Top Tips to Get Out of a Career Rut

Anyone can get into a career rut, whether they are performing the job that they have always dreamed about or whether they believe that they have not progressed in their career for many years. However, rather than believing that you are stuck in the same place forever, there are many ways that you can get out of your rut and find a new passion in your work. So then, here are some of the top steps that you can take to move your career on and to ensure that every day at work holds meaning for you. 

1. Get a Graduate Degree

If you are struggling to get a promotion or find a job in the field of work that you are desperate to break into, it is important to consider the gaps on your resume, which might be leaving you unable to meet your career goals. You should then consider ways that you can fill these gaps and be desirable to potential employers. For instance, many people do not have the right qualifications and so will need a graduate degree to progress. 

Not only this but taking a graduate degree can help you to get out of your career rut as it can open doors for you and allow you to obtain knowledge that you have not previously had. In addition, focusing on the skills required to do your job can also remind you of why you wanted the position in the first place. 

Then, you should consider opting for a graduate degree that can prepare you for the workplace’s practicalities and help you progress, even if you had once believed that there were no more steps to take on your career path. For many people who are mid-way through their career, taking an online degree is the best option as it can allow you to study without disrupting your lifestyle. For instance, studying at Texas Woman’s University on one of their many Texas Woman’s University’s Online Nursing Programs can help you to get all of the real-world insight and the qualifications that you need to be noticed by employers and to get a promotion. 

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2. Work for a Different Company 

Although you might feel passionate about your industry and the job role you perform, you may be in a career rut because you feel unfulfilled at the company you work for, or you think that the grass might be greener elsewhere. Not only this, but many people struggle in their workplaces due to poor management, problems with their colleagues, or conflict with the values of your corporation, as well as unsociable working hours and a lack of benefits. Although many people stay at a single company for many years out of fear of taking risks, you should not be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone and search around for job openings that you are interested in. 

Working for a different company can allow you to get a wholly different experience of your sector and can allow you to refresh your ideas and your energy reserves. Other companies might have better progression opportunities, might allow you to contribute your ideas more often, might have positive working environments and company cultures, and might be filled with new concepts that can help to keep you engaged. However, if the salary of this new position is lower, you will need to decide whether you can afford to earn a smaller amount of money each month and whether this is worth the move.  

If you do not want to change your job completely, you should consider looking for a promotion or simply volunteering to work on more engaging projects that are out of the usual sphere of your job position. This will help to ensure that you never feel unchallenged by your work and that you are kept on your toes every single day of the week. Then, if you want to get a promotion or lead a new project, you should speak to your manager about this. They are unlikely to think of you for certain positions unless you make it known that you would be interested in them. 

3. Consider Changing Careers

However, if you feel as if you are stuck in a career rut, you might be sick of your career altogether and believe that you have got everything out of your career that it is possible to get. People change throughout their lives, and this means that their ideas about their careers can change with them. If you no longer feel as if you are finding meaning in your current career path, or if you have started to find that it no longer interests you, you should consider changing careers. You should especially consider this if a different career path has caught your eye. 

Committing to a career change is not as difficult as you may first have thought. To make sure that your career change goes smoothly, you should first research the potential options that you can decide upon as well as the demand for these. Next, you should note down all of your transferrable skills and consider different roles within your industry before looking at jobs in other sectors. You should then consider volunteering or getting experience in your chosen role. You may also need to obtain certain qualifications to ensure that you have the high level and specialized knowledge that is essential to some jobs. Once you have done this, you can start to look for the best jobs out there through the usual channels, such as job websites like Indeed. 

4. Go Back to the Beginning 

If you are upset about how your everyday working life has drained your passion for your job, you should consider going back to the beginning. This will help you find out what drew you to your job in the first place and why you decided to pursue it as a career. Some of the best ways to return to the beginning include looking at any notes that you made about your career at the time. You could also consider writing down why you have the job role you have and saving this to refer to when you feel disheartened. You could also consider taking short courses or watching online videos that can help to spark your imagination and help you to learn new and modern information about your industry. You can then apply this to your job at a later date. Lastly, you might decide to speak to clients that you have helped in the past, especially if you have a customer-facing job, as this can allow you to see how your job has positively impacted others.

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5. Create New Goals and a Vision

To drag yourself out of your career rut, you need something to aim toward. This can help you to spur yourself on and give yourself the motivation that you need to excel. It can be easy to grow indifferent about your job when you feel directionless, and so you must set goals that can allow you to work toward a certain point. Some of the top goals to set when you are trying to help yourself out of a career rut include getting a promotion or a certain reward, meeting certain project targets or deadlines, or becoming more knowledgeable about your chosen profession. Once you have set these goals, you should dedicate a portion of your time every week to this goal to make sure that you are working on it regularly. 

Having a vision of the future of your career goes hand in hand with setting goals, though. Giving yourself time to create a vision of where you want to be career-wise in five or ten years can give you the chance to be honest with yourself and to find out what you want, even if you have never admitted this to yourself before. You can then hold onto your vision when times get tough at work, ensuring that you are always hopeful about the future of your career and that you can carry on aiming high no matter what happens. 

6. Make Connections with Co-Workers 

Although you might previously have seen your co-workers simply as the people that you work with, or even as distractions from your own work, if you are in a career rut, you should consider making connections with some of your colleagues. Your co-workers can help you develop your ideas, and you are also more likely to think up new ideas and concepts when collaborating with someone else. 

In addition to this, being friendly with your co-workers can simply help you enjoy your job more and stop thinking of your job as a chore. If you are happy at your job, you are more likely to stay engaged and to succeed. So then, working to make connections with your co-workers can help you to get out of your career rut by ensuring that you are more satisfied with the job role that you currently have. 

7. Take Some Time Off 

Although you might believe that the key to success in your career is to work as much as possible, this is not the case. Instead, overworking can lead to burnout. This burnout can then leave you in a career rut. Then, if you are in a career rut, you should think about taking some time off. Not only can time off give you the chance to refresh and recharge your batteries, but it can also allow you to step back and re-evaluate what you want out of your career. 

You do not have to quit your job completely to take time off, though. Many employers offer the opportunity of sabbaticals. These sabbaticals can be used to carry out research and secondary projects, as long as you take your knowledge and skills back to your company afterwards. Then, sabbaticals can be a great way to focus on subjects that are important to you for a little while, allowing you to remember the elements of your industry that you love while helping you to expand your knowledge and expertise in your field. This can help you to return to work even more ready to excel in your career than ever before. 

When you do return to work, you should make sure that you have a better work/life balance. This can stop you from feeling unhappy in your job again and can ensure that you stay refreshed and ready to work toward your goals. Not only this, but you might be able to work on secondary projects in your time off that can contribute to the future of your career. 

Also Read: 5 Ways to Enhance Your Teaching Career

8. Get Inspired Again 

When you are in a career rut, most of the time, this is because you have stopped being inspired by your job. If this is the case, then you need to try and reignite your imagination, your drive to succeed and your desire to help the evolution of your industry. One of the best ways to get inspired is to attend conferences and talks within your industry that are run by some of the top professionals or up-and-coming experts who can help you to re-evaluate your views of your industry and to keep up with the way that it is changing. You should also consider attending networking groups where you can speak to other people in your industry and find out what they are doing to move your sector forward, as well as to bounce ideas off them. 

It would be best if you also considered finding a mentor. Mentors can help you to get out of a career rut by giving you advice about the next steps to take and even by relaying times when they felt as if they were ready to give up on your career themselves. They can also give you information about job opportunities, and some may even act as investors and fund any projects that you are interested in completing. This can then help you to see the bigger picture.