The Wall Street Journal is offering a free article on evaluating motivation before changing jobs. The article doesn’t give much advice other some throw-away lines from career advisors, it just chronicles the stories of two individuals who recently made the decision to take a turn in the woods and forge a new career path.
“The grass may look greener, but in fact, it may be the wrong job,” says Jan Cannon, a career adviser and author in Boston. She recalls a client who was miserable in a market-research job, moved to another employer without adequately considering the reasons for her unhappiness, and was miserable again. She is now training to be a teacher. The problem, the woman now realizes, wasn’t her former employer, it was working in market research, Ms. Cannon says.
It can be really difficult to analyze happiness or unhappiness in a vocation. I’m going through a bit of this myself. It’s been a difficult path for me so far. My interests and abilities run the gamut, and not having focused enough on any one thing, I find myself a bit lost. That’s something I’m actively working on, though.
Published or updated September 26, 2005. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
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Please keep us posted. I’m going through something like this myself, but I realized that it was the vocation, as opposed to employer, that was making me miserable. I’m scouting around for other options, but I’d be keen to hear what you’re doing. :)