Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer of the University of Maryland and a successful serial entrepreneur – just completed her Masters in Machine Learning. If hearing about “The Great Resignation,” is making you think about quitting, here are six questions to ask yourself first:
, Ph.D., climate and glacier scientist said on my Electric Ladies podcast recently, “Recognizing that you're in a continually evolving space of influence and the dreams that you had, that position you were applying for three years ago, take the time now to consider… you might've already grown out of that dream and already be able to take on bigger responsibilities or bigger roles.” Don’t think about how you’ll get there and set aside any of the obstacles; just “dream big.
If you want to spend more time using your skills in a way that helps address climate change, for example, you may either find that your current work is doing that if you reframe how you look at it, or that you can tweak it a little to do so. Actress Gloria Reuben wanted to be more active in her environmental work, for example, so she took on a larger role as president of Waterkeeper Alliance without giving up her acting and producing career.
The key in considering a career change is to focus on who you want to be and how you want to spend your time in the near and long term. Then, you can evaluate if you can meet those goals by tweaking your current role, or maybe adding a side gig to test the waters, or even to go back to school as Lenzer and others have done. You may not need to quit altogether.
You don’t want to be impulsive and regret your decision later, so doing a deep-dive into your motivation for changing your work life will help you map out your next move towards greater fulfillment.