stuck in a career rut Archives - Inspiring Portfolio Careers

Work can start to get a bit repetitive after a while; a bit ‘same old same old’.

Some people find this comforting, others brain numbing. I am the latter. How about you?

Many many people have been sitting tight in the same job during the downturn years. Staying put for security. A wise strategy. Or is it?

If your career is starting to feel a little stale there are 5 strategies to explore:

• Portfolio career
• Job sculpting
• Sabbatical
• Attitude shift
• Secondment

An interesting book about the revolution of work shaped my thinking 4 years ago. It is by Lynda Gratton – ‘The Shift: the future of work is already here’.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Shift-Future-Work-Already/dp/0007427956

My decisions during the downturn years have been the opposite of most people. They have been shaped by Lynda Gratton’s predictions and other reading. 2020, about which the book focuses, is now just 5 years’ away and it really concerns me that most people don’t have a career strategy, they leave it to chance.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Abraham Lincoln and Peter Drucker. (both have been credited with this quote).

The rest of this blog gives an overview of portfolio careers, a major trend according to Lynda Gratton.

Portfolio careers have been growing for a while. Some people have them because they have to as a source of work is going out of fashion or cut-backs are being made, others because they want variety and stimulation. I am the latter – it fits my values.

What is a portfolio career?

A portfolio career is when your work is made up of different components which you flex, in response to changing market conditions and/or changes in your personal circumstances or life stage. This makes your career future-proof too.

Portfolio career components

The components of a portfolio career might be a part time job, volunteering, consultancy or freelance projects/contracts, travel, study or a non-exec directorship (s).

My portfolio career

My portfolio career is made up of career coaching, executive coaching, events, content creation, content curation, books, chapters and articles and consultancy work. It can be very full on but never a dull moment!

Employers and portfolio careers

Companies are starting to take note about portfolio careers for a number of reasons.
– Flexible resourcing – as needed
– Generation Y/Millennials demand flexibility
– Talent/skills shortage in business critical areas

I am writing an article on this topic next week and one recruitment agency I interviewed predicts that recruitment will not look the same in 4 years’ time. I agree. Why then are so many people carrying on as though nothing is changing?

Portfolio career example

Read about our client Jon’s portfolio career:
Part 1:

Portfolio careerist – Jonathan Green #1

Part 2:

Portfolio careerist – Jonathan Green #2

How do we help?

Here are 4 ways:

• We offer early bird and weekend Skype appointments.
• We help you create, edit, market and manage your portfolio career
• We define your personal brand
• We assist you in creating a career strategy

What next?

If you are interested in exploring a portfolio career, want to create or review your career strategy, or know someone we can help, get in touch.

Don’t wait until the General Election result in May 2015, start future proofing your career now. Get in touch.

Feeling stuck in a career rut is common. When facing a big life changing decision or uncertain change, people can feel stuck in a career rut. Being made redundant with no obvious way forward can make you feel very stuck. The feeling can be very dehabilitating – paralysing.

The good news is that being stuck in a career rut can be tackled, but it is hard to do by yourself as you are too close to yourself.

I find that when I’m feeling stuck and not taking action, there’s always a good reason. It’s just a question of working out what the reason is. And asking a question is a good way to pinpoint the reason. Here are 12 tips to help you when you feel stuck:

12 simple tips to help address stuckness

1) Do tasks one at a time and clear away everything else from your desk and mind

2) Write tasks very clearly and specifically so you are left in no doubt about what you need to do

3) Keeping your final outcome in mind, identify the first step. Don’t worry about the 9^th or 10^th step until you’ve taken the first

4) Create a 1 page plan for projects especially a big project like a new career

5) Segment tasks to make them feel clearer and help you prioritise

6) Have a ‘stuckness audit’ with yourself, for a project or your company to identify the ‘don’t knows’

7) Identify the consequence of the stuckness and the benefits of taking action

8) Check in with yourself regularly and make time to ask yourself a self-reflective question

9) Get a career coach or mentor to help you see the wood for the trees. If you are standing in the middle of the trees, it is understandably hard to see the path out into the clearing.

10) Speak the truth. Express what you see, feel or hear when you notice stuckness. Simply articulating it can help shift it

11) Acknowledge that stuckness and inaction is okay sometimes and it isn’t normal or realistic to have growth spurts all the time, otherwise it would be Spring all year round!

12) Think of someone who you admire. Look at the problem through their eyes. What would they do?

‘They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself’ Andy Warhol

If you found these tips useful, and feel stuck in a career rut, why not download our free report on Skills to give you new insights about how you could energise your career? Click on this link now:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Career evolution or revolution?

Stuck In A Career Rut?