There is no bad time to pause along the winding road of a lifetime of professional achievement and double-check that you are indeed headed in the right direction. In your professional life, what are you hoping to accomplish? Consider the following options: money, growth, security, predictability, or daily challenge. How do you see yourself in five years? Why not ten years? Here are three typical landmarks in a person’s professional life, along with some helpful advice for preparing for each one. You should make sure you are on the right track by checking the relevant advice.

1. You’re either about to declare a major or enter the workforce after completing your undergraduate studies.

Given your lack of work experience, you must take risks in accordance with the advice of elders and the promptings of your own heart. Consider who you really are and what you take pleasure in doing most by spending some time reflecting on these questions before taking any drastic action. Be honest with yourself and keep in mind that the career path you choose will consume the vast majority of your waking hours for the foreseeable future.

It’s not a good idea to go against your own interests and values in order to please your parents, teachers, neighbours, or peers. They may act as if they are concerned about how you spend the next forty years, but they really aren’t. Ten years from now, when you finally come to your senses and decide that this isn’t the field for you, they won’t be around to help you change course.

2. You have a job but you don’t enjoy it.

You shouldn’t put things off any longer. Now is the time to muster your strength, settle on a course of action, and put it into motion. You can either go back to school and get a degree in a new field, or you can immediately begin working. Alternatively, you could explore different avenues within your current profession. You could try to move up in the company by applying at other businesses or applying for new positions within the one you’re already at. Neither of these conditions puts you in the position of being alone. A degree of initiative and risk-taking is going to be required of you in your next step, but know that you are not alone; people just like you are constantly changing jobs and living situations. Be the protagonist, not the antihero, of your own life.

3. You are currently unemployed but are looking for work.

If you’re actively looking for work and nothing seems to be happening, it may be time for a new job search strategy. Like you, many job seekers get off to a positive, enthusiastic start, but begin feeling the weight of self-doubt after they’ve been on the market for a few weeks or months. If you suspect your resume could use a boost, or you’ve exhausted your list of networking contacts, or you just aren’t sure why you aren’t getting the interviews and offers you need, reach out to job search experts, mentors, and online resources that function as forums for others in your position. There’s no reason to accept stagnation and frustration if a few simple changes or some outside perspective could shake your job search out of a negative pattern.