As I write this article, thoughts of work drift to coming days of warmth and sunshine, and I’m eternally hopeful that spring is around the corner. I look forward to the changes each season brings. It got me thinking about the transformations our careers take over the years, and I realized that we all yearn for that change sometimes. It may be just a passing thought. Sometimes the thought won’t go away. So how do you know when it’s time for change?

 

There’s no magic bullet, but there are a series of questions you can ask yourself to help determine if next steps are necessary. After all, you know yourself better than anyone else. Consider the following:

And one more: Is this just a reaction to a bad day? We all have them. Your decision to leave shouldn’t be an escape, but a concerted effort to advance in your career.

 

Next, assess your career history and your current employment. List your accomplishments. What do you enjoy doing? What don’t you enjoy? What are your strengths? How do you play to those strengths and shore up your weaknesses?

With that done, it’s time to do some future planning. We all talk about 3-, 5- and 10-year career plans, but how many of us have truly mapped that out? It’s not an easy exercise, but it is a crucial step in moving forward. Mapping your goals doesn’t mean you have to stick to the plan if better opportunities present themselves later on, but it does give you a framework for your decision-making.

 

Congratulations! You’ve just completed one of the most difficult analyses you can do. It’s personal. It’s difficult. It’s exciting. Now that you have a template for this assessment, keep it handy and repeat this exercise at least annually throughout your career. The result will be a thoughtful, deliberate plan—a plan you have some control over.   Now isn’t that better than having someone else determine your career?