Spring Clean Your Career with a Pivot
Springtime is often a time when people start reevaluating their careers. We are already a couple months into the New Year and you can see (or not see) progress. Here at PositivityChange.com, we aim to supply you, the reader, with all of your needs to help you manifest positive change in your personal and professional lives. Let’s start with a definition. A pivot is a change in direction. After a couple of months, some people are feeling stuck in their job. This year is starting to look like last year. You want change; however, in order to change, you must do something different. So viola! This March we are starting a spring cleaning career pivot series. This series will cover the top 20 things related to why you are considering a career pivot. This series will be 4 parts. This first article covers first five career pivoting reasons.
- The passion is gone
- Sunday nights fill you with dread
- You’re counting the years, months and days until retirement
- You’re going nowhere
- Everyone else is doing it
The average person does not know what career pivoting is. Yes, you are making money but your paycheck probably hasn’t kept pace with inflation. You admit that things aren’t the way they used to be at work. A couple of years ago, your salary would be sufficient to live and have some money left for play. Now it appears that inflation is taking all of your free money away.
Furthermore, your work environment has changed and not for the better. You are not alone in having a shrinking paycheck. This has hurt morale. People are dreading going to work. You cannot believe that there is a disconnect between what you read about your company in the papers versus what is actually happening in the workplace. Furthermore, you don’t understand why you and your colleagues’ paychecks are shrinking but upper management’s seem to be expanding. These are signs that you need a change.
I have included Inc magazine 20 ways to tell is you need a career pivot. These are 20 red flags for pivoting. This is an exhaustive list because career pivoting is not a minor undertaking. Your career impacts your life and deciding to move must be done carefully. Your personal life is funded by your job. These five things tell you that it is time to move on to someplace else where you can thrive personally and professionally.
The passion is gone
When you first started, this was your dream job. You awoke everyday with purpose and passion about your job. However, now the tables have turned and that passion has been extinguished. What once ignited you no longer did. You are now looking for challenges and more rewarding work.
Sunday nights fill you with dread
You know that you have a problem when you are giddy to leave the office on Friday yet dread Monday mornings. It is reported that the majority of heart attacks occur Sunday night because people fear returning to a job that they hate. If you are feeling this way, don’t kill yourself, decide to pivot.
You’re counting the years, months and days until retirement
Work shouldn’t be like prison. You are not serving a 30-year sentence. You can move freely to another position. If your job has become an environment where you are literally counting down the days until you qualify for retirement. You would be more productive spending your life somewhere which you can flourish and contribute in a great environment.
You’re going nowhere
Careers are all about upward mobility. Although you are producing great work and are highly professional, you have noticed that you are being bypassed for promotions. It is subtle occurring over years. At first you’ve thought that it is because of the new boss or administration; however, after years of happening you’ve reached the conclusion that you’ve been shut out. In addition, you notice that you are being excluded from meetings and other highly visible events. You’ve plateaued. Once you’ve realized that you are not going to receive any more promotions, then it is time to go and look for a new job.
Everyone else is doing it
If your work environment is that toxic that everyone is jumping ship during the first time an opportunity is presented, then you need to reevaluate your staying. There are many reasons for people abandoning your company: it is in a dying industry; it is under investigation; it is a toxic work environment; or there is no chance of promotion. Your career is more than just one job and if the reasons that I’ve mentioned are reflected in your company, then it is time to move on to another position.
Look forward to the next installment (6–10) reasons to career pivoting.
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Source:
http://www.inc.com/john-boitnott/burned-out-20-ways-to-tell-when-it-s-time-for-a-career-pivot.html
Originally published at positivitychange.com on March 4, 2017.
