Questions to ask yourself before making a career change

What you keep noticing

Start with the moments at work that stay with you after you leave.

1. Which part of my week do I dread, and which part makes me lose track of time?
2. When I imagine leaving, what’s the first thing I picture never having to do again?
3. Whose career do I look at with envy, and what exactly do I envy: the work itself, the freedom or the recognition?
4. What have I known about this job for a long time and decided not to act on?

The story and the feeling

Your reasons for leaving come with a story. Check it against what you feel.

1. What story do I tell about why this job isn’t working, and where in that story am I the one who’s stuck?
2. When I picture telling my manager I’m leaving, what do I feel first?
3. Where do I feel the dread in my body on a work morning, and does it ease on days off?
4. When someone asks what I do, what happens in me in the half-second before I answer?
5. If the new path didn’t work out, what would I feel worst about, and in front of whom?

What you’re avoiding or controlling

Big decisions bring out the habits you use to stay safe. Look for yours.

1. Am I waiting for a plan so complete that nothing can go wrong, and what would that plan protect me from?
2. Whose disappointment am I trying to avoid, by staying or by leaving?
3. Am I researching, taking courses or polishing my résumé instead of having one real conversation with someone in the field?
4. Do I explain my hesitation with money or timing every time? If both were settled, what reason would be left?
5. Which part of this decision have I handed to someone else, so I won’t be the one responsible?

What’s underneath, and what you do

The belief underneath often decides more than the job listing does.

1. Finish the sentence: “I’m only worth something if my work…” What did I write?
2. Who taught me what a proper career looks like, and do I still agree with them?
3. Have I changed jobs before to get away from a feeling, and did the feeling come along?
4. What have I already done toward this, and what have I kept putting off?
5. If no one would ever know which job I picked, would my choice change?

How to use these questions

Choose one ordinary workday and write your answers about that day, not about your career as a whole. Keep the questions about you: salaries, the job market and listings matter, but they belong on a different list. Notice which question you skip or rush past, since that one usually holds the most. Your answers show where you stand this week, so let them sit for a few days before you read them as a reason to stay or to go.