You’re used to thinking of yourself as a high achiever, but lately, you haven’t been feeling that usual spark of ambition. Is this wrong? Absolutely not! Here are three tactics you can use to make peace with your desire to tone it down—even if that impulse conflicts with your previous vision of yourself.

First, adopt a flexible mindset and recognize when it’s time to shift to another strategy. This could mean acknowledging that it may be time, after years or decades of grinding hard at work, to reallocate energy toward your health and happiness, family, or hobbies and passions outside of work.

Next, understand that there’s no standardized timeline. Your career is a marathon; give yourself the grace to slow down sometimes, take mental breaks, and pace yourself.

Finally, figure out what you need in order to grow. Moving forward isn’t always a function of getting a raise, making new professional connections, or building your resume. Sometimes it’s a function of changing things up and exposing yourself to new inputs—whether it’s a month-long trip abroad, or a year of stepping back from the grind mentality and focusing on other areas of your life and well-being—that eventually lead to new and different outputs.
This tip is adapted from “How to Make Peace with Feeling Less Ambitious,”by Dorie Clark

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