Why Feeling Stuck in Your Career Might Be the Best Thing That’s Happened to You
Most professionals hit a point where they feel stuck in their career. For some, it’s about considering a big transition or career change. For others, it’s realizing something about their current role or organization isn’t working anymore—but not knowing what the next step should be.
That moment of stuckness can feel like a problem, even a mistake. It’s uncomfortable, frustrating, and full of uncertainty. But here’s the truth: feeling stuck is actually a good sign. It means you’re grappling with change. You’re in the messy middle—the place where clarity starts to take shape.
Stuckness Is a Signal, Not a Mistake
When you feel stuck, it’s a signal to pause and pay attention. Something is swirling beneath the surface, asking to be unpacked. That’s the real work: noticing what’s going on in your head and starting to pull apart the layers.
Often, the angst of being stuck comes from not being able to articulate what career growth looks like for you anymore. Up until now, maybe your career path was obvious: promotions came, opportunities landed in your lap, the trajectory felt natural. But suddenly, the next step isn’t clear.
It may not make sense to keep climbing “up the ladder.” It doesn’t feel right to step down either, because you’ve built so much experience and impact. And so, the question becomes: What does growth look like for me now?
What’s Behind the Feeling of Stuckness
In my coaching practice, I see common themes that hide beneath the surface of feeling stuck:
Organizational Fit
Sometimes it’s not the role itself—it’s the organization. Culture matters: leadership style, pace, values, whether the company invests in its people. Changing organizations can be transformative when the culture is a better match.Boredom or Stagnation
You might sense that even if you did the same job somewhere else, it wouldn’t fix the problem—you’d still be bored. That’s a sign you’re craving a new challenge. For one person, that might mean diving deeper into a subject area. For another, shifting contexts—state to federal, nonprofit to private sector, software for clients to software for leaders. The skills stay the same, but the arena changes.Nature of the Work
Some professionals find themselves drained by managing projects and people, craving instead more strategic, thought-driven, or subject-matter-deep work. The question becomes: Which of my skills do I want to use more, and which do I want to use less?Lifestyle and Boundaries
Sometimes the job itself is fine, but it simply doesn’t fit your life. You want a different rhythm, more balance, or stronger boundaries. That’s not failure—it’s clarity.
From Stuck to Clarity: Peeling Back the Layers
Once you’ve acknowledged what’s swirling in your head—those criteria and questions—the real shift begins.
First, embrace the fact that feeling stuck is good. It means you’re peeling back the onion and uncovering layers of what matters most. Your job is to start defining your criteria: what kind of culture, challenge, work, and lifestyle will help you thrive.
But there’s a second, equally important element: knowing where you thrive.
A Strengths-Based Way Forward
When people think about career growth, they often ask, “Where am I weak, and how do I fix it?” That’s the wrong question.
The better question is: “Where do I thrive? Where do I create my greatest impact?”
For some, the answer is obvious. For others, it’s harder because strengths feel so natural you barely notice them. But these moments of thriving are central to your story. They hold the keys to your future direction.
You won’t find them in a job description. You’ll find them in your experiences:
The projects where you felt energized and on fire.
The times others recognized you for outstanding work.
The moments you thought, “Wow, I really knocked it out of the park.”
And it doesn’t have to be the whole job. Sometimes it’s just one slice of a project or role. Sometimes, those strengths even reveal themselves outside of work. (In my case, I discovered my love of helping people unpack challenges and move forward long before I made it my career.)
Building Your Roadmap
Once you know your criteria—what matters most—and where you thrive—your strengths and impact—you’re no longer stuck. You’re building a roadmap.
It won’t be perfectly clear overnight. But instead of staring at a blank wall of uncertainty, you’ll start to see the outlines of your next chapter. Stuckness becomes less of a problem and more of a gift: the very moment that forced you to pause, reflect, and design what comes next.