Signs you need a change…now
Have you ever thought you needed to make a change at work, but put it off…only to find that on the other side of that thought of change, exhaustion and immobility was waiting for you?
Contrary to popular belief, the main reason you put off making a change isn’t fear. It’s actually because we don’t understand the early signals for change and just how important they are at stopping us from feeling that fear in the first place.
It’s an unfortunate truth that we often don’t recognise it’s time for a change in our work situation early enough to help us make change successfully.
Once we hit the point of exhaustion, it’s so much harder to make the change we want to achieve. Exhaustion has the terrible habit of seeping beyond work and getting deep into every part of your life and affecting everything, making you frozen in place and unable to find your way out to the other side.
But what if you were aware of how to avoid this from happening to you? How might that new awareness be life-changing for you? What might you be able to achieve if you could just recognise the early signals for change, rather than let them pass by?
Knowing these early signals and understanding when you need to make a change in your work situation means you avoid that risk of staying stuck…and instead set yourself up to make a successful change and discover greater fulfillment in your work.
So why don’t you recognise these early signals when you need to? There are two reasons:
Cultural messaging: attributes like resilience, grit and determination have been elevated to the point that we’ve been conditioned to push through difficulties, thinking good things will always be on the other side of the pain, if only we persist.
Simplicity: the early signals are so simple and so intuitive that we brush them aside, rationalising them as unimportant and meaningless.
So, to recognise these early indicators you must first be able to:
Accept that sometimes pushing through difficulties leads only to more of the same - there’s not alway a rainbow of achievement at the other end of the challenge
Be open to simplicity and the likelihood of meaning in small things
There are many early signals, but let’s take a look at those you can most easily recognise.
Paying attention to when you have these thoughts, feelings and experiences means you can decide whether, on balance you can answer YES to the following question.
Are you able to be your best self MOST of the time?
When your answer to this is ‘No’, then it’s time for you to make a change.
That’s not a suggestion either - it’s a must. You MUST make a change, and sooner rather than later, if you want to avoid being too afraid to move and making any change that much harder to achieve. And remember, the change you make must also be to your work situation.
Don’t make changes to your personal life to make your working life easier - that’s simply the wrong way around.
So how do you know what to change? Here’s three perspectives for considering your way forward.
Do you need to change your location?
Will you benefit most from a new workplace or even a new area in your current workplace? Continue in the same type of role, but with a change of scenery and working with new people. This is often considered the easiest form of change and is the most common.Do you need to change your role?
Will you benefit most from staying in your same organisation or industry, but doing something different from your current role? This could be career progression, pursuing the ‘logical next step’ in seniority; or ‘side-stepping’ into a role where your skills are transferable but you don’t necessarily move upward.Do you need to change your career?
Will you benefit most from doing something that’s really different - both in terms of your role and the industry you work in. This often has a ‘start from scratch’ narrative, making it seem the riskiest form of change.
The use of ‘benefit most’ is deliberate here; I’m not advocating for small improvements in the quality of your work experience (and therefore experience of life), but rather large improvements that make a significant difference to how you think and feel about yourself and your circumstances.
If these early signals are showing up in your life, step off the path that leads to stagnation and exhaustion. Instead, take that fork in the road and follow that path towards your fulfillment.
If you see these signs of change in your own daily experience, don’t let them fester until you burnout. If you’re ready to make a change but now sure what that looks like for you, reach out and book a chat to discuss whether coaching might be the right path forward for you. (button or link to meeting booking)
If you want more tips and information on how to explore your own authentic career, consider subscribing to the Pathfinder newsletter (link)
