Career Transitions

My Journey from the Classroom to a Cubicle, and Beyond

A few years back I had to make an extreme career change due to personal circumstances. I went from being my own boss for about ten years, providing personal development training to corporate employees, to becoming a full-time corporate employee myself, sitting in a literal cubicle and staring at spreadsheets all day. Yes, I was able to pay my bills, which was great, but as you might imagine, I felt frustrated and uninspired in my new role.

After many sleepless nights, I eventually realised that the problem started with my own mindset. I had been defining myself by what I did for a living, rather than by who I was as a person. This can be a very limiting and confusing place to start, and I knew that there had to be a better way.

While it’s true that some people manage to find a sweet-spot in their careers, where they feel that their role is aligned to their sense of purpose and they have passion for what they do. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible to have that. In fact, I have a whole course created to help you achieve exactly that result. However, this should not be our starting point on this journey called a career. There is some foundational mindset work required to avoid ending up in your dream job, only to find out that you still feel disillusioned and frustrated after a few months, because the key problem was never identified.

Wherever you are in your career journey right now, planning to take your existing career to the next level, wanting to pivot in a completely new career direction, or to turn your side project into a successful business venture, consider the following mindset shifts before you do anything else. ?

It’s not about what you do, it’s about who you are.

Mike Rowe, presenter of the TV show Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel once said, that “Happiness does not come from a job. It comes from knowing what you truly value, and behaving in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs.” Too often our jobs cause us so much stress and frustration, we start to believe that finding our dream job is the answer to solving all of our career problems. Unfortunately if this were true, nobody would be able to find true job satisfaction, until they found the right job - an absolutely hopeless situation.

However, I think that Mike Rowe was onto something. We can all learn to clarify our highest personal values, and then consciously and consistently focus on using them as the basis for all of our decisions and actions, instead of allowing changing emotions, situational pressures, or the opinions of others to influence us. This will empower us to develop character integrity, personal mastery, and trust with our connections. What a powerful step in the right direction! It will impact how you do whatever you do, how you show up in the workplace, the value that you contribute, how you relate to others, and what you learn in the process. Wherever you find yourself right now, there is a desperate need for someone with your unique character, your values, and your integrity, to step up. John C Maxwell once said that, “Talent is a blessing, character is a decision”, this means that you can decide to start right now, regardless of your current role, and regardless of where your career journey will ultimately take you.

Success is about getting, significance is about giving.

Many are chasing their definition of success, and there are many self-help books and coaches out there who can teach you how to achieve success in various ways. My question is simple, “Can the achievement of a list of personal goals truly provide you with the deep sense of meaning and purpose that you long for?”

For many the idea of success looks like a shopping list or vision board of a celebrity lifestyle: the perfect house, the luxury car, the dream career or business, the exotic vacations, etc. Others dream of finding the perfect relationship, raising happy children, improving their health, or learning how to be all they were meant to be. There is nothing wrong with wanting any of these things. They can bring a lot of satisfaction and fulfilment. But if you’re feeling like you want more or something is missing, then don’t allow yourself to believe that any of these things will change that for you. My experience has been that looking for external solutions to an internal problem doesn’t work for very long.

We need to move beyond the success mind-set of getting, to the significance mind-set of giving. All that traditional ideas of success do, is turn up the volume (get more stuff), while finding true significance allows you to completely change the channel (give more value). When success lacks significance, it becomes very easy to lose direction, miss opportunity, waste potential, get distracted by busy-ness and entertainment, or even succumb to doubt and fear. Living life as a journey to significance, with a deep desire to make an authentic contribution, however humble, will clarify your values, develop your character, sharpen your perspective, focus your priorities, connect you to your circle of influence, and fill you with a deep sense of passion and purpose, to make a real difference.

If any of these ideas resonate with you and you would like to find out more about taking your career from menial to meaningful, join me on this journey and check out the Career Growth Checklist.