If you’re reading this, chances are you aren’t very happy at work, and you’re feeling stuck or lost.

You know this situation isn’t sustainable, and you know you need to make a change. But where do you start? That’s the tricky bit…

Watch the video below to learn three of the biggest mistakes you can make if you’re feeling stuck, lost, and unhappy at work. I’ll also share what you should be doing instead.

Prefer to read? Scroll down for the transcipt.

Hey, it’s Iris, helping you to find your passion, and make it your work. In today’s video, I want to talk about some of the biggest mistakes you can make when you are feeling stuck, and I’ll tell you what to do instead.

But before I do that, as always, if you like this video, please leave a like. It tells me exactly what kind of content you’re into, so I can then go and create more videos around a topic. And if you have watched my other videos, and you liked my vibe, as well as the content I’m sharing with you, then subscribe to my channel by hitting that subscribe button and the bell next to it, so you get a notification every time I post a new video. 

All right, let’s get to it.

Are you feeling stuck in your career? Feel lost career-wise?

Most of us feel stuck at some point in our lives. And that’s okay if it lingers around for just a little while, but if it sticks around for a longer time, then it gets problematic. 

If you’ve been feeling stuck or feeling trapped for months, then you know something needs to change.

I would describe feeling stuck as, often, a lack of clarity, like a thick fog that’s covering you. You’re likely not sure what you want, or what you should do next.

And you might feel deflated, unmotivated, maybe even frustrated, or anxious.

Now, it often happens, feeling trapped or feeling stuck, when the daily toll of life and work zaps you of your energy and your time, and it leaves you feeling stuck in the same old. 

Things don’t feel right yet, you don’t know how to get out of it. 

Feeling stuck in your career: don’t “think about it”

If any of that sounds familiar, the first big fat mistake that you can make is “think about it”.

Now, what I’ve noticed is that people, when they feel stuck, they often tell themselves, “Oh, I just need a bit more time to think about it.” 

But here’s the thing: you didn’t just wake up one morning and realise, “Oh gosh, I’m stuck.” No, this is something that’s been going on for quite a while. And you’ve probably already thought about it to some extent, and more thinking doesn’t help.

In fact, more thinking often leads to over-thinking and over-analysing things. 

And what I’ve seen with the people I’ve worked with is that so often, the clarity that they so desperately wants comes from action, not more thinking and not more analysing things. 

It’s so much more effective to go into action, and learn from what you’re doing. 

So that’s big mistake number one.

Feeling stuck in your career: don’t “wait for inspiration to hit”

Big mistake number two is to wait for inspiration to hit. 

Inspiration comes and goes in waves. And it’s not something that you can force. 

Yes, of course, sometimes it hits you when you’re in the shower, but more often than not, what I’ve seen at least, is that it comes from action.

It comes from doing. 

It comes from interaction with others, from hearing a story that ignites something in you, or reading something that sparks your imagination, or it comes from seeing how other people do things. 

So don’t wait for inspiration to hit. Go out into the real world and take note of what’s going on around you. Take note of what you’re hearing, seeing, and reading. 

Take it all in.

Feeling stuck in your career: don’t make a pros & cons list

All right, big fat mistake number three is to make a pros and cons list. 

Now, people often choose to make a pros and cons list to help them figure out what they should do next. 

And it can be very helpful, if you have two clear options to choose between.

However…

A pros and cons list is not as helpful if there might be a gazillion options on the table, or if your head is covered in that thick, thick fog. 

In that case, it can often lead to over-thinking, over-analysing. 

It’s often more confusing to make a pros and cons list, because a pros and cons list assumes that you have those two, maybe three, clear options that you need to choose between. It assumes that you already have some of the answers. 

Now, if that were the case, you might have already made up your mind and you wouldn’t feel stuck or trapped! 

So making a pros and cons lists can be very helpful, but in this case, it will often lead to over-thinking, over-analysing and more confusion.

All right, so those were the three big fat mistakes that you can make when you are feeling stuck. 

Feeling stuck in your career? What you should do….

Here’s what you should do instead! Number one: take action. 

At first, it honestly doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s something that just brings you a tiny, tiny bit closer to where you want to be.

So for example, that could be speaking with someone who is doing what you’d like to be doing, or you could sign up for a course to learn more about that topic that you’re interested in, or to build a skill. 

Or you could go to an event to get to know people who work in a field that you’re interested in and learn from them. 

Or you could start a blog or vlog, your own Instagram account to document your journey or share your knowledge.

Tip number two: get out of the rut, and break your routine. 

Do things that energise you, that lift your spirit, that make you feel productive, inspired, or good in any other way.

So for example, go out during your lunch break, go out for a walk instead of eating your lunch at your desk, commit to your yoga practice or workouts, enroll in a drawing class or a dance class, take a music lesson just for the fun of it, just because you enjoy it and to get out of your head. 

Or instead of turning on the TV as soon as you’ve finished work for the day, go for a walk or read one chapter of a book. 

Break that routine, get out of a rut.

Tip number three: stop figuring it out all on your own. 

Speak or work with someone who could help you, because sometimes we don’t see what we could do differently, and we need someone else to point it out to us. 

Or get inspired by other people who are on the same journey as you, for example, by joining Facebook groups about that thing that you’re interested in or that thing that you’d like to do, and then get engaged in the conversations that are happening over there.

Right, that’s all I had for you today. Thank you so much for watching. 

Let me know in the comments which big fat mistake you’ve been making and what you’re going to do about it.

Now, if you’ve watched it up until here, then you must have liked it, so leave a like. 

And if you’ve watched some of my videos and you’re liking what you’re seeing, then hit that subscribe button and the bell next to it, so you get a notification as soon as I post a new video. 

Thank you. And I’ll see you again next week. Bye.

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