---
title: How to Dig Yourself Out of a Career Rut
description: Longtime public radio broadcaster Tess Vigeland tells you what to do when it's time to get a new job.
authors:
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    url: https://money.com/author/tomvollkommer/
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    former_staff: true
published: '2015-12-14T23:26:49.000Z'
modified: '2015-12-14T23:26:49.000Z'
section: Career Advice
tags:
  - Careers
  - job search
  - Jobs
  - layoff
  - Money
  - video
  - Workplace
word_count: 153
canonical: https://money.com/get-out-career-rut/
type: Article
source: structured-blocks
---

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![Screen Shot 2015-12-11 at 5.04.45 PM](https://img.money.com/2015/12/screen-shot-2015-12-11-at-5-04-45-pm.png)

What do you do if you think it's time to leave your job, or if you're being laid off? How do you dig yourself out of a rut? Tess Vigeland, longtime public radio broadcaster, literally wrote a book—[Leap](http://www.tessvigeland.com/books/leap/)—on how to leave a job with no Plan B. Here are a couple of tips she recommends you follow:

**Make a list of your skills.** When you've been working somewhere for an extended period of time, you stop thinking about what you do as a skill. Make a list of all of your skills because you may be able to do something that no one else can. Don't sell yourself short.

**Rediscover your identity.** Take some time to figure out who you are *outside* of work. Find out what you like to do and pursue it. This can help you fill time and process your next move after a voluntary or forced departure.

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