While you feel stuck, Wulfhart suggested, it can help to find a hobby unrelated to your job, like pottery, a book club or crafting, that you enjoy doing. Nurturing a new passion can help you see what you have been missing at your job.
“When you find something that you’re actually really hyped and passionate about, then it kind of puts the rest of your life into perspective,” she said. “You’re like, ‘Oh, this is actually what it looks like to really enjoy the thing that I do. Like, why am I putting up with less at my actual job?’”
Network to find out what would be a better fit.
People often stay in job plateaus because of their fear of the unknown. Deep down, you may know you need to quit, but you’re afraid of ending up in a job that is worse than what you have.
Doing informational interviews with people in other jobs you’re interested in can dispel those anxieties and give you the encouragement you need to take action. With informational interviews, you will also learn what responsibilities you can do at your current job to look like a better candidate for positions you actually want, Orbé-Austin said.
You want to take these responsibilities “strategically, so they can be helping you get to the next place you want to go,” Orbé-Austin said. “But you’ve got to know the place first before you start doing that.”
Don’t give up.
Ultimately, getting out of a job plateau and finding a more rewarding opportunity can be tough, hard work, which is why so many of us simply stay put.
Wulfhart said our brains can trick us “into thinking like, ‘Oh, everything’s fine. You can just stay here,’ just because looking for jobs is so miserable. Changing jobs is scary.”
But if you’re up for the challenge, facing your plateau head-on can help you finally decide whether it’s time to move on. And that kind of peace of mind is priceless.
When you’re wrestling with a big decision, “taking action is 99.9% of the time better than not taking action,” Wulfhart said.
This post originally appeared on HuffPost.
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