Three Questions to Ask When Facing Career Doubt

I met up with a friend, a corporate baddie with a distinguished track record. She asked me a question that many of us have considered at some point in our careers: How do I know if this job is still right for me?

If you're wondering whether it's time to move on from your job, ask yourself:

1. How do you feel?

Does the work light you up, or is it starting to dim your light?

2. Is it aligned with your purpose?

Are you growing in the direction you're meant to go?

3. What's the impact on your wellbeing?

Is it energizing you—or quietly draining you?

These three questions helped me make one of the biggest moves of my life (hello, South Africa ). They might just shift something for you too.

Sometimes, this question arises because we are obviously overworked and underpaid, or it becomes clear that the environment we once loved is no longer loving us back, and that toxicity is the new norm. Other times, this question creeps up on us when things are “okay.” When nothing is overtly wrong, but we have that unsettled feeling that something just isn't right.

I experienced this in my twenties. I was the administrator of a program for former African heads of state. Leaders like Kenneth Kaunda, who led Zambia to independence and served as the nation's founding president, Ketumile Masire, the second President of Botswana, and a cofounder of the SADC—the Southern African Development Community, and Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique, were people I was privileged to work with and learn from daily. The job had some prestige, paid reasonably well, and I got to pursue my passion for African studies. But I just knew something was off.

So, I began to ask myself a set of questions that have helped to guide each of my career transitions—the same ones I shared with my friend, and now with you.

1. How do you feel?

Does your current role light you up and bring you joy? Or is it something that dims your light? To be clear, very few experiences—whether a relationship, a job, or your favorite restaurant—will always light you up. There will be off days. But overall, what is your experience?

This is where deploying the 80/20 principle can be helpful: if you're feeling joy and contentment 80% of the time, and 20% of the time it's less than ideal, the role is probably still a good fit. Anything less than that, it may be time to consider a change. And heaven forbid, if work—the thing you spend most of your time doing—is only lighting you up 20% of the time, it's probably time to sprint to LinkedIn (or your friendly neighborhood coach:) to find alternatives.

Because even hard work, when it's aligned with our purpose, can still light us up.

2. Is this work aligned with your purpose?

Is it helping you to advance what you believe you were brought to earth to do? Do you get to use your gifts and talents regularly, or are you just passing the time?

Often, I have clients who describe their work as soul sucking. Not because they're doing anything unethical, but because it has no meaning. As Maslow's Hierarchy illustrates, self-actualization is a significant part of our needs and what it means to be human.

3. What impact does your role have on your wellbeing?

Is it net positive, neutral, or detracting from you in any way? We know that chronic stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, and that 25% of people identify work as the most significant stressor in their lives.

I have sadly borne witness to this in my personal and professional experience. I have seen women suffer from insomnia, alopecia, strokes, dangerous levels of hypertension, and be admitted to the hospital for exhaustion and dehydration because of work-related stress.

You might be reading this and thinking, “dang, that's extreme.” It is, but it doesn't start that way. Usually, there are warning signs much earlier that work is harming our wellbeing. But many of us, in particular Black women, have been taught to suck it up and to keep going.

When we first realize that the work no longer lights us up, we think, “but I shouldn't feel that way, I should be grateful.” Or we reach a point where we know we're not pursuing our purpose, but we waste precious years faking contentment and never allowing ourselves to dream bigger. Or worse, we sacrifice our physical or mental health.

I know that the prospect of change can be daunting. But remember, change is a journey; the day you realize you need to make a change isn't the day you have to implement it.

You can get support to identify your purpose, create a plan, and pursue it in a way that preserves your professional relationships, your finances, and your wellbeing. So take a moment today to ask yourself these three questions. And if you'd like support, consider coaching, book a discovery call with me today. I'd love to chat.

Oh, and before I go, those three questions I asked myself in my twenties? They led to my move to South Africa. And the rest, as they say, is history.