How to change your career: Free Whiteboarding Exercise

Many people will experience a mid-career stagnation or slump.

It's a time when we become attuned to a growing sense that something's not quite right in our work, which can range from feelings of apathy towards work or restlessness, to lack of meaning, to outright anxiety or dread for the work we've either been doing for years or have just been promoted to do.

This midlife phase of career questioning can happen for many different reasons, but some causes include:

• When we have been doing the same thing for years and one day find ourselves bored and restless.
• When we find that our job responsibilities have shifted to something new that we don't find rewarding or meaningful.
• When we finally reach a big career goal, such as earning a dreamed-of title, status, or financial milestone we've been pursuing for years; after an initial period of elation we may start to wonder, "now what?" Or "I thought I'd be happier." Or "I'm not sure what's next for me…"
• When we face a big life change, either tragic, such as the death of a loved one or a personal health/wellbeing issue, or wonderful, like having a child.
• It can even happen when we find some space to think and reflect beyond work and our routines, such as during a vacation or a long weekend away from work.

However we come to this period of career question, the hallmark is that we begin to question and doubt whether what we are spending our 40-odd hours per week (or more) doing actually fulfills us, or is the right type of work for us.

At this point, taking some time to explore a career or job change may be one of the best things we can do.

While it may sound scary or overwhelming especially if we have become comfortable in the work we do, exploring doesn't mean you must leave your job.

Exploring is a very normal process throughout life, and exploring alternative jobs/careers is a healthy part of our career development, particularly in the mid-career stage where we have gained some experience and our pace of growth may start to slow down.

Even if after exploring you decide not to make a career change, this process can instill you with more confidence and a renewed appreciation for the fact that your current job is actually still the right one for you.

Or, you may realize that the job/company/industry is good, but a few changes would make your work great.

Here are 3 career exploration exercises to help guide your career exploration process.

These Miro whiteboarding exercises are specially designed to offer a set of guide rails to start exploring what could be next to mitigate the overwhelming sense of "where do I start?", while also giving you the space to reflect and get creative in considering what else you could do for work.

You can email me at CallMeGabeK[at]gmail.com to get access to the the exercises.

Exercise 1: Reflect

Exercise 2: Explore

Exercise 3: Refine

Feedback is welcome — good luck and have fun!

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