A Season to Change

Every year about this time I get the urge to look for a new position.  It has become as regular as clockwork at this point:  I work on my annual review, I look around at my job, and I say to myself "I really need to find something else".  This year has already been more challenging than others simply from the fact that I only took New Year's Day off:  thus, the things I was working on last year became the things I came in to work on this year.

It is somewhat different this year though, in the sense that I would actually like to make a change, not just talk about it.  Looking at my review, realizing that I have been almost five years at the same position with little movement and no potential for anything new or any movement is enough to make one think (once again) that there needs to be a change.  But this time I really need to make one.

But how do I go about doing this?  This is the thing that I need to wrap my arms around.  The "old" way of doing things - get a resume, search online, apply - has not worked out for me as I might have hoped.  Yes, I understand that there are extenuating circumstances and yes, I understand I am out of state for 49 states, but the results have been negligible.  

Am I barking up the wrong tree in believing that I can only do what I do in the industry I am doing it in?  Two days ago I would have said no, but I have data suggesting that this is not the case either.  People are doing it.

No, the problem seems to come down to something more basic and personal:  it is me.

I am not hungry enough for the change.  I am not willing to pay the price necessary to bring it about.  I say I want change but I hardly put in the effort to make it happen.  The result?  Every year about this time, I go through the same thought process. 

How can I change this to move it from the intellectual and theoretical to the actual?  This is the part that constantly eludes me.  I need to find the motivation from somewhere other than the usual places to make it happen - and then take the steps to accomplish it.

Because if I am truly honest, everyone around me really is moving on and doing something with their lives.  It is time for me to do likewise.