You Don’t Have a Work From Home Job Because You Haven’t Gotten Uncomfortable Yet
It’s 9:00 AM. You’re pouring your second cup of coffee and scrolling through LinkedIn, feeling that familiar pang of disappointment. Another day, another handful of “work from home” applications sent into the digital void, all for roles that look suspiciously like the one you’re trying to escape.
You’ve got the skills. You’ve got the drive. So why is the dream remote job, the one with the better pay and fancier title, still out of reach?
The uncomfortable truth is this: You’re applying for roles you’re comfortable with.
The Comfort Zone Trap
We are creatures of habit, especially when it comes to our careers. We gravitate toward job titles that perfectly match our resume, clinging to the safety of what we’ve done before.
If you’ve been a Marketing Coordinator, you apply for other Marketing Coordinator roles.
If you’ve been an Administrative Assistant, you seek out another Admin Assistant title.
The moment you see a posting for a Digital Campaign Strategist or Executive Operations Partner - titles that often signify higher-level, better-paying, and frequently remote work - you hesitate. You read the description, see a few unfamiliar keywords, and tell yourself, “That’s a reach. I don’t check every box.”
And so, you close the tab and return to the comfortable, well-worn path.
Branch Out, Not Just Back
The modern job market, particularly in the work-from-home space, doesn’t always reward familiarity; it rewards applicability.
The roles that pay more and offer the flexibility you crave are often just your existing skills packaged under a more strategic or specialized title. Your years as an Administrative Assistant didn’t just teach you to schedule meetings; you learned “Executive-level resource management” and “Complex cross-departmental communication.” Your Marketing Coordinator experience isn’t just about social media posting; it’s about “Data-driven audience engagement” and “Strategic brand positioning.”
The Secret to “Fancier” Titles (and Pay)
What’s the difference between a Content Writer and a Content Strategist? Ownership and foresight!
A writer executes.
A strategist plans, analyzes, and directs the entire content ecosystem.
The core skill (writing) is the same, but the role requires you to get uncomfortable by taking on a new level of responsibility, analysis, and strategic thinking.
To land the coveted remote role, you need to apply for jobs that force you to learn and stretch during the application process itself.
Challenge: When you see a high-value remote job that only aligns with 70% of your previous role, don’t ignore it. That 30% gap is your golden ticket. It’s the discomfort that leads to growth, better pay, and a better title.
Your Action Plan for Getting Uncomfortable
Stop Matching, Start Translating: Look at your old job description and translate the bullet points into strategic business outcomes.
- Instead of: “Handled all customer service inquiries.”
- Write: “Managed and resolved high-volume stakeholder communication, reducing escalation rates by 15%.”Apply Above Your Pay Grade: Make a commitment to apply for at least one job per week that intimidates you. The preparation for the interview alone will force you to research new terminology and articulate your existing skills in a more sophisticated way.
Upgrade Your Vocabulary: The comfortable titles use comfortable language. Start incorporating the vocabulary of the role you want into your resume and conversations. Use words like: Optimization, Strategy, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Scalability, Governance, Cross-functional.
Your dream work-from-home job isn’t hiding from you. It’s sitting right there, one fancy title higher, waiting for you to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
