When you’ve already achieved some measure of success, questioning if you should change careers can be hard to allow yourself to do. Yes, you may worry about wasting your education or what your family would think. But the hesitation is more than that.

Somewhere between Elizabeth Gilbert telling you to follow your passion and then revising that to follow your curiosity, between Reese Witherspoon telling you to follow your talent and the Instagram coach telling you to find your North Star, between your Human Design chart and your Enneagram type and your partner who genuinely cannot understand why you can’t just be grateful for what you have — somewhere in all of that, you lost touch with your own voice.

You’ve researched, rehashed, maybe even dug into it in therapy.

You’ve been looking for answers everywhere, except for where they are.

Before you quit your job, lose another hour searching job boards for something you haven’t defined, or try to numb it all by binge-watching the latest season of something that makes you an observer of a pretend world instead of improving your own, it’s time to go straight to the source:

Your own knowing.

It’s there. Your voice is there. You just haven’t been able to hear it over everything else you’ve been taking in.

Before You Begin

Intentionally, this is not a quiz that gives you a diagnosis at the end. You will draw your own conclusions.

A few things worth knowing as you work through these:

Don’t stop if your answers make you uncomfortable. We’re just creating space for you to be honest with yourself instead of deferring to other people.

The most powerful option is to answer all of the questions. If you want a faster option, pick a handful where the answer seems obvious and a couple where you feel resistance. Where you feel resistance is usually where the biggest transformation is waiting.

Your fulfillment in your career is directly related to your level of honesty with yourself.

Grab your journal and let’s go.

25 Questions to Help You Decide If You Should Change Careers

Who Have You Become?

Get a quick pulse:

1. Can you be yourself, or do you have to perform a version of yourself at work?

2. What parts of yourself has your work made you quiet or abandon?

3. What would you tell your child if they were in the same work situation?

What Have You Been Carrying?

This is where we look honestly at what staying has required of you.

4. When did you first know that your current work wasn’t right for you?

5. When is the last time you felt truly appreciated for your work?

6. When’s the last time your work made a difference in a way that deeply resonated with you?

7. When is the last time you felt enthusiastic to talk about your work?

8. What dreams have you put on hold because of your work?

9. How has your work affected your ability to be present for the people and activities you care about most?

10. Is this career the highest use of your gifts?

How Have You Been Avoiding This?

When you don’t know what to actions to take on feelings of anxiety or dread, it’s normal to avoid looking at the source. But as long as you avoid, you are out of control. We’re just gonna start to put words to some of this so you can own it. There’s nothing to solve today; just truths to name. 

11. Who are you worried about disappointing?

12. How are you waiting for someone else to force a change instead of initiating change?

13. What stories do you tell yourself about why things can’t change?

14. How does staying in indecision serve you?

15. What do you think will happen if you don’t make any changes?

What Do You Already Know?

The answers to these questions will come pretty easily. It’s the potential consequences of what the answers could mean that will have you stall and talk yourself out of the truth. No changes have to be made today. Today: just answer. Let yourself say what you know. 

16. What’s the hardest part about knowing you have more to offer but not being sure how to channel that?

17. Who would you be without this struggle?

18. If you could get counsel from your much older self, what would they say about your current work situation?

19. What could be the best part about doing work you love?

20. What would it look like to put yourself back in the center of your own life and career?

21. Is your work getting you closer to the life you want?

22. In your heart, what do you know you’re deserving of?

23. What decisions would most honor you?

24. “The most honest thing I could say about my work situation is…”

25. What does your ancient wisdom know right now?

Sitting with these questions and exploring if you should change careers honestly takes courage. Most people skim past the ones that challenge them. If you stayed with the ones that made you want to close the tab, you really showed up for yourself. If you didn’t, revisit.

What comes next is up to you. But if something opened up and you want to understand what’s actually possible on the other side of this, a good next step is to hear from high-achievers who were lost, discovered their fulfilling careers, and made a safe transition into something that was better for them.

Listen to our client career change stories here.