Feeling stuck in your career
Feeling stuck in your career can feel like standing at a crossroads in the fog. You want to move forward, but every direction looks unclear, even risky. So you stay where you are – not because it feels right, but because you can’t see a way out. This sense of stuck-ness is something I see often in coaching conversations. It can be frustrating, sometimes demoralising, especially when you’re someone who’s always been driven, capable, and proactive. And yet, you can find yourself circling the same questions, hoping for clarity that never quite arrives.
Last week, I had a day off and took a few friends to visit the area of London where I grew up. We spent the day wandering the streets, stopping at familiar cafés and places I hadn’t paid much attention to in years. The sun was shining, the company was brilliant, and it was one of those rare days that feels like a genuine break from the everyday. But what struck me most was how I felt by the end of it. It honestly felt like I’d been on holiday which made no sense, because I hadn’t gone anywhere new. The place itself hadn’t changed, but the view of it had. I was seeing it through their eyes: through their questions, their enthusiasm, and their delight.
A Fresh Perspective
This experience reminded me of something that often happens in coaching. When someone feels stuck in their career, it’s rarely because have no options, it’s because they’ve lost sight of them. The fog we feel isn’t external; it’s internal. We get so used to viewing our lives through a familiar lens that we forget it’s even a lens at all. The stories we tell ourselves about what’s possible, what’s realistic, or what we’re “allowed” to want can quietly narrow our vision until we can no longer see the full picture.
One of the most powerful things coaching offers is a way to break that cycle. It allows you to see yourself differently – not through the filter of your own doubts and assumptions, but through someone else’s eyes. Someone who isn’t caught up in your story. Someone who can hold up a mirror and ask different questions. Someone who sees the strengths and possibilities you’ve stopped noticing.
As Carl Jung put it, “It all depends on how we look at things, and not how they are in themselves.” That quote has always stayed with me, because it captures the essence of what can shift when you change perspective. It’s not about pretending everything’s fine. It’s about realising that things might look different if you step out of your bubble.
Stepping outside of your bubble
The writer Anaïs Nin said,
“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
Sometimes, the quickest way to get unstuck is not to think harder but to zoom out. To look at your life, your work, your next step… from outside your usual bubble.
To see it as someone else might:
With fresh eyes.
With possibility.
With curiosity instead of judgement.
If that resonates with you, here’s a question to leave you with:
What might become possible if you stepped outside your bubble and saw your situation through someone else’s eyes?
