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What You Want — And Why

At some point, many people feel stuck, even when pursuing a career they worked long and hard to get to. But before heading out to find something new, Ben Thomas at the Nature Jobs blog advises taking a long, hard look at your situation to figure out why you feel the way you do.

“People get stuck in ruts for a lot of reasons, most of which boil down to this: Instead of doing what we truly want to do, we do what we think we should do, or what other people think we should do, or — worst of all — what we think other people think we should do,” says Sherry Marts, an author and life and career coach tells Thomas. “What we want gets buried, and it takes effort to uncover it.”

You have to, Thomas says, have a heart-to-heart with yourself. What do you really want to do, and what is it about your current position that isn't living up to what you want to achieve? Once you know what you want — and don't want — you can better map out a way to get there.

"Though your dream job isn’t going to appear overnight, keeping a clear focus on the reasons for the change will help guide you toward connections and opportunities that point in the right direction," he adds.