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Over the last 2 years, tape numbers of people have voluntarily left their jobs. The motility is now then wide it has a proper noun: The Great Resignation. Some of these people have left for more flexible piece of work in the gig economy. Some are seeking a modify in lifestyle. Merely many accept been spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social upheavals to accept a deep await at their lives and what gives them purpose.

Does this describe you? Are you feeling stagnant and in need of a modify that can offer you greater purpose and engagement? This is entirely natural. Your purpose volition shift and change over time, and it's correct to constantly find new ways to reinvigorate it. But those periods of transition are challenging to navigate.

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All of the states feel moments when we must face the hard conclusion to let become of doing something that formerly offered the states purpose, as I highlight in the HBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose. But big decisions, similar a career change, should exist approached thoughtfully. I ever suggest people to be thoughtful about reinventing their current work earlier moving on to something new, there are times where the right option is to strike out on a fresh path.

Equally you consider whether to join the Great Resignation or take on a career transition, here are a few signs you might use to evaluate whether it'southward time to truly movement on from work that previously provided you lot with pregnant:

  • Information technology's no longer encouraging your growth.

    The best athletes will oftentimes diversify their concrete grooming or dramatically change their routines. This is because, at some point, everything we do too consistently ceases to exist a source of growth. When y'all notice a source of purpose is no longer helping you lot grow, await to reinvention or some other modify. Leaving a job is a big conclusion, so I always encourage people to first meet if there are means to craft their work or brand changes inside their current professional environment before moving on. Often, reinvigorating your work tin be every bit uncomplicated as seeing it differently and modifying it in small ways, something ofttimes referred to as "job crafting." Simply if you lot've wearied that path and can no longer grow in your profession, it might exist fourth dimension to motility on.

  • Yous've achieved what you set out to attain.

    Sometimes, y'all may lack growth in your electric current position because there'due south nothing left to aspire to. A former colleague of mine played in the NFL. The commencement phase of his life was all well-nigh football game. But after he retired, he establish he was satisfied with that period of his life, which had been an incredible source of meaning, and was ready to exit it behind. Sometimes nosotros merely accomplish what we prepare out to reach and are ready to move on to new challenges.

  • You actively look for ways to avoid your chore.

    I had a friend who loved writing. Just at some point, she had grown tired of information technology and began seeking means to avert it — procrastinating, choosing about any activity from laundry to yard work over putting words on a page, and getting lost on social media when she'd finally sit down down to write. She realized, ultimately, that she needed a long intermission from writing if she was ever going to autumn in love with it once again. Sometimes, you demand to power through something to develop a positive addiction (all of the states should exercise, for example, merely it tin exist hard to go started); but other times it'southward necessary to take a temporary or permanent interruption. A profession should be something we arroyo with marvel and anticipation, not avoidance.

  • You regularly approach work with exhaustion, burnout, or dread.

    I previously had a job that I had once enjoyed just had truly begun to wear on me, so much and so that it was hard for me to leave the house to become to work in the forenoon. This wasn't because the company or its people were bad; the fit just wasn't there anymore. If you regularly feel dread at approaching your piece of work, it's time to seriously consider irresolute it or leaving it behind. Your life is short and precious, and your work should enrich information technology.

  • It'south causing you to develop bad habits.

    Another friend of mine worked at a company whose culture was toxic, and he institute himself — even when away from work — behaving in means he would have previously found unethical or inappropriate. He found himself being untruthful, for example, and misleading colleagues and clients. When he recognized this, he immediately left the firm. When something you look to for purpose begins pulling you further from information technology and from your values, yous need to permit it go. Never allow a professional surroundings change you for the worse — particularly on matters of grapheme.

  • Your workplace has get unhealthy.

    Workspaces with colleagues who scream at or personally insult yous, for example, or where you are worked to the point of physical collapse should, of course, inspire y'all to seek something new (if non pursue more than serious action). Some workplaces are consistently harmful to your physical or emotional health. If you notice yourself in that unenviable position, information technology's time to move on.

In that location are, of class, other signs. And again, trying earnestly to reconceive of your work and craft it to be more purposeful is always the all-time starting time course if you are feeling stagnant. Just letting go of the old is part of keeping life fresh and allowing purpose to modify over fourth dimension. Your life is in your easily, something more and more people seem to be realizing. And the Great Resignation may be just the opportunity yous demand for a bang-up reinvention.

This piece is adapted from theHBR Guide to Crafting Your Purpose(Harvard Business Review Press, 2022) .