Being a business professional today is challenging. There is a lot of pressure to do well, and the landscape is more competitive than ever. Additionally, with the majority of people working in remote and hybrid situations, it can also be isolating, and you won’t always feel like you have the best support system. As such, you can sometimes feel overwhelmed and doubt your professional decisions.
These feelings can be even more pronounced for those involved with an entrepreneurial venture. But don’t despair! If you find yourself falling into a professional rut, there are lots of ways that you can pull yourself out. I’ve done it myself a time or two.
Here are some of my favorite tips for doing so:
- Find support. This support can be in the form of a mentor or a networking group with other industry peers or entrepreneurs. It is so comforting to know that others have gone through similar experiences, and we can pick up valuable advice from them too.
- Analyze your career/business. Have you chosen the right career or business? One that you enjoy working on and/or one with a consistent, reliable customer base? If not, what can you do to modify or change it? How can you lean into the more emotionally rewarding or profitable aspects of it along with the part that you most enjoy?
- Take a course. Gaining some fresh knowledge might give you the energy and edge you need to regroup and pull yourself out of the rut. You can use it to advance your business or career, or just to improve yourself and feel a boost from the additional skills you’ll gain.
- Talk it out. Discuss your feelings with a friend or trusted colleague. Other people can often see us better than we can see ourselves and will give us some constructive advice or valuable ideas that we can leverage to move forward in a new direction.
- Hire a consultant. I always find it valuable to talk to others with different perspectives. These experts can give you unique ideas and help you approach your rut in a way that you hadn’t thought of previously. If you have your own business, you can hire and leverage a business mentor. If you are working in a corporation, you might hire or leverage a career coach who can put you on the path to some professional changes.
- Go on a vacation. Sometimes, when all else fails, you just need a break to reset your mind and get some well-deserved rest! I always find that I feel so much better after I take a vacation, get a change of scenery, and gain a fresh perspective. Even if it is just a day off, or a long weekend, it still has the same effect.
- Do your homework and brainstorm. Sometimes you just know that you’re upset or feeling unenthusiastic, but you’re not sure about what. Jot down your feelings, analyze them, and then conduct some research about what you can do to improve your current situation.
We all fall into professional ruts from time to time. What’s important is our ability to pull ourselves out of them. If you find that this has happened to you, I hope that you will use some of these tips to improve your mindset and get out of that rut.