Stuck at a career crossroads? How to swap eternal agonizing for clear, authentic choosing
Postponing a decision about moving in a new career direction keeps many people in painful limbo for weeks, months or even years. It’s agonizing.
Even when their existing work life is draining them dry, actually making a choice to change can still seem like the most difficult option. And we all know (at least in theory) that not taking action is also a choice we make.
So what keeps many of us stuck in a job we hate?
*Perhaps on some level it’s simply easier to stay put
That regular salary is a deceptive reward that lets us off the hook. Because no one can argue with the need for a regular income, can they? This means we never take the possibility of making a change seriously.
But what is the real cost of staying put?
Words like burnout or stagnation come to mind. Without meaning or satisfaction from our work, it can all seem stale and empty. But at worst, when pressure and stress, lack of purpose or conflicting values really hit home, we suffer on a very personal level.
*No other ideas
Having no clear alternatives in mind helps us to believe someone with our skills and experience is restricted to our current field and that we really have nowhere new to go.
But this is completely untrue. The words transferable skills and relevant experience offer new fields where we can share our hard-won expertise. For this to happen though, there has to be vision, motivation and belief.
*Will the new option be any better, or even work at all?
This worst -case scenario sees any attempt to change direction thwarted at every turn. The nightmare says we will be poorer, less secure and that our friends, family and colleagues will judge us harshly. This line of thinking prevents us from taking action, thriving as it does on unspecified fears.
But there are easy ways of testing the water and mitigating the risk, including research, speaking to people in a new field, volunteering or launching a ‘side hustle.’
It’s worth spending a little time getting clear on what exactly is locking you into an unfulfilling career. With that clarity comes the possibility of countering the fear and focusing on what you really need from your working life.
With freedom of choice comes a natural anxiety, but knowing WHY you are making this choice to change will dissolve the angst and fuel your career change strategy.
Mindset Murk and Muddle
A huge amount of anxiety around change starts life inside our own heads. Many ideas never see the light of objective day that a fruitful discussion with an impartial listener could offer.
The fear of everything going horribly wrong becomes its own reality in those middle of the night scenarios. Too many of us are too ready to believe the horrors that will follow – and so never get the facts out on the table to work through the reasonable objections that accompany any change.
And so, what might be a brilliant idea never gets its day in the sun.
So how can we change this habit of fearful half thought? There are some mindsets that might be sabotaging you and there are alternatives that make change far more likely.
Let go of:
Black and white, essentialist thinking that involves -
· Endless agonizing
· Perfectionism
· Notion of THE ONE best career
· Unknowingly adopting other people’s values and measures of success
Embrace:
Pragmatism and nuance -
· This is the best option for you right now
· It’s taking you in a much better direction
· There may be other options that would also be good – and they might be for other times in your life
· It isn’t forever – chances are you will need or want to tweak as your conditions or the world around you change
Common times of career choice
There are large periods of time when career change is the farthest thing from our minds. But when uncertainty or turbulence makes itself felt, things can be very uncomfortable indeed. Some common times of career change occur:
· When you realize your current job is no longer working for you – and you wonder what else you can do
· When your personal circumstances have changed (e.g. divorce; starting a family; moving countries; a serious illness) and you need to reflect this in how or where you work
· Your current career comes to an end – a business fails, redundancy strikes, a global pandemic blocks your path – and you need to choose your next career cirection
· A big birthday jolts you into noticing the passage of time, and reminds you of dreams that may have a deadline to them
At any moment of choice, you have two basic options – ignore the wake up call, or act upon it.
If you are tempted to follow the need for change and you choose action, then multiple other questions with their associated options will arise:
· What are viable alternatives?
· Which will work best for you?
· How can you create a career change strategy?
· Who can you talk to?
· Who can help?
· How can you make the best choice for you right now?
Instead of assuming that there is only one definition of a successful career – a picture that we might have inherited from parents, teachers, mentors or colleagues – define your own measures of success. What does a successful career look like to you?
You can request my guide to Your Success Criteria here.
When you realize that you have choice and can work towards your own definition of success, perhaps one that includes fulfillment rather than status, or purpose rather than financial advancement alone, at that point you are ready to create a working life that uses your talents, aligns with your values and finally means something significant to you.
If you’d like to take the first step, why not book a free 30-minute consultation? If nothing else, you’ll come away clearer about what’s really holding you back – and what the next steps for a fulfilling career might be.
It really is a choice that you can make right now!
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Quickstep Career Change Coaching Programme