Core of Change
A career shift is about making a transformative life decision. The primary career objective for career change purposes must be rooted in altering the trajectory of your life. A career transition is a renewed opportunity to connect to the inner fire that is your soulful foundation.
Your previous career was likely one that you found your way into by happenstance. It was done for the sake of earning an income, building skills, credibility and getting your foot in the door. It served the purpose well and established your track record.
However, it’s time to create a new objective. One that you forge with intention rather than happenstance.
Your new career objective for career change purposes serves a different master than your old job.
Your next career will be the one you strive toward not just for the money. It is one that is fundamentally important to you. It will be the career path you cultivate toward an empowered and intentional life.
The career that will become your vocation.
Unfortunately, many people try to find their new career path the same way they found their previous job. However, a meaningful career transition isn’t about finding another job, it’s about living for a grander life vision and purpose.
A transformed career is one where, seeking it, finding it and living it are one cohesive goal and purpose. It’s not a means to an end.
If you try and treat it like a job, it will elude you.
You can’t achieve your true aspirations if you are simultaneously seeking the comforts of the familiar.
The inspiration you feel to shift careers is a nudging or pushing force from within. It’s as though something is calling you to move towards it. It’s experienced as dissatisfaction or discontentment in your current job. You feel compelled to do something else.
But, to do what?
The natural reaction when we experience job dissatisfaction is to obsess over what we think our next job should be. We tend to think, if I could just figure out what will make me satisfied then I could act towards it.
A career is transformed not through stumbling upon a job or idea but by moving towards and creating it.
A life transforming career shift is never an easy or convenient path.
It’s the path that challenges you, shapes you and pushes you towards self-discovery.
The reason many people struggle so deeply to find their new career path isn’t because they haven’t thought up the idea yet. It’s because they haven’t gone through the needed journey and challenges necessary. They haven’t learned the lessons along the way required to possess and own it yet.
We tend to wait on the sidelines and hope our next opportunity comes to us rather than leaping in and living it.
A career transition is a personal journey that requires you to step out onto the field and participate. It requires you to be bold, tenacious and have a pioneer’s spirit.
When you’re stuck in an unfulfilling career, you become disconnected and insulated from your true and authentic self. Your motivation and inspiration become zapped.
An unfulfilling job creates a functioning zombie out of us. We become completely blocked off from the essence of what makes us powerful.
If you’ve lost touch with that unique and unstoppable force, you end up becoming a “just showing up for work” persona.
This persona is crafter for survival rather than for purposeful thriving.
Part of the journey of shifting your career objective for career change purposes requires you to discover and reignite the flame of your authentic self.
Before you can find meaning and purpose in a vocation, you must first be authentically you. This is something you must cultivate with intention. It won’t happen on its own.
That nudging discontentment you feel toward your job.
That’s you being called to action.
That voice isn’t going to go away. Many try and numb it, but it always shows its ugly face somehow.
If you silence and block out your call to action, it creates internal friction. Unfortunately, too many people go through their entire career blocking out this call to action. It inevitably creates a lot of bitterness, resentment and pain.
Luckily this doesn’t have to be the case.
Don’t avoid long term fulfilment for short term comfort.
We change our opportunities in our career and life by taking circumstance altering action.
These are actions that once moved upon alter our life circumstances (regardless of how small).
Some examples could be:
If Nothing is done, then nothing changes.
Not all actions will be perfect, but can always be course corrected later with… More Action.
You can spend forever on the sidelines pondering, planning and thinking about how to change your career. Ultimately, it’s only in taking a decisive action that will move the ball forward.
A career change is a human journey. It’s going to be flawed
and imperfect. It will require learning, persistence and adaptability along the
way.
You’re not perfect and you don’t need to be.
As you create a new career objective for career change considerations, here are some ideas to help you explore, discover and get you moving forward.
What are your Interests?
Are there any interests or hidden pleasures your afraid to talk about?
Sometimes the things that internally spark us we have supressed because we feel shameful or silly about them. However, the chances are that if you are interested in something, there is likely many other people that are passionate about that thing as well.
If you can connect with that group of people and find your tribe, there might even be a future career opportunity you hadn’t even considered.
Do you have Ideas to share?
Do you have any ideas, thoughts or feelings you hold back on expressing?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of diminishing or moderating your honest thoughtful expressions. Sometimes your thoughts and feelings are in fact shared by everyone, but nobody has made the effort to speak the truth yet.
Do you have any Hobbies?
Do you have activities or hobbies you enjoy participating in but have lost touch of in your life?
By re-engaging with the things you enjoy, you activate your authentic self. Additionally, if your pastimes fulfill a unique niche, there could be the potential to turn this into a career, side hustle or money-making opportunity. The modern age and the global reach of the internet allows for possibilities to earn a living in ways that weren’t available in the past.
Be your Unique self
What makes you quirky, weird and uniquely yourself?
It can be so easy to fall into the trap of diminishing your authentic self out of shame or guilt. It’s a natural inclination to fear judgement. However, to reach your true potential and experience joy, you must allow the true expression of who you are. Our internal fears are usually exaggerated in our mind. Additionally, in expressing the quirky uniqueness in us offers permission for others to do the same. You begin to surround yourself with other authentic individuals rather than those who are putting up a front.
Sometimes the smallest pieces of well-meaning advice can help when you’re lost.
Having an unbiased supporting figure in your life can pick you up when you’re down and push you when you get stuck. We all have our blind spots, and it can be helpful to have someone hold a mirror up to help us see what we can’t.
Unfortunately, we don’t all have positive voices and role models in our lives.
A career coach is also a fantastic ally as you navigate a career shift. If it saves you one day of hardship on your career change journey, a career coach is a worthy investment.