Stressed, Miserable & Frustrated: How To Claw Your Way Out Of A Career Rut

Do you feel stuck or frustrated when it comes to your job? Do you wake up every morning dreading the day ahead? Do you feel like you should be further along in your career or more successful than you currently are? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

The sad thing is that in this day and age, there are millions of employees who feel like they’re stuck in a rut with regards to their jobs. Career ruts are the worst because they leave you feeling drained, uninterested and confused. Even if you once loved your job, a career rut can completely kill any remaining passion that you have for your chosen profession.

So how do you claw your way back out of a particularly bad rut and start loving your job again? Here are a few tips that might be able to help you put things into perspective.

No matter how stuck or frustrated you feel, you're not alone

Look to the future: Disregard your job for a few minutes and think about your life. Where would you like to be career-wise in five years’ time? Write down what your ultimate goal is, whether it’s ‘successful blogger’ or ‘partner in my firm’ whatever it is, put pen to paper.

Then ask yourself the question: does your current job help you or hinder you when it comes to reaching this goal?

Writing down your goal helps you to figure out where you’re going and can help you to identify why you feel stuck. When you look at things from this perspective you could realise that the reason why you’re unhappy is because you’re in a job that isn’t helping your progress.

Career experts recommend keeping your final goal somewhere that you’ll see it every single day. Remind yourself of where you want to be and commit yourself to getting there.

Figure out what’s stopping you: Make a (private!) list of the things that are bugging you about your current job. Next organise them into three different categories: those within your control, the things you can change and the things that you can’t.

Put a big slash through the things that you can’t change because these are out of your control completely and not worth worrying about. Instead focus on the things that you can change and figure out how you can improve your situation. This will help you to feel more positive about your situation.

Sometimes all you need is a new perspective

Try something new: If your current job really doesn’t make you happy or isn’t helping you to get to where you want to be, why not try something else? We know the economy is hard and we’re definitely not advising you to up and quit your job completely, but why not try something on the side?

For example, if you’ve always loved blogging you could set up your own blog and work on it during the weekends. Or if you’ve always wanted to become a beauty therapist you could take night classes. Find out what other career you could be suited to and dive in.

Try to remain as positive as possible: Do you hate your boss? Hate your colleagues? Hate the way the company is run? The more you focus on the negatives of your job, the more you will respond negatively in your behaviour and the more frustrated and unhappy you’ll feel.

Try counting the blessings in your own life on a daily basis. This will help to put you in a better mood and help you cope better with your working environment. Remember, opportunities to move on come when we least expect them and you never know what tomorrow could bring.