“Feeling stuck isn’t a sign you’re failing. It’s a sign your current map isn’t leading to treasure anymore.”
Listen, I need you to be real with me for a second. Are you scrolling through LinkedIn seeing everyone’s “new role!!” announcements while you’re sitting at the same desk, doing the same tasks, feeling that same dread on Sunday night?
That feeling of being **career stuck** is like quicksand. The more you panic and scroll, the deeper you sink. You’re not lazy. You’re not ungrateful. You’re just outgrowing the container you’re in, and girl, that is a NORMAL part of the process.
I’ve been there. Staring at my laptop wondering if this is really what I spent four years and $80k in student loans for. Applying to random jobs at 2 AM just to feel like I’m doing *something*. It’s exhausting. So let’s talk about what to do when you feel **career stuck**, for real.
First, Let’s Name The Beast: What “Stuck” Actually Feels Like
This isn’t just a bad week. This is a persistent fog. It’s the Sunday Scaries starting on Friday afternoon. It’s opening your to-do list and feeling physically tired before you even start.
Maybe it’s knowing you could do your job in your sleep. Maybe it’s watching less experienced people get promoted because they’re louder. Maybe it’s just a deep, gut feeling that says “this isn’t it” every single day.
You start fantasizing about quitting dramatically. You refresh your bank account, calculate how many months you could survive without a paycheck, and then close the tab. The cycle repeats. Sis, I see you.
💡 Quick Tip
Grab your notes app. Write down the last time you felt genuinely excited or proud at work. What were you doing? Who were you with? This is your first clue to what you actually *like*, not just what you’re good at.
Why The Usual Advice (“Just Network! Update Your Resume!”) Feels Impossible
When you’re already drained, being told to “hustle” more is a joke. You don’t have the energy to craft the perfect LinkedIn post or go to some awkward happy hour. I get it.
The problem is we try to jump straight to the solution (“get a new job”) without diagnosing the actual problem. Are you bored? Underpaid? Undervalued? In a toxic environment? The fix for each is totally different.
Let’s break it down. Being **career stuck** usually comes from one (or more) of these four places:
See? You can’t fix “culture stuck” by just taking a new online course. You have to know which beast you’re fighting.
💊 What Works: The “Designing Your Life” Workbook – This isn’t some fluffy journal. It’s based on a legendary Stanford class and gives you actual frameworks to prototype career changes without quitting your job first. It turns “what do I do with my life?” into actionable experiments.
What Actually Works: The “Side Quest” Strategy
You don’t have to quit tomorrow. The pressure to have your entire career path figured out is what keeps us **career stuck**. Instead, think in side quests.
A side quest is a small, low-risk experiment you run *outside* your main job to test a new direction. It’s how you gather real data about what you like, without blowing up your life.
Example: If you think you want to go into marketing, don’t just apply for marketing jobs. Start a tiny TikTok or Instagram page about something you love (plants, thrifting, analyzing reality TV). Try to grow it to 500 followers. See if you enjoy the content creation, analytics, and engagement. That’s real experience you can now talk about.
Another example: Want to switch to tech? Before you drop $10k on a bootcamp, use free resources like FreeCodeCamp or Codecademy for 30 minutes a day for one month. Build one tiny project. Did you look forward to it or dread it?
70% of learning happens on the job, not in a classroom.
Let that sink in. You learn by doing. So start doing tiny versions of the thing you think you want, on the side. This kills the paralysis. You’re not “deciding your future,” you’re just running a fun little experiment.
The Truth Nobody Tells You: Your Job is a Tool, Not an Identity
We’ve been sold a lie that our career is our entire purpose and personality. It’s not. For most of us, especially early on, a job is a tool to get three things: money, experience, and stability.
Once you see it as a tool, you can be strategic. This tool right now might just be funding your life while you figure out the next tool you want to pick up. That’s okay. That’s smart.
The feeling of being **career stuck** often comes from tying your self-worth to your title or company. Detach that. You are not “a marketing coordinator at X Corp.” You are a creative person who is skilled at communication and strategy, and currently using those skills at X Corp to pay for your life and fund your side quests.
“Stop asking ‘What’s my passion?’ and start asking ‘What problems do I enjoy solving?’ Passion is a result of mastery, not a prerequisite.”
This mindset shift is everything. It takes the weight off. You’re not searching for some mythical “dream job.” You’re just looking for the next problem you’d find interesting to solve, with people you don’t mind solving it with, for money that funds the life you want outside of work.
This is the kind of stuff women talk about inside TechMae every single day. No judgment, just real ones keeping it real.
Related: This post is a must-read for women on their journey.
Start Here: Your “Unstick Me” Action Plan
Pick ONE of these to do this week. Just one. Don’t overcomplicate it.
Why This Works:
✅ It creates momentum. One small win makes the next step easier.
✅ It gives you concrete data about yourself, instead of swirling in anxiety.
✅ It proves to yourself that you’re not actually stuck—you’re just in a holding pattern.
Option 1: The Informational Interview. Find someone on LinkedIn who has a job you *think* you might want. Send a short, respectful DM: “Hi [Name], I’ve been admiring your work in [field] and would love to learn more about your path. Would you have 15 minutes for a quick virtual coffee this month?” Most people say yes. Ask them what a typical day is like, what they don’t like about the job, and how they got started.
Option 2: The Skills Audit. Open a doc. Make two lists. List 1: All the tasks at your current job you enjoy or are good at (e.g., organizing data, designing slides, calming down angry clients, writing clear emails). List 2: All the tasks you dread (e.g., long meetings, cold calling, repetitive reports). This isn’t about your job title—it’s about the micro-tasks. Your next role should have more from List 1.
Option 3: The “F*ck It” Application. Apply to one job that seems interesting but you think you’re “not fully qualified for.” Do not self-reject. Let them reject you. The goal isn’t to get the job (though that would be cool). The goal is to break the mental barrier that you have to be 100% perfect to even try.
You might also love this article – one of our most shared.
This Is Your Sign to Stop Doing It Alone
Women inside TechMae have been exactly where you are. We share side hustle wins, decode job offers, practice salary negotiations, and hype each other up through the “career stuck” phases. Come find your people.
