riting, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watcAre you unhappy at work – tired of the monotony and lack of opportunity, fed up with commuting miles every day? Sick of the weekends spent shopping and doing housework, leaving very little time for enjoyment before the whole thing starts again?

If this scenario is familiar, you may be feeling stuck – trapped in a job you hate, but too tired to do anything about it.

Here is one possible strategy to begin your search for a more fulfilling career and a more balanced life. Take time to do something you enjoy, and then do this on a regular basis Next, set aside some time to think about what you really want and finally, investigate the steps you need to take in order to achieve it.

The first part of this plan may seem unrelated to the end goal, but is based on the fact that doing things you enjoy makes you feel better, gives you more energy and enables you to think about life from a positive angle. Planning a new career is a major task and requires energy, vision and determination; qualities which are probably in low supply when you reach the end of a busy week.

Begin by making a list of some of your favourite activities – but be sure they are things you can do without too much effort. Hang-gliding or snowboarding take a bit of organization and aren’t necessarily things you can do regularly – at the moment. You might choose writing, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watch

o tired to do anything about it.

Here is one possible strategy to begin your search for a more fulfilling career and a more balanced life. Take time to do something you enjoy, and then do this on a regular basis Next, set aside some time to think about what you really want and finally, investigate the steps you need to take in order to achieve it.

The first part of this plan may seem unrelated to the end goal, but is based on the fact that doing things you enjoy makes you feel better, gives you more energy and enables you to think about life from a positive angle. Planning a new career is a major task and requires energy, vision and determination; qualities which are probably in low supply when you reach the end of a busy week.

Begin by making a list of some of your favourite activities – but be sure they are things you can do without too much effort. Hang-gliding or snowboarding take a bit of organization and aren’t necessarily things you can do regularly – at the moment. You might choose writing, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watc

to achieve it.

The first part of this plan may seem unrelated to the end goal, but is based on the fact that doing things you enjoy makes you feel better, gives you more energy and enables you to think about life from a positive angle. Planning a new career is a major task and requires energy, vision and determination; qualities which are probably in low supply when you reach the end of a busy week.

Begin by making a list of some of your favourite activities – but be sure they are things you can do without too much effort. Hang-gliding or snowboarding take a bit of organization and aren’t necessarily things you can do regularly – at the moment. You might choose writing, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watc

are probably in low supply when you reach the end of a busy week.

Begin by making a list of some of your favourite activities – but be sure they are things you can do without too much effort. Hang-gliding or snowboarding take a bit of organization and aren’t necessarily things you can do regularly – at the moment. You might choose writing, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watc

riting, reading a good novel, exercising, playing with your children, dancing, cooking, listening to music or watching a great movie. Next, find a way of building these activities into your routine, if possible making time for at least one of them every day. If there are less interesting ways in which you spend your free time, such as watching all the soaps, or having a beer too many at the pub, cut back a bit to make time for things you actually enjoy. It should be possible to find time every day to read a few pages of a book or listen to one or two tracks by your favourite singer or composer.

Once you are feeling more upbeat, set aside a day at the weekend or take a day’s leave to look at what you really want in life. If you already know the direction in which you would like your career to go, make enquiries about training courses or look into ways in which you could gain the necessary experience.

If you know you want something different, but don’t know what it is, make a list of the things you enjoy about your job and any jobs you’ve had in the past. If you don’t enjoy any aspect of your current position, list all the things you hate and then write the opposite, in other words, what you’d rather be doing instead.

Other questions to ask yourself are: What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail? And What would I do if money wasn’t a problem?

Look back at the dreams you had when you were younger – it may be possible to reactivate them. Often, we end up in jobs because we have bills to pay and the dream is forgotten. Moving to the dream job may take time and the dream itself may need some restructuring. Find one small activity which reconnects you to your dr