Do you ever feel like you’re on a career treadmill?
Life can get so busy that we don’t always pause and take stock enough, and it can sometimes be easy to then find yourself in a role almost by happenstance rather than through any deliberate strategy.
This can work fine, even well, for a while. But at some point, most of us reach a moment where we need to lift our gaze – that moment can look very different depending on what’s going on:
- Something suddenly stops – a restructure, redundancy, a health issue, something outside your control that brings everything to a halt.
- Something starts to malfunction – the role no longer fits, the pressure ramps up, the satisfaction drains away, but you keep going because you’re not quite sure what the alternative is.
- Nothing is “wrong”, but it feels flat – the work is fine, you’re performing well, but it’s become repetitive or unfulfilling and you can’t quite see what would re-energise it.
- You know there’s more in you – you want to grow your impact, shape your role differently, influence at a higher level, or position yourself for bigger opportunities, but you haven’t stepped back enough to think more strategically about how.
The first two tend to force the issue. The latter two are about choosing to be more intentional before something forces your hand. Either way, the pattern is often similar – we tend to wait longer than we should to properly think things through, and then the options available to us can also quietly narrow as a result.
I didn’t do this too well in my own corporate career. I spent much of the time in very hierarchical structures usually focused on the next performance rating or promotion, the next role I was told I should do to keep moving upwards or just getting through each quarter while keeping all the balls in the air at work and home.
Looking back, I see the cost of that approach. There were roles I stayed in too long, moves I made for the wrong reasons, and stress I carried because I hadn’t created enough space, sought enough outside perspective, or asked myself a more useful set of questions about where I actually wanted to go and why. I also wonder what I might have created – what roles I’d have shaped differently, what opportunities I’d have pursued more intentionally, what version of my career might have felt more energising.
The Pattern I See
I meet too many talented people who reach a difficult point in their careers, sometimes because something has gone wrong, and sometimes because nothing has, but they’ve drifted further than they intended from what they actually want.
Many have been with the same employer for years, many haven’t updated their CV in a while, and some of them have spent months, sometimes years, knowing things weren’t quite right but not quite making the space to properly think it through.
But I also sometimes work with people who come before things feel urgent. They’re doing well, they’re valued, but they sense they could be more intentional about where they’re heading. They want to make sure the next five or ten years count, and that they’re building toward something that actually matters to them.
Why We Wait
“I’ll think about my career properly when things settle down.”
After this project finishes. After the promotion cycle. When the kids are a bit older. When I’m not quite so stretched.
The problem is that “when things settle down” rarely arrives on its own, and meanwhile we can drift further from what we actually want, making small compromises that compound over time until we wake up one day wondering how on earth we got here.
Building the Habit
Strategic career thinking isn’t about having a ten-year plan all mapped out with all the answers – it’s more about building a habit of regularly stepping back to check whether what you’re doing still fits what you want and need, whether you’re building toward something that actually matters to you, and what might need to change either now or soon.
The people who navigate their careers most successfully aren’t necessarily the ones who plan every detail. They’re the ones who’ve built the habit of lifting their gaze every now and then, rather than waiting until something forces them to look up.
Here are some practical ways to start building that habit:
Schedule it. Put some recurring time in your calendar – even just an hour every quarter can make a real difference. One of my clients schedules hers for the first Friday of each quarter and protects it like she would a key stakeholder session.
Use the natural reflection points. Things like birthdays, year-end, mid-year reviews, or the start of a new project or role – these are natural moments to pause and take stock, so don’t let them pass without some intentional reflection.
Look for patterns in your journey. Your past often holds clues about your future, so it’s worth thinking about when you’ve been at your best, what conditions helped you thrive, and what warning signs appeared before roles that didn’t work out so well.
Ask yourself better questions. Things like where was I most in flow in the last few months, what drained me, what do I want more of and what do I want less of, and if I’m really honest with myself, is what I’m doing now building toward where I actually want to be? – and do I know where I actually want to be?
Get some external perspective. It’s hard to read the label from inside the jar. A mentor, coach, or trusted colleague outside your immediate situation can often spot patterns you’re too close to see and ask questions that shift how you’re thinking about things.
Having a Framework Really Helps
What I’ve learned both from my own experience and from working with many others is that you can circle these questions endlessly on your own, or you can work through them with some structure that helps you make sense of it all.
That’s why I developed JIGSAW, a framework designed to be flexible but provide some structured approaches to help you piece together where you’ve been, who you are today, where you’re headed, and how to get there. It guides you through the thinking that’s so easy to skip when you’re up to your eyes in everything else.
When you work through it properly, you can move from feeling stuck, confused or overwhelmed to having a much clearer sense of direction and a manageable plan that gives you confidence. Instead of confusion, you gain more clarity about your goals and values, which helps you feel more positive and better prepared for whatever comes next.
Where to Start
Block out 30 minutes sometime in January, pick one of the questions I mentioned above, write down what comes up for you.
And if you’d like some structure and support for that thinking – someone to help you spot the patterns, ask the right questions, and build a clearer path forward – that’s exactly what my Career Forward programme is designed to do.
You can find more information on my website (link in profile) or just send me a message if you’d like to explore whether it could help.
The thinking you keep deferring? That’s often the thinking that matters most.