Do you feel pigeonholed or trapped in a career you’ve outgrown?

Here’s how to change perceptions, open up new career possibilities, and create a work life that suits who you are today.

‘We change. That’s part of the deal.

A well-lived life without re-calibration is unlikely.’ Seth Godin

When you’ve dedicated huge energy and time to your career, what happens when it no longer fits? Maybe the role has changed beyond all recognition or perhaps your needs are different now. Of course, both these factors could be true, but whichever applies, the result is the same: it feels extremely uncomfortable.

People in this situation might be experiencing feelings of disenchantment, exhaustion, shame, sadness, confusion or hopelessness. At the same time, self-critical thoughts and worst-case scenarios are providing the mood music. This is not a happy place to be.

Once you’ve experienced such a situation it’s hard to go back to blithe optimism. The genie is out of the bottle and you’ve faced this important truth: things have shifted.

Once this realization takes hold there are two options: let things continue as they are, or decide to exercise your agency and change things for the better. This article suggests several ways you can regain control and start creating a more fulfilling future.

1. Feeling pigeon-holed: perceptions, assumptions and reframes

When you’ve spent years of effort and learning developing your professional skills, you could be seen as an expert in your field. This is a positive thing – an accomplishment based on experience and application.

If you take the flip side of this, some might feel ‘pigeon-holed.’ This perception only comes into play when considering what else you might be able to do with your career. You may see only limited options open to a professional like you and feel restricted instead of empowered.

My view is that a perception of being pigeon-holed is just that – a perception. A better way to view the same facts  - someone with clearly defined experience, learning and achievements in a specific field - is that you have excellent examples of success, skills, strengths and mindsets that could also be deployed in a new field.

You are much more than your professional role.

At the same time, it is all too easy to make assumptions about your career to date. Are you harbouring some of these assumptions?

·      you are too old to change

·      you are too specialist to change direction

·      you have years of learning and developing behind you

·      you are unemployable in a different role, field or organization

·      your hard-won skills won’t easily transfer into a new career

So let’s call all these potential beliefs out for what they usually are – assumptions, based on fear and doubt rather than the realities of the world around you.

If you have verifiable evidence that any of these are true of you and for you, right here, right now, then they become worthy of consideration. Until then, they are quite simply falsehoods, lies, worst-case scenarios. They are probably delivered in the voice of your inner critic with a doom-laden tone that everything will go horribly wrong if you step beyond your current area of expertise.

How can these assumptions and perceptions be reframed to allow for positive action? First of all, just seeing clearly that they are assumptions means that you have broken their pernicious hold on you.

Secondly, try writing a statement about your professional self that sees your experience for what it is – something that is evolving.

For example, I might say about the early part of my own career:

‘For the first six years of my career I was a secondary English teacher.

When I moved into adult education for the next decade, I transferred this experience into a new field with different students, situations and expectations.

When I re-trained as a career guidance professional I transferred many skills and strengths acquired from teaching into a new career, and I learnt many new skills too.’

By seeing your current career as just a chapter in your lifelong career, you open up possibilities.

Career change really is possible – and the first step to making it a reality is being able to shift your perception. By saying ‘that was chapter one – and chapter two will build on everything I’ve learnt so far and develop new skills, learning and see different impacts’ you are acknowledging that life is by its very nature dynamic.

This reframe will open up your thinking and you can see that chapter two will also have different meaning for you because it meets the needs of the person you are today.

2. Feeling trapped

We’ve all experienced that horrible nightmare where we need to run to escape danger – but simply can’t move. This is the epitome of feeling trapped.

It reflects how powerless we feel, unable to do what is necessary for us to survive.

When we feel trapped in a career it means either we can’t see an alternative way forward or we are too weighed down by fears and insecurities that we cannot take action.

But this disempowering feeling is worth closer examination – what are the realities and what in fact are mind traps?

Development coach Jennifer Garvey-Berger is the author of ‘Unlocking Leadership Mind traps: How to Thrive in Complexity’. She describes five mind traps we can all fall into, but the one I want to focus on here is the final one: ego.

The story creating this mind trap goes something like this:

‘ I have worked really hard to become me, and need to protect who I am.’

This ‘protection’ involves defending a sense of self, including professional identity, and the belief that our greatest learning is behind us. Realising that this is only one way of describing the situation is an important shift in perception. An alternative could be:

‘ I have worked really hard to become me and achieve my successes, and this is not the end of the story. I could choose to use the same application and learning to move into a more fulfilling career.’

What happens when the story is reframed like this is that greater possibilities open up. The trap is no longer slammed shut.

Of course that’s not the end of the matter, this is no fairy story and there is no magic wand. So how can you create the right conditions to make the most of new possibilities and transform a feeling of entrapment into a committed journey towards a better future?

3. Breaking free and opening up new possibilities

‘We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.’

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Meta Platforms

Once we realize we can make changes based on what matters most at this point in our lives, everything shifts and many more things can happen. Some features of this brave new world include:

1. Who might I become?

With a sense that who you are today is not necessarily the final destination, there is the option to become something more. Ask: ‘Who might I become?’ Generating completely fresh ideas requires an open mind and the ability to imagine a different kind of success.

2. Intentional Evolution

Knowing that you can continue to evolve, to learn new things, to build on who you are, means your greatest learning and achievements could actually be ahead of you. This is the wisdom that comes with living well.

3. Why this move matters

We all know change requires a large dollop of energy, clarity, belief and commitment. Knowing exactly WHY your new direction is what you need right now provides all of these is spades. (This is what we uncover in my Quickstep Career Change Programme.)

4. Choosing to act

This is a choice. Staying put is another choice. Once you have realities laid out in front of you, you’re ready to address the swirl of negative voices that scream any change will end in disaster. Looking at the facts and recognizing fears for what they are – often based upon imaginary catastrophic scenarios – provides greater clarity to act intentionally.

5. Recognizing your Right Direction

Knowing what a new direction offers in terms of values alignment, purpose, utilisation of strengths and deployment of passions not only provides a rationale to act, it also offers you your personal compass.

Heading towards what matters most to you is one of the most empowering journeys you can make.

So how do you feel now about breaking free of that pigeon-hole? You have achieved a great deal, but perhaps it no longer meets your needs. You can achieve so much more when you know what will offer the excitement and alignment of a new start.

Instead of saying ‘what if I fail?’ try instead to say:

‘What if I succeed?’

And if you need a cheer-leader and companion on the journey, just drop me a message via the contacts page. I’d love to see what you will create next.