How to Get Unstuck in Your Career: 5 Tips to Figure Out Your Next Career Move
Are you feeling stuck in your career? Are you unsure of what your next career move should be? If so, don't worry – you're not alone. Many people find themselves in this position at some point. The good news is that there are ways to get unstuck and figure out your next career move. This article will discuss five tips to help you get started.
Over the last decade, I've spent thousands of hours helping business owners and (multi-passionate) creative entrepreneurs get unstuck.
There are many reasons we get stuck, but one of the most common reasons I hear clients talk about when they get stuck is overwhelm. We get a burst of inspiration or passion and get carried away about how awesome it all could be. The ideas get more elaborate without us taking any real action until we wind up feeling afraid, frustrated, and burnt out at the mountain we've created in our mind - even before we started!
Or we're caught up in the routines of everyday life, going through the motions, feeling like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day, reliving the same day repeatedly. I felt like I was stuck on the same day for a long time, and many of the people I've helped throughout the years have told me that they felt like that for a long time as well.
When every day feels the same, we start to feel an itch.
Perhaps you’ve felt or are currently feeling like this. We know something is off, but we can’t quite put our finger on it. This, too, can be very overwhelming. I remember spending sleepless nights imagining an alternative life where I was happy and successful, where I wasn’t afraid of making mistakes or making bold moves, where every day would be exciting and new. But every morning, I would go back to doing the same thing. I knew what I had, but I didn’t know if what I wanted would even be possible for me.
The thing about overwhelm is that it's a catch-all phrase. The visual I get when I hear the word is a big, tsunami-like wave that splashes over us. When we say we're overwhelmed, we don't see the forest through the trees anymore. It's not always because we have a burst of energy or inspiration and too many ideas. Overwhelm can also happen when we're afraid, anxious, stressed out, or overthinking. All of these feelings and states of being can and often will get in the way of what we want.
If you get overwhelmed, are afraid, or don’t know what to do at times, I’m sure you’ll know exactly what it means to “feel like there’s so much out there for you, but you don’t know where to start, how to get there, and you’re afraid it won’t work.” If this is you, don't worry, you're not alone. I've felt that way for a long time, as have many of my clients. That's precisely why I decided to write this article.
The tried & tested action steps I'm sharing below have helped hundreds of people to find clarity and a way forward in their careers, sometimes after feeling stuck for years. Maybe this is how you're feeling right now. Perhaps you've been thinking about a career change or what to do next for a while. If you have, I want you to know that there is a way out of this rut, that there is a creative, fun, fulfilling career waiting for you, and that this guide will help you get there.
How to get unstuck and move forward with your career
Change takes time, effort, and commitment. But I can tell you that if you keep reading and do the short exercises below, you will gain clarity and start thinking about things differently. That's precisely where we need to begin to help you get unstuck: change how you look at the problem in front of you.
STEP 1: Ask yourself what you can control regarding your career.
When talking about change, I always ask clients to share how difficult they find it to change. They reply by telling me that it's probably one of the hardest things they've ever had to do. I think it's true, don't you? When you've been stuck for a while, thinking about change can cause agony and despair. That's how hard it is (but it doesn't need to be, hence this ebook). But here's the thing. If it's so hard to change ourselves, how hard is it for us to try and change someone else? Still, we insist on trying. The boss that never listens to us, the co-worker who's always sloppy and never fills the coffee machine properly, the clients who know we're giving them our best but keep on nagging about something anyway. As strange as it may be, we've told all these people a million times how we want them to behave and treat us, and still they insist on ignoring us.
So what’s a better way to deal with this?
To get unstuck, you have to rethink the person you are to fit your dreams. And most importantly, you must take control of your career, allow yourself to dream your dreams, and believe that you can achieve them. Remember that you can control how you show up, work, and treat the people around you. But that's it. You cannot control other people, their reactions, or what they do. You also cannot control the economy, your boss, or the company you work for.
STEP 2: Get curious about your professional life.
The second step is to get curious. Yes, really! Curiosity breeds creativity and innovative thoughts, so it's time to start asking yourself questions that will help you see things differently and get unstuck.
Especially as multi-passionate creatives and entrepreneurs, we use our curiosity every day. We don't always use it to our advantage when it comes to our careers. Right now is the time for you to be limitless, to imagine your professional life as big and bold as you can imagine it because successful career change can happen for you if you let it.
As we've touched on in step one, it's about starting to see things differently and discover the options you have, not the ones you have confined yourself to. Remember that the answers to these questions might not come right away, and that's okay. Allow yourself the time to marinate on them and see what new ideas or options start to emerge.
STEP 3: Get creative about your career options.
The third step is to get creative about your career options. In my experience, one of the key reasons why we get stuck in our careers is overthinking. "I have all these career and business ideas, but I'm not sure which one to start first or what could even be successful!"
It's normal because our natural human tendency is to overthink before taking action. Almost everyone experiences this at least once when wondering about a career change or thinking about starting their own thing. When I get stuck on an important decision, I've learned to distract myself temporarily until the answer becomes obvious; less thinking + more doing = taking action.
When we get stuck, our momentum has been slowed down or dramatically stopped. The easiest way to get unstuck is to get back into some action where you are moving forward again, even if it's just taking one tiny step in the right direction. That's where creativity comes in: come up with some actions you can take. Remember that you can't go wrong with your answers and that it doesn't need to be an overnight insight. Creatively brainstorming about solutions can feel uncomfortable. Letting go are your fears and limiting beliefs is the first step to taking action on your creative career ideas. After all, this is your career we're talking about, and you deserve to spend time getting to know inside and out what could work for you.
STEP 4: Take inspired action on your career options.
The fourth step is to take inspired action on your career options. I say "inspired" because I want you to do something that feels good in your gut, even if it scares you. Inspired action always comes from a place of knowing and feeling that what you're doing is the right thing, even if it's not clear yet.
When we don't take inspired action, our career goals can feel more like obligations or duties instead of something that feels good to us. This is usually because we haven't taken the time to clarify what we want and why we want it. Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect and that you'll learn as you go. The most important thing is that you take action towards your career goal and don't give up.
STEP 5: Believe in yourself and your career dreams.
The fifth step is to believe in yourself and your career dreams. This might be the hardest step for some people because it means feeling confident even when we're not sure of what the future holds.
Making a career change can be scary, but it's also a fantastic opportunity to discover more about yourself and what you're truly capable of. We should continuously work towards career dreams and goals, even when we don't feel confident in them. The truth is that nobody knows everything, and that's okay.
Moreover, confidence - just like clarity - is something that you achieve by doing. The more you try things out, the more you learn about what works and doesn't work for you, and the more confident you become, especially in your capacity to grow and figure things out. That's why it's so important to move forward and think about your next step consistently. Remember that you’re capable of anything you put your mind to. Believe in yourself and the career dreams you have, and take action on them.
PS: This article is the short version of an eBook I wrote and that you can download for free here.
Feeling stuck in your career?
You're not alone. A lot of people feel stuck at some point in their careers. That's where I come in. I'm a career coach with almost a decade of experience helping creatives and entrepreneurs figure out their next steps.
Wouldn't it be great to have someone help you get unstuck? Someone who understands what you're going through and can help guide you to the next step? Well, that's what I do. And it's what I love to do. So let me help you get unstuck and on your way to the career of your dreams.
