PSA: it’s completely normal to change your mind, feel directionless or fall out of love with your ‘dream job’. It’s equally normal to do this multiple times throughout your career, especially in the early days. In fact, the average person changes jobs seven times before they turn 30.

As reassuring as that statistic is, you might still be thinking: Can I really? Everywhere, the milestones of adulthood are looming, and in the world of LinkedIn promotion announcements, proposals and first home Instagram posts, it’s easy to think that the fastest route to the top is the best one, and that taking an unconventional career path will cause you to fall behind in the game of life.

Whether it’s a degree, apprenticeship, graduate scheme, networking events or time dedicated to professional development, it can very quickly start to feel that you have already invested too much in a chosen career, and that making a change would mean a lot of wasted time, money and energy.

But with upwards of 30 years of our working lives still ahead of us and almost endless opportunities out there, this is actually an example of some very flawed logic known as the sunk cost fallacy.

Coined by behavioural economist Richard Thaler, the sunk cost fallacy causes us to continue with a particular project because of the time, money and effort that we have already invested. It’s driven by the belief that these sunk costs will have been wasted if we quit now, and as such we continue pouring further resources into said project, even if it’s no longer in our best interest. The further we fall into the sunk cost fallacy mindset, the harder it is to break free because the number of sunk costs we have invested continues to rise.

So how can we stop the sunk cost fallacy from hijacking our decision-making? Stylist asked two careers experts how to break free from the mindset and embrace change in our working lives.

“It’s very easy for sunk costs to cloud our judgement when thinking about our career, because the things we stand to lose feel much more tangible than those we have to gain,” says Sarah Burrows, a career and business coach. “It’s harder to visualise and focus on the future because it’s unknown. In contrast, we’re aware of what we may be moving on from, and often, this makes us feel that it’s safer and easier to sit in dissatisfaction, rather than risk that a change could be better.”

The problem, explains career coach Caroline Hickey, is that “staying in a job that you no longer enjoy creates a huge increase in emotional and psychological labour. The additional energy required to keep yourself motivated and engaged in order to operate at a satisfactory level is exhausting,” she adds. “In adding ‘keeping up appearances’ to your to-do list, you have essentially given yourself two jobs in one. This increased stress and pressure can contribute to burnout, as well as negatively impacting your mental health.”

“The first way to address this is to understand what your personal definition of success actually is,” explains Burrows. “Your career (and your life more generally) is made up of much more than status, salary and promotions. Starting to consider your wider values, such as freedom, enjoyment and work-life balance, will help you to realise what you stand to gain from making a move away from a career that isn’t delivering on these aspects.

“It’s also very important to contextualise where you are within the timeline of your entire career. People tend to overestimate how much of a dent they have already made in their professional life. If you’re 30, you probably have about 35 years of working left, which is considerably more than the approximately 10 years you’ve already committed.”

Hickey agrees: “Staying in a job that you don’t enjoy simply because of the investments you’ve made so far is like building a house that you don’t want to live in. The question I always ask in coaching is: ‘Would you rather two years of discomfort while you work out what you want to do or another 25+ years of discomfort in a career that’s not making you happy?’”

That all makes sense. But given that most of us spend 40+ hours a week at work, surely it’s fairly normal to feel a little fed up from time to time? How can we tell the difference between short-term dissatisfaction and a genuine need for career change?

“The key,” explains Hickey, “is to identify the issue causing your dissatisfaction, as this will help you to figure out how big of a change is needed to fix it.

“For example, if too many hours of meetings are stopping you from spending time on the parts of your job you enjoy, this could be solved by saying no to certain meetings in order to protect your workload. However, if your company isn’t making you feel empowered to set boundaries and advocate for yourself, then there is a larger underlying issue which may signify that a job change is needed.”

To help you identify the root of your unhappiness, ask yourself the following:

It all sounds great in theory, but even when we know it’s time for change, the prospect of starting again can seem daunting, especially if we’re not entirely sure what we want to do next. Rather than simply taking a leap into the unknown, how can we safely and confidently transition into our next career path?

Hickey suggests breaking the situation down into four key stages and asking yourself the following questions:

Where have I been?

Think about the decisions and motivations that have led you to this point, as well as those areas of your career that have worked well, and those that haven’t. Reflecting on what you have learned up to this point can help you to discover what you want to carry with you into your next career.

Where am I now?

This stage is all about assessing the role that work plays in your life, both in terms of your emotional identity and practically, in terms of income, status and responsibility. Once you’re clear on where work fits into your overall life, it becomes easier to identify the options that will meet these needs.

Where do I want to go?

This next stage is about looking at your long-term goals, which will show you how much of a change is needed to get you on a path towards them. You can then begin to think about the different ideas and options you’d like to explore in order to reach these goals.

What happens now?

The final stage is about identifying the first actions you need to take to make these ideas happen in practice. This could be researching the qualifications, finances, training programmes or contacts you need to make to get a foot in the door.

There’s no getting away from the fact that making a career change is daunting, and falling out of love with our ‘dream job’ can leave us feeling confused and directionless for a while. Ultimately, there’s no greater threat to your long-term success and happiness than remaining in a job that no longer brings you any sense of fulfilment, and there is no shame in making multiple changes of direction throughout your career.

“By exposing yourself to new environments and perspectives, you’ll gain the skills, confidence and experiences to excel throughout your career,” says Burrows.

Hickey agrees. “When we padlock ourselves to one career path that we feel we should take because, once upon a time, we thought it was our dream, we deny ourselves the chance to explore our full potential and who we might become,” she says. “We are packed with so much potential and there is so much out there in the world to experience that if we are to truly pursue a life well lived, we need to be open to change in all areas of our lives, including our careers.”

Images: Adobe; Getty