26 Oct Putting Off a Career Decision? Why a Tired Mind Avoids the Future
Exceptional & Exhausted #14
Your body is a sensible CFO, and it has frozen your future. The COO in you keeps the to-do list running, while the CFO quietly decides there is no budget for your future.
If you keep putting off a career decision, it is rarely laziness. When resources run low, body and mind behave like a sensible CFO in a difficult year: operations are protected and every investment project is frozen, and a vision of your future is an investment project. What helps is making that investment small and safe enough that the system can say yes.
“The shadow becomes hostile only when he is ignored or misunderstood.” Marie-Louise von Franz, Man and His Symbols (her chapter, The Process of Individuation)
If the decision about your next move were entirely yours, what would you choose? That was last week’s question, and I suspect many of you felt it for a moment, somewhere around the chest, and then put it back on the shelf.
There is no preaching and no judgement here. As an observation, putting it back is simply how things seem to be at the moment, for most of us. And if the bigger decision needs to wait, but you would like one small step that takes three minutes, the quiz is for you: Find my next move.
Why does thinking about your future feel like one more chore?
When you are tired, even a pleasant thought about the future arrives with an invoice attached: update the CV you have not opened in years, get back in touch with people, have the conversation with your manager or your partner, find out how things work outside the building you know. Who wants to start networking when there is barely enough left for dinner?
The to-do list wins, and it makes sense that it does. You know exactly how to do it, it runs on habit, and every ticked box gives a small reward. The future offers no ticks, only questions, and questions cost energy you do not feel you have.
I know this from the inside. In my banking years I let the question about my career run in the background, between meetings and late at night, and there was always a good reason to look at it later. Looking back, what I called postponing was mostly tiredness, and some wise part of me was protecting the little energy I had left.
Why is it so hard to be proactive about your own career?
Proactive? No, this season’s flavour is reactive. The leaders I work with are extraordinarily good at reacting. Something lands in the inbox or a problem appears in a meeting, and they respond quickly and well, which is a large part of why they are where they are. Being proactive about your own life uses a different muscle. There is always an email that needs an answer today, while your own direction never comes with a deadline, so it waits another year, and then another.
Why do you keep putting off a career decision?
Because your body is a very sensible CFO. When resources run low, body and mind behave like a sensible CFO in a difficult year: operations are protected and every investment project is frozen. (I loved Economics at university, so forgive me the comparison ;p) A vision of your future is an investment project. It asks for energy, attention and a few uncomfortable conversations up front, and pays back later with no guarantee. So the system postpones it, which by its own logic is perfectly sensible.
The part of us that changes the subject whenever the future comes up is easy to treat as an enemy, to be overridden with discipline and a fresh notebook. Marie-Louise von Franz, in the line at the top of this letter, points the other way. Listen to that part instead, and it usually says something reasonable: we cannot afford this right now, so please do not ask me to carry one more thing.
What does the frozen budget cost?
A freeze meant for one difficult year can easily last five. The question keeps running in the background like an app you forgot to close, using a little battery all day. Staying half in and half out for years is rarely free, and often the very tiredness that keeps us from thinking about the future is partly fed by the future we are not thinking about.
How do you look at your next move without it becoming another chore?
More discipline is unlikely to be the answer. If pushing through worked, it would have worked by now. What helps is making the investment small and safe enough that the system can say yes, because the psyche will only change when it feels safe.
That means someone else holds the structure, so you do not have to design the process as well as live it. You start from what you already know about yourself rather than from a blank page. And you do not do it alone at eleven at night with a glass of wine, which is where most of us try first (I certainly did).
This is why I built The Turning Point the way I did: six one to one sessions online, with voice note support in between, so the work fits around a full calendar. We map the three paths, stay, step up or step out, including what each would mean for your days, your income and your family’s security. We test the decision in your head and your body until you are sure, and then prepare the first step together, so it feels like something you can do in an ordinary week. I cannot promise the promotion or the new role, because other people decide those. I can promise that you will walk into those conversations having decided, prepared, and as yourself.
And if you would like to see which move is pulling at you before deciding anything, the quiz has ten questions and shows you straight away what is most likely holding you back.
If thinking about your future cost you no energy at all, what would you let yourself imagine?
Warmly, Danguole
P.S. This autumn I am taking three founding clients into The Turning Point, at a founding rate in exchange for their honest feedback along the way. If some part of you read this and thought maybe, you can book a free 45 minute Turning Point call here. In those 45 minutes we look at where you are now, what is pulling you or pushing you, and which of the three paths, stay, step up or step out, has the most energy in it for you. You leave with a clearer picture and one concrete next step, whether or not we work together. No pressure, and no obligation.
This post is Exceptional & Exhausted #14. Previous edition: Layoff Anxiety: What Should You Do When Job Cuts Hit the Headlines? Related: Career Crossroads at 40: Do You Want the Next Ten Years to Look Like This?
Danguole Litvinskaite, founder of Coach and You. Ex investment banker (14 years), ICF PCC executive coach with 3,100+ coaching sessions. About Danguole. First published 26 October 2026 · Last updated 27 October 2026.
In short
- Putting off a career decision is usually tiredness, and some wise part of you protecting the little energy left.
- Your to-do list runs on habit and gives a small reward with every tick. The future offers no ticks, only questions.
- A freeze meant for one difficult year can easily last five, and the question keeps draining energy in the background.
- More discipline is unlikely to help. A small, safe, structured first step does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I keep putting off a career decision?
Usually because you are tired, not because you lack discipline. When energy runs low, your body protects daily operations and freezes anything that looks like an investment, and thinking about your future is exactly that kind of investment.
Is it a mistake to wait before deciding whether to stay or leave my job?
Waiting for one difficult season can be sensible. The cost comes when a freeze meant for one year lasts five, and the unanswered question keeps draining energy in the background while you stay half in and half out.
How can I think about my next move when I am exhausted?
Make the first step small and safe. Start from what you already know about yourself, let someone else hold the structure, and avoid doing it alone late at night. The Next Move quiz takes about three minutes and shows which move is pulling at you and what is most likely holding you back.
What happens in The Turning Point?
Six one to one sessions online, with voice note support in between. Together we map stay, step up or step out, including what each means for your days, your income and your family’s security, test the decision in your head and your body, and prepare the first step so you can take it in an ordinary week.
About the Author
Danguole Litvinskaite is an executive coach based in Switzerland who helps Directors and VPs at a career turning point decide whether to stay, step up or step out, and make the move well. An ex investment banker, LSE graduate and ICF PCC coach with 3,100+ sessions, she combines Executive Coaching, Executive Astrology and body psychology.
ICF PCC certified: verified profile
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