Part of Kathy Caprino’s Series “Accessing the Most Powerful You”

For many years during my 18-year corporate career, I stayed in several roles I disliked—some of them a terrible fit—that led to extreme stress, chronic illness, and more.

Looking back, I realize several critical factors influenced my resistance to making the changes I needed—worries about money, self-esteem issues, uncertainty about what I truly wanted or “how bad” the situation really was, reluctance to start over in a new role, and plain fear.

After two reinventions and running my own coaching and consulting firm—an experience I deeply enjoy—I see that in my corporate life I lacked an essential mindset: an entrepreneurial approach to my work and career that could have helped me become more nimble, flexible, brave, resourceful, creative, and innovative in building a livelihood that truly matched who I am inside.

Instead, I stayed stuck in a box of my own making because I didn’t fully understand how to land roles we can truly enjoy—roles where we’re treated with respect, compensated well, and can genuinely thrive.

My research with thousands of professionals shows five clear signs that it may be time to seriously consider a change—whether that means modifying your current job, moving out from under your manager, or shifting your career direction entirely.

But sadly,

many professionals stay stuck in denial about these signs, because they’re frightened or confused. They fail to take proactive measures, often until crisis hits and forces them to consider a new direction.

Five signs that you should consider exploring leaving your job or manager, and potentially change directions, are:

#1: You’re unhappy most of every day doing this work.

This is obvious but many people disregard this: the clearest sign that you need a change is how you feel about the work you’re doing every single day.

The majority of the time, are you feeling unhappy, depressed, anxious, thwarted, devalued, misunderstood, or mistreated?

Do you feel that the “real you” just can’t come out in this job, and the way you enjoy working isn’t appreciated or respected? Are you dealing with a toxic manager who undermines you? Do you wonder how you ever ended up here, and fantasize daily about doing something very different?

Don’t ignore your feelings—they’re pointing to a real situation that needs attention. Remember: You don’t have to be miserable or lose your sense of self in order to be gainfully employed. And you don’t have to chuck everything you’ve worked hard to build to make a positive change.

#2: The environment is tainted with toxicity, fear and ugliness, including the behavior and communication from your boss, leaders and colleagues.

How you feel about your work isn’t just about the daily tasks you perform. A job—and your success, fulfillment, and rewards in it—is influenced by many other factors, including:

• The character of your boss, leaders and colleagues, and the leadership dynamic of the company (if there’s narcissism, you’ll suffer)

• How your organization treats all of its human resources (including you, but also all others)

• The outcomes that the company is driving toward, and whether you respect and support these outcomes

• The growth you can achieve in this role (is it boring, stagnant, and deadening to you?)

• The collaborative spirit and positive, growth-inducing behaviors (or total lack of them)

• How well your dominant action style is suited to the action-approach your company and manager demand of you

• And finally, consider whether this role exacerbates any of the 7 damaging power and confidence gaps leaving you feeling powerless or lacking in self-trust and confidence.

Looking holistically at your job – and understanding all the dimensions of it – will help you see more clearly if you are right for this role and career, or if you’re more suited to thrive in another job or type of environment and work culture altogether.

#3: The skills that you’ve been hired to use for this job aren’t a fit with what you enjoy and can thrive in doing 

So often, people don’t understand that

the skills that you possess are not necessarily the same as the natural talents and abilities that you enjoy using each day and can thrive in.

In other words, you may be “great” at updating spreadsheets—or overseeing projects, planning events, etc.—but in reality, you might actually dislike the work and struggle with these tasks.

What we’re deemed “good” at is not necessarily the same endeavors as those we find rewarding, enjoyable and meaningful to pursue as a career. If your job forces you to use skills that aren’t enjoyable or easy for you, you’ll be drained (and often very unhappy) every day in your job. And you’ll feel like an impostor much of the time.

#4: You believe deep down that you’re meant for something bigger, better, and more rewarding in your professional life – with more positive impact.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of successful career changers, and many of them have shared with me some version of this:

“I had this terrible, nagging feeling for years that I was made for better, more impactful things than this, but I just didn’t act on that feeling until I finally snapped and said “YES!” to myself.”

Many people—especially women—feel ashamed or embarrassed to admit that, deep down, they’re made for more meaningful or impactful work than their current role.

They’re afraid this sounds boastful or arrogant to think these types of thoughts. But these feelings are not something to ignore – they’re pointing to the fact that there most likely is another direction waiting for you, one that will bring more joy, success, reward, recognition and satisfaction to your life.

If you feel you’re made for more rewarding pursuits, then you are. Don’t be ashamed of it or hide from it.

#5: The outcomes that you’re working toward feel meaningless or negative to you.

Finally, how do you feel about the outcomes that your job and employer support? Do you feel proud that the work has contributive value?

Do you believe in the positive good of what you’re doing, and that what you’re spending your precious life energy on is indeed worth it? Or do you think that what your organization is doing is actually wrong, unethical, or even hurtful in the world?

It’s very difficult to thrive in a role where you don’t believe in what your organization stands for or how it operates.

You simply cannot fully succeed if you subconsciously oppose what your employer stands for in the world.

If any of these signs strike a chord for you, it’s time to explore making a change. The key question isn’t “Will you?” but “When will you finally honor what you know is true about yourself and what your life is calling you to do?”

And remember – you don’t have to chuck everything you’ve built. Just start exploring and “trying on” new directions, and see where they lead you.

To build your confidence, impact and self-trust, and overcome imposter syndrome and finally leverage your great talents, take my Most Powerful You video career-growth course — it will move you forward fast! 

And for added support, tune into my podcast Finding Brave. and join me in my 6-session Career Breakthrough coaching 1:1 coaching program. 

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