You are not alone if you’ve been trying for years to find your place in the professional world. It’s all too common to end up feeling stuck in a position you just know isn’t for you, leaving you yearning for a different and better work situation. So many of my coaching clients come for coaching because they feel lost and in need of ideas and support for what they can do to find the professional track and position that feels like home.

Sometimes when you feel stuck you might wonder why you should bother making a change, but being happy in your career is absolutely imperative. You’re spending a large portion of your life there, so you should feel like it is satisfying, fulfilling, meaningful, and exciting in equal measure. 

Here are 4 ways to find your place in the professional world. 

1. Get out of the stuck station.

When you feel stuck the best way to get unstuck is to move. Move your body to start. Move your breath with conscious deep and full breathing. Move your mind! Notice where your trains of thinking lead habitually in a negative direction and turn those trains around. Choose to think about all the wide open possibilities, the hope! Practice active attitude of gratitude by naming 3 things you can feel a sense of gratitude for whenever you feel stuck. Strive to stay flexible, keeping an open mind, looking out for opportunities, and getting comfortable with change. You need to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable if you’re going to free yourself up to explore different roles, different positions and different experiences as you seek to find your place in the professional world.  Here are some more actions you can take in this article.

2. Learn to listen To Your gut. . . or your heart.

Learn to quiet your mind (which can be misleading a lot of the time), and listen to your gut. Your gut (or is it your heart?) can be a huge indicator of whether a place, a person, an experience is the right fit for you as you are looking to find your place in the professional world.  Finding your own inner truth to guide you is like using an inner compass that allows you to feel for the truth of what your inner, higher Self knows is best for your professional and personal lives. Read more about this process here. 

3. Have interests and hobbies outside of the workplace.

Having hobbies and interests outside of the workplace can help you to expand your interests and skills. In turn, this can make you more desirable for future roles. You might take an art class and learn how to make potter on the wheel. Maybe you want to learn to speak Spanish fluently. Or perhaps you could learn a martial art like Aikido or Karate. Sometimes outside hobbies can be financially lucrative as well! For instance, if you’re in the UK as many of my coaching clients are, you could set up a demo account for trading before the real deal if you’re interested in learning about the CMC markets and other investments. If you’re in the US you might dabble in investing in penny stocks. This is something many professionals decide to do.

4. Connect with other professionals in other fields as well as your own. 

Finding and connecting with like-minded people in various industries is great networking, and it might help you develop a good idea of where you should really be whether it’s staying in your own industry or shifting into another field. A great way to do this is to attend professional conferences of all kinds. For example, I will be traveling to Phoenix to attend the annual Association for Play Therapy Conference this fall to connect with others who are passionate about all things related to play therapy. But I also attend conferences on subjects of online marketing, holistic lifestyle products, and others because it broadens my network and my knowledge-base. You might consider attending seminars and conferences on real estate, dentistry, or other subjects that may be completely outside of the wheel-house with which you are familiar. 

There’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve found your place, but remember; just because it feels like the right place for you now, doesn’t mean it will be a few years down the line. Staying flexible is a must, as you might be ready to move on at some point, expanding your skillset further. Hardly anybody is suited to one job, one position for their entire lives.

If you’d like to explore receiving career coaching support please contact me personally and let’s schedule a quick call to see if I can provide you some resources and ideas to help you find your place in the professional world.