From the course: Making a Career Change

Exploring reasons to leave your job

From the course: Making a Career Change

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Exploring reasons to leave your job

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- I've heard it said that we spend more time planning our vacations than we do planning our careers. And while I don't know how true that is from the high numbers of professionals who are struggling with changing careers, I've started to believe it. If you fell into your current career with no real guidance or forethought, there's a reason you find yourself stuck and frustrated. But the good news is it's not too late to do something about it. Well, let's start by answering the question, why? Why do you want to change careers? What's the driving force behind your desire to make a change? I get it. Why is a loaded question? It forces you to dig deep and come up with a meaningful answer. But right now it's just me and you. Your reason doesn't have to be meaningful or life-altering or even positive. You just need to know what it is. You need to know why you're doing something so you can create a plan. When you have a plan then you can follow through and accomplish your goal. Your why, may consist of a nagging feeling that you need to accomplish something specific or a passion for something that's never been fulfilled, or you may be feeling the opposite. You may feel that you need to get away from a particular type of role or career but you may not have an idea of what you would like to move towards. This can leave you feeling stuck. If you want to stop settling for an okay job, and you want more then you're going to have to do the hard work of identifying the ways your career is not working for you now and allow yourself to picture a brighter future. Start by acknowledging your feelings. Embrace them. Think about what triggers those feelings and when. Only then can you begin to understand your feelings and deal with them? It's also worth noting that not everyone around you will embrace your idea of making a change. Is your why strong enough to withstand that type of scrutiny. Only time will tell, but for now, progress is knowing that something has to change and figuring out why.

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