The first thing you need to change your career smoothly

Have you ever thought of changing your career but felt stuck and didn't know where?to begin?

One Sunday evening, a Medical doctor friend re-posted a tweet by @Uncle Ari that led to a conversation?that inspired this article:

The post was:

"I have never come back from any holiday feeling relaxed, refreshed and reinvigorated to get back into work. I come back with the taste of freedom, still fresh in my mouth, a renewed hatred for work, and a strong suspicion that this is not what I should be spending my life doing"

My friend mentioned she just feels the same about her career as a medical doctor. "I don't know when am getting outside of this"

If you too think of changing your career for any reason (it doesn't satisfy?you, doesn't align with your values, doesn't meet your financial goals, you distaste the work environment) but you don't know how, article, I will share one thing I have learn you can do to?change the career: Changing yourself first.

Before unpacking this element, let me share lights on why career change can be the most life changing decision of your life using 80 000 hours theory

80 000 hours

If you work 9 to 5, 5 days a week in a 40-years career, it is 40 hours per week, 50 weeks a year? (assuming you get 2 weeks annual leave) for 40 years, that amounts to 40x50x40= 80 000 hours.

In the book 80 000 hours (a recommended read), Benjamin Todd, co- founder of a non-profit (80 000 hours) that helps people find satisfying careers, he says "You career choice is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make"

Todd adds, Making this decision right, you can help some of the world's pressing problems as well as have a more rewarding and interesting life. but for such an important decision, there is little good advice out there"?

The problem arises when you realise you got the career decision wrong. Maybe you made this decision?at a young age in high school with no experience or no honest guidance, or? by the influence of your peers or your guardians. And then now, after understanding what really matters most in life, your values, your goals, you realise you need to change. How do you go about it?

To change your career, change yourself first

During the conversation with my medical doctor friend, I told her " if you want to change your career, I know the silver bullet formula..."

she was interested..

Her: Please share, waiting

Me: I've been thinking about a career a few days ago. and I realised the kind of work we do depends on what we have learnt in the past (it's the payable skills we have developed). Therefore, the most assured way to change careers is to learn new skills relevant to the next job you want to do."

Her: I buy the idea.

In other words,? your current career is a reflection of the capabilities you have developed in the past; if you want a new career in the future, you inevitably need to develop new capabilities by re-skilling yourself.

Good news: With the internet, re-skilling opportunities are as ubiquitous as air. You can take a few months course and change your life for good. If needs be, you can go for a different degree. And if you've got an entrepreneurial acumen, you can enterprise.?

To finish this up, I am reminded of the tweet by Matt Gray; it said "There are basically 3 big decision that determine you life: Where you live, who you'are with, and what you do"

"What you do", means?the?career you pursue.?

so,what is the point in pursuing a career that doesn't satisfy?you, does not?align with your values and doesn't contribute to your life goals?

At the end of the day, it is your life. And we all have one. Why not invest a portion of your lifetime to re-skill and change the remainder of your lifetime doing the work that satisfies you and aligns with what matters most to you? Health? Contribution? Freedom (financial and time)? Family? Fun? Fame? Faith whatsoever...