When the career fits and you do not
There is a particular kind of stuck that gets very little sympathy: the good job you no longer want. Nothing is wrong. That is the whole problem.
When something is broken, leaving is easy to justify. When it is merely finished, you have to justify it on the strength of your own preference — and most people were never given permission to treat their preference as sufficient reason.
The identity lag
Careers are built for a version of you that existed when you chose them. That version was usually younger, more frightened, and optimising for something you have since achieved. The role kept performing. You changed. Nobody sent a notice.
You are not ungrateful. You are five years past the decision that got you here.
Before you jump
- Separate the work from the conditions — often only one of them has gone stale.
- Name what you would miss. If the list is long, this may be a redesign rather than an exit.
- Test the next thing in miniature before you resign to it.
- Give the decision a deadline. Open-ended deliberation is just a slower way of staying.
Most people I work with do not need a dramatic change. They need one honest conversation with a person who is not on the payroll, and then about four months of unspectacular follow-through.
Written by Aarav Sharma. If this landed, the coaching programs are where it gets applied to your specific situation.
