Have you ever caught yourself in a daydream where you’re the boss at work, or where you’ve left your current job to live your dream instead? It’s a common experience for many people who feel stuck and unhappy in their careers. You know you’re capable of doing more, but for some reason, you’re held back by fear or lack of confidence.

But you don’t have to stay stuck in your career forever. With the right mindset and strategies, you can break free and start getting ahead. Here are ten tips for becoming unstuck in your career:

1. Make time for you
If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated or unhappy in your career, the first step is to work out why. Prioritizing time to think is the first step you need to take to stop feeling stuck and start getting ahead. Book some time into your day where you can have an uninterrupted meeting with yourself. This is your thinking time.

Work out what makes you happy at work, what doesn’t, and where you might want to go. Decide on the steps you want to take to progress your career in the direction that you want it to take. For example, are there training days, evening courses, or online learning that you can do? Have you considered getting a mentor to help you get ahead?

By booking in a meeting with yourself, it signals it’s important (to you and your colleagues) and also stops others spotting a gap in your day and filling it with a meeting.

2. Grow your network before you need it
Who you know is more important than what you know for career progression. Don’t wait until you’re feeling stuck in your career to start expanding your networks. Do it now.

Adam Grant, the author of Give and Take, says you’re 58% more likely to get a new job through your weak ties than through your strong ones. Your strong ties are those in your immediate circle whom you interact with often. Your weak ties are your friends of friends. They move in different circles to you, they know different people, make different connections, and are more likely to introduce you to new and different opportunities.

When I was thinking about setting up my current company, Lucidity, I turned up to every networking event. I drank a lot of coffees with a lot of different people to understand what they did, to ask for advice, to unpick what their problems were, and to look for opportunities for collaboration and connections.

It paid off because, when I launched my business, I let my network know how I could help them, and soon I had my first clients. Pay attention to building and nurturing your networks and focus on how you can add value to other. That’s where your next career opportunity is most likely to come from.

3. Surround yourself with people who inspire you
According to Tim Ferriss, “You are the average of the five people you most associate with,” and his associations with different people ebbs and flows depending on what he’s working on and trying to achieve.

For example, if you are trying to be fitter, it’s easier if you hang around with people who love doing exercise–they help you to up your game.

If you want that promotion, a career change, or to set up your own business, seek out people who are excelling at it already. They’ll have valuable things to teach you about breaking free and getting ahead.

4. Work on your personal brand
Jeff Bezos defines a personal brand as “what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” People will talk about you when you are not in the room anyway, so you might as well be deliberate about what you’d like people to say!

Your personal brand isn’t about pretending to be something you’re not. That can actually keep you feeling stuck in your career. It’s really about being your best “real you.” It’s about owning your strengths and being purposeful about how you want to be perceived by others.

What do you want to be known for? By being more deliberate about how you want to come across and what you’re looking for in your career, you’ll increase your chance of attracting the right opportunities.

Once you’ve given your personal brand some thought, make sure that you show up online. Is your LinkedIn profile up to date? And if you don’t have one, get one. Make sure it communicates what you want to be known for and that it’s consistent with your other social media profiles.

5. Be accountable
Achieve your career goals faster, and grow and learn by making yourself accountable. Tell other people your goals and a timeline, and have them hold you accountable.

For example, you might want to get a promotion by the end of the year, have decided the sector you want to move to by the end of the month, or have got your new business idea before the next payday. Whatever your ambitions are, you can tell a friend or a colleague, or share this with a mentor or a mastermind group.

When we tell other people our goals and intentions, they hold us accountable, and we are more likely to make progress faster.

6. Make sure your values are aligned with your company’s
All the professional development, goal setting, and networks in the world won’t make you happy if you’re working for a company that ultimately has opposing values to yours.

Figure out what’s important to you in a job. For example, does your company’s product help people live a better life? Do you feel strongly about your company’s ethics and social responsibility? Does the company culture allow employees to be themselves and shine? Or maybe flexible working and more holidays for employees with families is where your heart is?

Some companies put their employees’ well-being at the core of their business; others put profits first. If you feel that your values don’t match the core values of your employer, it could be a reason why you’re feeling stuck in your career and unhappy.

It’s important to work through this and identify whether it’s the job that is not right for you, or if it’s a great job but the organization or sector is wrong for you.

7. Get out of your comfort zone
Your comfort zone is your safe place. For any change to happen, you have to step out of your comfort zone.

It’s actually much easier not to change anything and to keep grumbling on about how you’re stuck and unhappy in your career than to step outside of your comfort zone to address the fearful unknowns associated with change. It’s part of human nature that we’d put up with the devil we know rather than risk the devil we don’t.

This is true even if the devil we know is a boring, unfulfilling job because we’re wired to think that making a change to find a better option might actually leave us worse off.

If you feel stuck, it might be that your confidence has got the better of you. To get ahead at work, start taking small steps outside of your comfort zone. Try volunteering for a project that’s outside of your usual responsibilities, or make a presentation to your colleagues on a topic you’re passionate about.

8. Learn something new
Learning something new can give you the confidence boost you need to start making changes in your career. Take a class, attend a workshop or conference, or read a book on a topic you’re interested in.

By investing in your own personal and professional development, you’ll not only gain new skills but also demonstrate that you’re proactive and committed to your career.

9. Embrace failure
Failure is an inevitable part of any career journey. The sooner you embrace it and learn from it, the quicker you’ll be able to move on and get ahead.

Rather than seeing failure as a setback, reframe it as a learning experience. Ask yourself what you could have done differently, and what you’ve learned that you can apply to your career going forward.

10. Take action
Ultimately, the key to getting unstuck and moving ahead in your career is to take action. No amount of planning or strategizing will make a difference if you don’t take the first step.

Start small, and build momentum by taking consistent action towards your career goals. Whether it’s updating your resume, applying for a new job, or starting your own business, every step you take will bring you closer to the career and life you want.

In conclusion, feeling stuck in your career is a common experience, but it’s not one you have to live with forever. By making time for yourself, growing your network, surrounding yourself with inspiring people, working on your personal brand, being accountable, aligning your values with your company’s, getting out of your comfort zone, learning something new, embracing failure, and taking action, you can break free and get ahead at work. So, what are you waiting for? Start taking those small steps today.