Do you ever think about changing your career?

When my wife and I started out and would get totally frustrated we would go through these elaborate fantasy exercises re-imagining ourselves. I remember one was triggered by an ad in the Wall Street Journal where this guy was selling a small town outside Yellowstone park, complete with a private airport. Neither of us had ever been to that part of the country at the time and forget there was no way in the world we could muster the where-with-all to buy it. But we spent the weekend calling people we knew who knew something about that part of the country, or airports, or whatever, mapping out what we could do with this town. By Monday we were totally re-charged and ready to go back and fight the battles at our regular job. Another time an old college buddy who had married a kiwi and was living/working in New Zealand wrote and said they were fed up with the work situation there and planning to come back to the U.S. We wrote back and inquired if they would be interested in swapping houses for say a year before making a full commitment; they could see if they really wanted to return and we could check our feelings about working/living there. Went so far that time that I went to the New Zealand consulate to check on work visas. The person asked what my wife and I did. I said she worked for a major computer/tech firm (which she did at the time) and the person said, "oh, we can use her." I said I was in public relations and the person said "Oh dear. What ever would we do with you?" That was the end of that fantasy. But once again, it released some of our everyday frustrations with what felt like stagnated career paths.

There were more realistic opportunities along the way, particularly for my wife. She had a business degree, had started and run her own business, had a full range of office skills. She was in demand and never wanting for job opportunities. She would stay with a job until she got bored and frustrated, then move to the next. I picked and chose among opportunities in my own corporate hierarchy until I wound up in a career position I loved. But the fantasy breaks helped a lot during the most frustrating periods.