, let’s talk. Send me a message here, and let’s set up a call.
Limited exposure and connections
Blanketing the company or the countryside with your resume won’t get you hired any faster. Do you know what will? Connecting with an old friend or colleague that works at the company or department you are looking at a job in and asking for a recommendation. Professional connections are not just for the elite or those who have been working for 20-30 years. Having someone who is already close to the hiring manager who can say, hey, have you heard of Suzie? She would be perfect for this job. She does xyz now and her understanding of y would be a benefit to us. I think she’s submitting her resume. You should take a look! You can provide that information to your connection to share and they provide to someone close to the job if not the hiring manager themselves. I’m not saying this will get you hired but it will get your resume picked up out of the stack.
Failing to start
This one feels obvious right? If you do nothing different, nothing will change. I get why that would happen though. Each of these pushes you a little out of your comfort zone. It is easier to just complain and wait for the weekend. Remember how I said it is one thing to declare something and another to do something about it? This is your opportunity to get your fists off your hips. Start doing something today that will set you on the right path for tomorrow.
Understanding what is keeping you stuck and how to make a change, will empower you to move toward work that fulfills you. Identifying which of these resonates with you. Then, let me know and take action. It will fuel you through the rough spots that make you start counting minutes or days.