A career change shouldn’t just be about jumping from one job to another. When you are thinking "I need a career change", at the fundamental level you must use this as a transformational pivot point in your life. This is where you say “enough is enough” and change your thoughts, actions and stories of who you are. It must be bigger than the job. It’s a change in your way of being.
The feeling has entrapped your soul with a crushing weight you carry around. You walk around with the emotional burden of a boat anchor chained to your leg.
Your job is causing you to be angry, sad and even near tears. It’s forcing you to tune out and escape. I know the feeling all too well. I’ve been there before.
You feel ready to walk away from your job at any cost. But… you just can’t make it happen.
You are hopeless and stuck! You think, what do I do?
Being hopeless, desperate, and feeling bad for ourselves can often seems like all there is to do when we don’t know what else. It’s almost easier to think that if we suffer enough, the world will take pity on us and offer us a solution.
The problem with this is that simply saying "I want a career change" and wanting it badly enough doesn’t fix your situation.
Suffering aimlessly while knowing that it’s time for a career change unfortunately won’t help.
There's a common career myth that there is some end destination we all should be striving for.
However, our professional paths are forever in motion. We are constantly in flux and cycle in and out of stages or phases. A job that was a great fit for us at one stage might no longer be as our life changes around it.
In my early adult years, I was running my Window Cleaning and Home Services business. At the time it was a great fit in my life. It uniquely contributed to that phase of my life. I was able to live a life that was humble but meaningfully my own.
I was deeply proud of the life I had created through it. It offered me the ability to be the most inspired and empowered version of me.
As I matured, met my future wife, and took on a mortgage my life progressed into a different stage. My line of work began to be misaligned with my life.
Unfortunately, I didn’t tune into this “misalignment” right away.
I pushed my feelings down, tried to fix the situation by dedicating myself further into my work. I tried to force my way through the discontentment.
The irony is that I completely alienated myself from the carefree, inspired and intentional purpose that I started my business from.
Work had become a chore and it compromised who I was.
I lost touch with the unstoppable, bulletproof, visionary part of me that could overcome challenges and wasn't subject to the whims of my emotions.
The part of me that wasn't subject to the whims of my emotions and was aligned with my highest purpose in life.
When we recognize that we want to change career paths, this realization never comes instantly. It always comes after oscillating between sentiments of “trying to make it work” and “I’m done and over this. I need a career change.”
Leaving a long-term job isn’t a small decision. If it’s been a significant part of your life there will be an incredible amount of emotion attached to it.
When part of us knows that we want to change career paths it’s not an easy thing to reconcile. It seems like there's no easy solution.
Here’s the main reason why most people struggle to navigate a meaningful job transition.
The reason is that the state of mind that we operate out of when we’re “hopeless, desperate and so over” our job, is a mindset that keeps us immobile. We are incredibly disempowered. Far from the unstoppable version of ourselves that can conquer anything.
If we remain in this head space, we’ll be unable to make rational or powerful decisions.
If we’re in “the fog of war,” our inner volatility prevents us from being the carefree, curious, best self that can explore infinite options and see endless possibilities.
The part of us that gets angry, upset and emotionally distraught over "yet another disheartening day of work" is a deep seeded part of mind.
This part of us is the fight or flight part of us that runs beyond our control..
When we get emotionally capsized, angered or despaired, it’s like our whole world gets spun around in a tornado and left in a pile of debris.
We’re left in shambles trying to rebuild. Yet it does nothing to improve our situation.
If we're enslaved to our emotions, we become immobile in our ability to conquer a career change. This is the heart of the challenge. A meaningful career change requires you to be your unstoppable and bulletproof, best self.
If you find yourself melting at the first emotion of anger, self pity or victimhood, you will never achieve complete fulfillment in your career.
You must acknowledge your inner volatility but you must boldly say "I accept this no longer." This is the moment you can look back on and thank yourself for the person you became. You must build a meaningful career by upholding a higher standard through transformed life patterns. A meaningful career will be one that:
Taking a transformative approach to a career change offers not just a new job but an empowered and intentional life. It is a holistic approach that offers new hope.
If you are changing careers or looking for meaningful career development, a Career Coach is a helpful ally to: