If you’re not sure which direction your career should go in, you’re thinking about making a career change, or you just want to feel more fulfilled in your career, these ten tips might help.

Ideally, everyone would know their true calling early in life and find happiness in their work, but it often doesn’t work that way.

1.Think About What Excites and Energizes You. This one’s the first obvious step—we all want to enjoy and actually like our careers. (Perhaps the biggest sign you’re on the wrong path is if you dread talking about your job.) While passion isn’t the only requirement for being content in your career, many would say it’s still essential, if only because passion is what keeps you going even through the tough times.

2.Keep in Mind What You’re Good At.Maybe you don’t feel that passionate about any specific career—or you love multiple areas and can’t decide on just one. Then it’s time to think about your personality and focus on the skills you have.

3.Take a Test.Well, you say, what if you don’t know what you’re good at or even what you’re interested in? Career assessment tests could help.

4.Try an Internship. Even if it doesn’t turn into a job or you find out it’s the wrong career for you, an internship can help build your network—from which you can get career and job advice.

5.Find a Mentor.A mentor could help you take your career to the next level and give you the insider insight to help you make sure you’re on the right path.

6.Explore.We all know the popular careers available to us—doctor, lawyer, teacher, computer engineer, police officer, store owner, etc. If you feel uninspired by the typical choices, know that there are thousands of unusual jobs you might not have heard about.

7.Ask Other People.Perhaps the best way to discover a new career is to ask other people about theirs—assuming you come into contact with people who don’t all work in the same field.

8.Use the G+P+V Formula.The perfect career for you would most likely fit the G+P+V formula, which stands for Gifts + Passions + Values. Consider your strengths and passions, as we’ve noted above, and your values

9.Make a Career Plan.As with most things, your career will benefit if you have goals and a plan for it. Maybe you think you want to be a writer, but the next step after that, is editing. (Do you really want to do that?)

10.See Your Career as a Set of Stepping Stones, Not a Linear Path.Of course, all these plans and ideas are never set in stone. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint and it can turn out to be a very winding road indeed, knitted together from all of your experiences into, hopefully, a career worth having.

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