Rethinking Work

Aching for Something Different?

Are you at a professional crossroads? Has your job stopped inspiring you? Do you hunger to do something more meaningful and spiritually rewarding? Or perhaps you’d really prefer to stay in your current job, but you’d love it to be more satisfying. Do such thoughts fill your mind constantly? If so, it is time to reorient your thinking and change your life in the process.

You can move beyond staid, constraining “outer economy” considerations – money, prestige, security and related issues – to “inner economy” thoughts, such as gaining control of your life and setting your own direction. This is not an easy transition. You have a busy daily schedule that affords you (you believe) precious little time to reflect on possible fresh opportunities, and even less time to explore new options. Plus, contemplating change and unknown paths always carries an element of fear. However, if you are in a rut, you owe it to yourself to take steps toward something new. You have only one life. Do you want to spend it in a frustrating, unfulfilling job?

Unlike workers in generations past, people now routinely move from one job to another. U.S. Department...