When To Make That Work Change

Whether you’re working in a job that doesn’t inspire you or you’ve been furloughed from a job that doesn’t feel rewarding at all, this can be a time of great reflection on your career, your future, and what your path forward can look like.

There are many reasons to stay with a certain career. For one thing, many workers have their health insurance (and their family’s health insurance!) tied to their jobs. Losing that alone can be reason enough to scare you into staying. Many employees stay with jobs that don’t fulfill them for security and comfort reasons. Maybe the job pays well. Maybe you’ve been working there for half a decade. Maybe you like your coworkers, your commute, the sandwich place down the block, and the list goes on...

But, maybe your path could look completely different. Here are common reasons that people finally make that leap from a career they don’t love to one that fulfils and inspires them:

Expectations vs Reality

In one way or another, we have all been fed this narrative of striving for this one very specific goal. It might be getting that C-level position at a certain company. Once you get there, how is it? Maybe it’s not so great. Your paycheck might look ideal and your LinkedIn header might be looking fabulous, but how is your day to day?

When navigating your career, pay attention to your values, as we touched upon above.

Yes, a better salary makes paying a mortgage more comfortable.

Yes, a shorter commute uses less gas and mileage.

Yes, it would be lovely to take meetings in a corner office.

However, your long-term happiness and health are of the utmost importance in a job. Make sure that your quest for “the job” isn’t about a title and a paycheck. Make sure it includes all of the small details that make a job rewarding.

Workplace Burnout

Workplace burnout is real. Burnout doesn’t always look like a harried doctor working 100+ hours a week. It doesn’t always look like a caseworker with stacks and stacks of paper on their desk.

Under-challenged burnout is a type of burnout that occurs when an employee is under-challenged and downright bored at work. With no rewards, accomplishments, or goals in place, under-challenged employees can find themselves in a lowered mood with extremely low levels of satisfaction.

While we always think of frenetic burnout when talking about burnout, under-challenged burnout is likely the more insidious and common type of burnout. With this type of burnout, you’re spending 40, 50, or 60 hours a week in a room doing something that doesn’t feel inspired, offers close to no rewards, and might be draining the life out of you.

This kind of burnout can be tough to root out. Sure, we all have uninspired weeks at work. We all how low quarters, slow seasons, and parts of our job that feel tedious or repetitive.

If you’re feeling consistently under-challenged and uninspired, take steps to identify what you love to do. What brings you joy in your free time? Is there a way to infuse that into your current position or is it time to reroute your path?

Suffering Health

If your job is having an impact on your health, it’s time to pivot.

Here are a few signs that your job might be deteriorating your health:

• Sleep Problems: Sleep is a big one—and it’s often the first sign that things aren't going well. Everybody has a restless night once in a while—in the face of a big deadline or a stressful meeting. However, when your sleepless nights are becoming the norm, your job is entering an unhealthy phase.

• Achiness: Headaches, stomach aches, body aches, and more. When your job is a constant stressor, your body is likely to respond. In a stressful environment, your brain may flood your system with adrenaline and other stress hormones to cause aches and pains throughout your body.

• Mental health. Increased stress can worsen existing mental problems. One study linked work stress to various health complaints like overeating and depression. When employees feel they are being treated unfairly due to the core of who they are, it’s an attack on their core dignity.

• Susceptibility to Illness. Studies have linked stress to compromised immune systems. If you find yourself repeatedly getting sick, ask yourself how your job might be contributing to that.

Here’s the good news, though! While transitioning into a new career can be daunting, you likely have some (or many!) of the skills you need in place to do it. Reach out to experts, go on a “listening tour”, take courses on the skills you know you’ll need, and gain your experience.

These are all things you can do while maintaining your original job. When you regard a career transition as a “side hustle in action” you can actually take the steps to build on your new career before actually making the move.