Stumbling Blocks In Your Career (And How To Avoid Them)

Your job should be more than just the thing that allows you to keep the roof over your head. Even if you earn a decent enough wage to be able to live it up over the weekend, good money is never adequate compensation for a bad job. Your career should give you a deeper sense of fulfillment. It should give you a sense of purpose, confidence and mastery. And if you’re not getting that, no amount of material possessions or status symbols like nice cars or expensive watches will bring you happiness. All you’ll do is keep amassing material objects that eventually become clutter. And you’ll spend your weekends trying to buy fulfillment at the mall.

If you feel like your career isn’t offering you the sense of challenge and reward that you deserve, it’s time to identify the reasons why, and take appropriate action.

Bad Bosses

There are lots of kinds of bad boss out there. From the ones who can never remember your name (much less your skills and experience), to the ones who think it’s still okay to perpetuate crass gender stereotypes in the workplace, to the ones who actively try to belittle you and make you feel less empowered and autonomous at work. The good news is that there are lots of ways to deal with bad bosses. From going over their heads to trying to empathize and communicate with them to shrugging off their behavior and making your own leadership decisions. Or even taking your skills and experience elsewhere. One thing’s for sure, a bad boss can only derail your career if you allow them to.

No Good Jobs In Your Chosen Field

If you’re unhappy and frustrated in your job, it can be seriously disheartening if you don’t see any better offers every time you search all the usual job sites. Just make sure you’re looking in all the right places. Of course, you should be looking for opportunities in trade-specific sites, like Practice Match for the healthcare industry. But don’t assume that you don’t still find great jobs on sites like Monster. Here are some great underrated job search tools.

You’re Getting A Bit Too Comfortable

There’s comfort in familiarity, but it can also become a breeding ground for complacency. If you’ve been doing the same job the same way for years, it’s easy to fall into familiar patterns and habits until you’re effectively sleepwalking through your working days.

Your employer should be actively trying to prevent this by offering ongoing training and professional development. If you feel like you’re stagnating at work, you might want to have a talk with your boss about what you can do about it.

You Don’t Believe In Yourself

Finally, you can’t achieve your career goals or your life’s dreams if you don’t believe in yourself. Yes, the job market is competitive right now. Yes, there are other people vying for the same opportunities as you. But if you start to doubt yourself, take a look back over all that you’ve accomplished. Think about all the moments where you’ve been at your best professionally. And ask yourself honestly, what do you need to do to recapture that confidence, zeal and self-belief?