Your work should be motivating, gratifying and enjoyable. While there may be aspects of a job that do not play to your strengths, overall, your work should be challenging, rewarding and make you feel appreciated. Whether you have been in your chosen profession for three years or twenty-three years, you should consider a change if the passion for your career is no longer there. Sometimes, the job is not at the root of your dissatisfaction - it’s your career field and the kind of work you are doing. If you have reached the point where you feel your professional life has stagnated and you have nothing left to learn, or worse, you are burned out, it may be time to assess your interests and talents and move forward with a career change.



Beginning to Explore

Determining your next career move can prove challenging and is often the reason that people continue in a field they no longer find interesting. Coming to a decision about which new path to choose may feel like a leap of faith into unchartered territory but it does not have to be. Careful planning coupled with self-exploration and introspection can make an anxious leap seem more like a simple step. The idea is to find a new field that interests you and a job in that field that utilizes your strengths and talents. When you begin considering your next career, your day-to-day life and its everyday tasks can provide valuable clues to what might best suit you.

Everyday Tasks May Offer Insight

Thinking about what chores you like to do around the house can reveal valuable clues about what might bring you satisfaction on the job. The chore may pair nicely with skills you have refined in your current career and provide a hint at what your new profession could be.

For example, you may be responsible for grocery shopping and cooking at your house because you enjoy food. Consider how you could turn this interest into your next career. If you pair your interest in cooking with a talent for writing you could write restaurant reviews or author a book of recipes. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you could buy into a restaurant franchise, start a wedding cake baking and decoration business or create a line of homemade jams that you could market online or at your local farmer’s market. A passion for teaching and an interest in food could mean conducting instructional cooking classes for children or adults.

Perhaps you get a lot of satisfaction from paying the bills and managing your finances. – a career in financial services could be worth pursuing. Working as a branch manager at a financial institution would be a good way to use your management skills and pursue your interest in finance. A background in sales and an interest in investing could lead to a job as an investment consultant helping others evaluate their financial and investment portfolios and choose investments to meet their goals. If working with numbers and organizing complex financial portfolios interest you, consider a career in accounting. And when you are brainstorming about a career change, think as small or as big as you want. Accounting, for example, could be anything from a bookkeeper for a small business to working as chief financial officer evaluating financial statements and developing financial plans for a large company.

What Are Your Favorite Chores?

You may not want to make a specific chore your next career choice, but aspects of that task can tell you a lot about yourself.

Is your home office well-organized? Do you get a feeling of satisfaction from filing but don’t want to become a file clerk? This may indicate that you like order, structure and organization. In your next profession you may want to consider a management role or work as a project manager where you bring people together and organize resources, people and timelines in order to complete a project.

Raking the yard may not lead to work as a groundskeeper, but perhaps the solitude of the working or being outdoors brings you joy. Perhaps you spend a few hours each weekend doing home repairs or working on a car - the physical labor may drive you or maybe it is the challenge of assessing and fixing a problem. By focusing on what makes the chore enjoyable, you can learn more about yourself and decide on the key elements of a new and satisfying career.

Your Next Career is a Brainstorm Away

A career change can be exciting, especially when you are looking forward to the challenge. By thinking about the chores you find pleasurable, you may begin to see clues to your next career move. And by considering the characteristics that draw you to those chores, you can learn what type of work might suit you within that field. The most pleasant aspects of your daily routine are an excellent place to start brainstorming to find your next successful career path.