Do you feel ‘stuck’? Five tips to kickstart your career transition

Are you ready to kickstart a career transition?

Do you feel stuck in life? Trapped by the bonds of responsibility that are bills, kids, loans, or the weighty expectations of others? Are you bored or unsatisfied in your current work, yet are too proud or too depressed to admit it?

Most of my clients feel this way.

This feeling can descend at any time of life: in college while switching majors; in mid-life after working for 10 or 15 years at a job; or at the end of a career, when a person may look for something different when going to work than he or she did in early stages.

Whatever their phase of career transition, all of my clients have wrestled with this ‘stuck’ feeling. They’ve all reached the point where they realize they can’t keep going the way they’re going, yet they don’t know where else they should go.

A wise teacher, Ti Harmony of the Loving Kindness Yoga School, recently told our class: Energy that moves feels good. Energy that is stagnant feels bad.

Another wise teacher, Susan Jeffers, wrote Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. In this seminal book, she presented the Pain to Power continuum: pain feels powerless and action feels powerful, so when you are in pain, the surest way to feel better is to take action.

Action creates empowerment. Power feels good.

So if you are feeling stuck and unsure of the next best move, here are a few quick actions you can take to get unstuck:

1. Start a daily journal writing habit: Make yourself write at least three pages, first thing every morning. You will begin to experience more flow in your life as a result. Ideas and thoughts will come to you during this time. Write them down. Do not edit them. This practice needs to be entirely unedited to be useful. This is your time of learning to listen to yourself without judgement. You will be surprised what you learn. For more, read this post.
2. Begin mandatory vigorous daily exercise: Get moving. You will feel better. You will look better. You are made of water. Stagnant water is unhealthy and harbors disease. Free flowing water is beautiful. You will also have ideas occur to you while exercising. Write them down as quickly as you can! These ideas come from your being in the ‘zone.’ They will work well for you.
3. Say ‘yes’ to new opportunities that come your way if they intrigue you: Life is full of unexpected twists and turns. The unlikeliest connections happen. If you have a sudden desire to join some club or team, or to audition for the local play, do it. Expand your life! You will make new friends, fire up new neurons, and may find new clients for your business or a new job along the way.
4. Make lists of your hopes and dreams: When you write things down, you are more likely to achieve them. The visible world is a reflection of what was once a dream. Every building or road you see was once an idea. So whatever you hope for and dream of: write it down. In all caps. Begin to really articulate your big dreams. Don’t censor yourself. You are here for a reason. What you are reaching for is calling you. It wouldn’t be called a ‘calling’ otherwise. So listen. What are your hopes and dreams? They are unique to you. Once you write them down, you will begin to focus attention and energy on them. Feel how good it feels to think of these things. Stay with feeling good about it. Feel this way — really good about your unique gifts and how you dream of contributing — at least 10 minutes a day.
5. Set goals and map out timelines: Once you realize there are things you really want to do, go ahead and map them out. Every journey is a series of steps. So whatever it is you want to do, sit down with a calendar and figure out the deadlines you will need to set for yourself to accomplish your goal. Hold yourself accountable by working with me or with a trusted friend on this together. Take 10 minutes to create a daily blueprint every night for yourself the following day. Put your goals and timeline on your fridge for regular reminders.

Do you have additional tips or pointers for how to stay motivated and move ahead in life?

Life is full of challenges and of moments of stagnation. It’s up to us to create the energy to keep things moving in a positive direction.