Career Blocks: What They Are & How To Remove Them
Anna sat at her desk, staring at the blank computer screen, feeling utterly overwhelmed and lost. For the past few months, she had been experiencing a crippling career block. As a talented marketing professional, Anna had always been ambitious and driven, but lately, the path ahead seemed uncertain and shrouded in doubt. She questioned her every decision, second-guessed her abilities, and felt stuck in a state of professional limbo. The excitement she once felt for her work had faded, replaced by a constant gnawing feeling of dissatisfaction. Each day seemed like an endless cycle of monotony, and she found herself wondering if she was on the right career path at all. Despite her best efforts, ideas that used to flow effortlessly now evaded her, leaving her feeling creatively stifled. The fear of making the wrong move and the pressure to succeed weighed heavily on her shoulders. Anna knew she needed to break free from this career block, but the question of how to do so remained a puzzle she was desperate to solve…
Sound familiar?
Do you have a career block?
Chances are you might not even realize you are facing a block until someone points it out to you. A career block is something or someone who is in the way of you making progress in your current career or making a jump to a better career for yourself.
Career blocks can be in the form of bosses who are physically restricting your options for career advancement to keep you down, your own self-beliefs that you aren’t good enough, past experiences that have impacted your ability to climb the ladder, or even your own unwillingness to do what is needed to get the career you want.
So now you know the blocks that could be in place, how do you go about removing them and getting yourself back on track?
Strong Inventory Test
A strong interest inventory test can be helpful for your career in many different ways. It is essentially an assessment that allows you to match your interests with your career, features, or educational activities and can be used to help you determine if you are in the right career, what that would be for you if not, and whether you are well placed to further your current career. If you are unsure of what you want to do with your life or where your career is taking you, then you can find out where to take the strong interest inventory test to get started and find out more about what you are suited for in life.
Career Mentor
A career mentor is someone who will use their experience and skills to learn more about yourself and find out how you can push through any barriers you have to create the perfect career for you. Career blocks can come in many different forms, as mentioned above, but a mentor can work with you to remove these and help you learn and grow as a person and support you as you make the right career moves. Their personal experience is what you need to rely on to help you avoid making mistakes and give yourself the support you need to make the right decisions at the correct times.
Career Strategy
A career strategy is just that. It is a plan of action from getting where you are now to where you want to be. But instead of it just being a plan, it is something actionable that you can work towards and carry out. Find out what it is you want to do for your career. Then look at what you need to do to make this a reality. Do you need training or further education? Do you need to quit your job and jump into a new career, or will it take time, meaning you need a timeline to help you get things moving? Whatever it takes to get you from A to B needs to be included and worked into a realistic action plan with a definite deadline for you to reach your goals.
Assess Your Current Situation
Your personal and professional situation can be the cause of many career blocks. If you are blocking yourself for whatever reason, be it poor mental health, or a lack of self-confidence or skills, you must look at how to remove these. It can be via counseling, upskilling, medication, or therapy, or it can be simply making changes in your personal life that support your career.
Professional changes can be tricker to put into action, but if you have a boss who is blocking promotions for you, you need to find out why and what support is available to you from your employer to put an end to this. Suppose you have reached the promotion ceiling in your current company. In that case, you might find it worthwhile looking for another job with a different company with more options for progression and advancements currently available to you.
Be Proactive
No one ever got anywhere in life by sitting back and wishing on a star to help them get to where they want to be. If you have goals and plans for your future career, then you need to be proactive in making them happen. It doesn’t matter what these goals are, just that you are doing something, anything, to help you achieve them. It can be minor changes to help you build confidence that you deserve the career of your dreams, it can be going to evening classes to build up knowledge and skills to begin a new career path, or it can be investing in the company you work for, to help you climb the ladder and reach your ultimate goal.
Career blocks can be damaging to your mental health and your earning potential. You need to identify what it is that is holding you back and put measures in place to help you remove any obstacles in your way and get moving forward.
