How to Find a Low-Stress Career

How to Find a Low-Stress Career We live inan era thats much more sympathetic to work-life balance than previous years, and that means its a good time to step back and take a holistic view of your career. You dont need to settle for being a life-long slave to the corporate machine you can hop from career to career, depending on your tastes, whims, and lifestyle. Sure, you still need to earn money, but you have much more choice in how you do that these days day.Climbing the corporate ladder not for you? Feeling unfulfilled, burnt out, or overstressed? Maybe you should plan for a low-stress career.That being said, low-stress jobs do come at a price lower pay. There are very few high-paying jobs that arent stressful. Ifyou want a low stress career, you should prepare yourself to earn a little less than you otherwise could.High-Pay, Low-Stress Jobs Do Exist, But Are elend Easy to LandOn the bright sid e,locating a high-pay, low-stress job has been made easier today, thanks to the availability of big data analyses. One such analysis is featured in an article on Business Insider, which lists 17 high-paying jobs for people who dont like stress. The list includes orthodontists, mathematicians, and economists, among other roles.While its may be fairly easy to locate these high-pay,low-stress jobs, its not easy to land them.Youll need a lot of patience, the willingness to study long and hard, and significant educational funds. It would be fair to say that the rare combination of low-stress and high-pay is not easily accessed.To Reduce Stress, Avoid Middle ManagementIf are you are prepared to sacrifice somepay, another way to lower the stress of yourcareer involves stepping down from your middle-management role or simply never stepping up in the first place.Middle managers suffer more stress than the people below and above them, and they are much more likely to suffer symptoms of depre ssion and anxiety,according to research.If you want a low-stress career, youll want tofocus your career progression efforts on the acquisition of specialist knowledge andcertification. Thisnon-management route can lead to higher pay without the stress of climbing up the ranks.Go Freelance Youll Be HappierNot thatfreelance is a totally stress-free endeavor, but research suggests that freelancers are more satisfied with their work, pay, and career progression potential than traditional, full-timeworkers. So,going freelance could be just theway tocut down on your stress while still earning enough to pay your bills.Find aCareer that Suits Your PersonalityIf you seem to always find yourself in rolesthat conflict with your values and personality preferences, that could be one of the primary causesof your high stress levels.For example, if you take a low-stress job as a mathematician, but you hate the isolation associated with this job, you might find it very stressful.One way to find a l ow-stress career is to find a role and company that suit your values and personality preferences.If youre not certain of what kind of role or company that may be, consider taking a career preference assessment of some sort.If You Can Afford It, Work a Low-Stress 30-Hour WeekYoull need to negotiate well to achieve a 30-hour workweek contract for what would normally be a full-time role, but plenty of high-flying employees have used this tactic to achieve some additional work-life balance.-We now have much more control over the amount of stress we subject ourselves to during our careers. We are not prisoners of the systemIf youwant to avoid stressful career paths from the outset, take a breather, or get out of the rat race entirely, there are now plenty of low-stress career optionsopen. Find the right one for you