If your career has hit a brick wall and it is increasingly more difficult to get where you dream of, chances are "career inertia" has set in.
Career inertia refers to all of those daily elements that slow you down as you try to reach your goals -- the people, activities and even your own mindset that make it challenging to accomplish what you set out to achieve.
Since these elements are not necessarily obstacles that stop you in your tracks, like a major crisis, they may not be obvious to detect.
"Career inertia typically creeps in silently over a period of time, which is why it is difficult to recognize," says Randall Craig, a leading Canadian career expert and author of Personal Balance Sheet: A Practical Career Planning Guide.
"Your career was not built in a day -- and will not be fixed that quickly either. Reversing inertia is possible, but it takes time and effort. And when it happens, a stalled career can quickly take off," he says.
Craig suggests a few simple tests that can clue you in to career inertia. Do you feel that:
- Your manager hasn't given you new professional challenges (and you haven't asked for them).
- You have always shied away from "scary" activities such as public speaking or sales.
- You are no longer part of the "in" group.
- You haven't taken any professional development/ training in several years.
