If you’re considering a job or career change, it’s normal to feel paralyzed by fear of the unknown. But research points to a few practical strategies that can help assuage your anxiety—while keeping you away from unrealistic wishes and rash decisions. 

Manage your expectations. A job change might temporarily increase your satisfaction, but that can wear off fairly quickly. So coach yourself to be realistic: The change most likely won’t make you worse off, but don’t romanticize it. If your expectations are too high, you’ll be disappointed—and might even find yourself on the job market over and over again, stuck in a cycle of unmet hopes. 

Look for happiness outside of work first. Remember that the biggest predictor of work happiness is non-work happiness. When things are good in your personal life, work can feel more stable and less bothersome. And relying on what you do for a living as a source for your overall well-being places too much emphasis and pressure on the job. 

Jump before you’re pushed. One of the most common correlates of depression is feeling that your life is out of your control, with external forces determining what happens to you. Getting fired or laid off from work commonly provokes frustration, guilt, embarrassment, and anger, and it can even affect your satisfaction at a new job. Sometimes, losing your job comes as a complete surprise, but look for advance warning signals (management changes, a hiring freeze, or a switch in a product line, for example) where you can. If you stay alert, you have a better chance of leaving on your own terms.

Adapted from The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life by Arthur C. Brooks 

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