We’ve all felt it. The feeling of dread when Sunday evening rolls around. Not wanting to get out of bed on Monday morning, hitting the snooze button several times in the hope to avoid having to get back to “reality”. Or being at work and simply feeling unable to motivate yourself to do the tasks you used to relish, instead you find yourself just phoning it in.
There are ways to learn to love your job, ormaybe it’s just time for a holiday, but sometimes it’s simply time to change things up. Research shows that nearly 75% of US workers in their thirties want to change their job or career. Sometimes things have gotten so bad that you need to make a large-scale change in your life. Or it may be that there is nothing inherently wrong with your work situation, but your career is no longer fulfilling you intellectually, emotionally or spiritually.
So how do you know whether you’re simply suffering from the Monday blues, or if its time to make a comprehensive career change? Take a look at these top 6 signs.
1. You Want to Make an Impact
If you find yourself driven be a desire to do something with your working time which is about more than simply pushing paperclips and making money, you’re not alone. Surveys repeatedly show that a majority of people, particularly milennials, want a career with meaning, where they feel they’re making a difference to the world. If you consistently find yourself looking for more than it may be time to find a job which allows you to make a real contribution. This doesn’t necessarily mean becoming Mother Theresa and giving up your worldly possession to help orphans: there are plenty of careers which make a difference from sustainable products and enterprises to scientific research, and plenty of different kinds of roles across all these areas.
2. Your Career Doesn’t Let You Focus on the Things that Really Matter
Particularly as you get older, you’ll probably find yourself honing in on the things which really matter to you. These will be different for everyone, and may change over time. However, whether this is a family, relationships, travel, or something else, if your career doesn’t allow you to pursue the things which are most important to you in your life, this is somewhere that you are not supposed to be. As a start, take a step back and assess the things which are most important to you in the long term. Then, decide whether your current career is suitable to accommodate these, and if not, what career change you need to make in order to make this happen.
3. You Truly Dread Going to Work
Sure, most of us don’t love going to work. In fact, figures show that around 40% of workers have called in sick in the last 12 months because they simply didn’t want to go to work. However there is a difference between hating Mondays and truly dreading going to work. If you have genuine feelings of distress, anxiety or depression every time you embark on your daily commute, this is a sign that something deeper is wrong and it may be time to consider a complete career change.
4. You’ve Outgrown Your Career
It may be that you own felt challenged and satisfied in your career, with something new to learn every day, but that feeling has long since passed. It could be that your employer is unwilling or unable to facilitate your professional development, or that you’ve simply hit the limit of growth within your field. Either way, if you are no longer learning new skills and developing on a professional level it could be that the best option is to pursue something completely new. After all, there is no better way to learn something new than to throw yourself in a complete new direction!
5. Your Health is Suffering
Often emotional factors such as stress, depression and general dissatisfaction manifest in physical effects. This could be lethargy, aches and pains, headaches, or even gastrointestinal problems. It could also mean your immune defences are lowered, meaning you get sick more often. The causes of these problems could come from various aspects of your life such as relationship or family problems, but often issues with your career are the cause. After all, we spend a significant part of our time at work, and this impacts greatly on our lives. Therefore, if you find your health suffering due to your emotional state, consider if your career is to blame. If so, it is surely time for a change: nothing is more important than your health!
6. You Have Career FOMO
FOMO, or “fear of missing out” is real. It’s that feeling when you see what someone else is doing or something someone else has, and wish it were yours. Although this can be a toxic feeling when fuelled by social media and jealousy, it can also be a useful barometer as to how you are feeling, especially when it comes to your career. If you find yourself jealous of others’ jobs or careers, ask yourself: what is it about that person’s career that I envy? What would I like to have in my own career that they have? From there you can work out how to get to where you secretly want to be.
