Do you ever feel like you’re just stuck in a rut, hitting a wall, or bored to tears by your current project? Maybe it’s time for a change...

Check out the ten classic signs that you need a new project. If any of these are true, you probably need to look into your next adventure!*

1. Someone, somehow has typed “All freelancing and no play makes Jack a dull boy” over and over again on your latest draft.

2. You have started to dream about the minutiae of your work – the boring, boring minutiae of your work – after falling asleep while doing the boring, boring minutiae of your work.

3. Friends’ eyes glaze over when you complain about your current project, or praise your current project, or even say the words “current project” but you can’t help it because may God have mercy ON YOUR POOR BENIGHTED SOUL THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE IS YOUR CURRENT PROJECT.

4. You have started inserting clever little insider jokes into your work, in order to keep yourself amused. The only person who knows about them is you. The only person who laughs is you. The only person who can hear your laughter is you. But oh how you laugh and laugh and laugh! Why are your cheeks wet?

5. Every time you think about jumping back into your work after a little break, you remember that first, you desperately need to call your best friend… from third grade. What IS Ramona Taylor up to nowadays, anyway?

6. You are NOT trying to get phased out of your current project. You’re just, uh, thinking of upping your hourly rate to $900/hour.

7. You’re the most senior person on your current team – because everyone who was there when you started quit long ago. If your project was a house, you’d be sitting on its porch in a rocking chair… and the rest of your team is sick of you telling them to “get off your lawn.”

8. You indulge in complex daydreams about post-apocalyptic scenarios wherein using zombie hoards as crossbow practice becomes your main gig.

9. “Faking own death” starts to seem like a reasonable exit strategy.

10 . You haven’t given up, exactly. It’s just that your body has decided the best strategy is to go limp, bear attack-style, until the stressor is gone. If you just don’t move, surely the mean project will eventually go away?

*Well... yes, these are all ridiculous. The #1 legitimate sign that you probably need a new project? The idea strikes enough of a chord that you read this list! Go out there and get yourself a new gig, tiger!

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Kate Hamill lives and works in New York City, where she consumes an inordinate amount of Sriracha daily. You can catch up with her on Twitter at @katerone.