Why Change Career?

Caught yourself having the odd whinge about your career, have you? Starting to ask questions of yourself like, ‘is this it?’ Or you may be about 20 years into a career and thinking, ‘I really must make a change soon.’

Question is, why do we change anything? Let’s take home improvements as an example, reasons include: -

·     To add value to our home and life

·     To make our home what we want it to be

·     To fix urgent problems

·     To bring our home bring back up to date

·     To get ready to move on

Whether you’re motivated, or not, to do that job at home, there’s always a clear reason. So, if you’re saying those things mentioned at the start of the article, and you think you want to make a career change, I ask you; what’s your clear reason?

I often meet people who have this sense, this feeling that they want to change but can’t yet describe why in a way that’s compelling enough (for them or me) to make the move. They’ll say broad things like, ‘I’m just tired of work’, ‘It’s all bulls***’, ‘I’ve had enough of the politics/pleasing others/long hours/travel’, ‘It’s just not for me anymore’.

The foundation to bold change

This is why, when I’m career coaching, I always start by helping someone work out why, really, they want to change. This is the foundation to making bold and real change. I take the broad, generic statements like ‘I’ve had enough of the politics’ and find out how specifically that’s a problem for them. 

A recent example

Coachee: “I’m not enjoying it.”

Me: “And how, specifically, is that a problem for you?”

Coachee: “I feel stressed and anxious about going to work.”

Me: “And how is that a problem?”

Coachee: “I don’t want to go to work, and I’m in a mood about work when I’m at home.”

Me: “And what’s the impact of that?”

Coachee: “Work’s s*** and I’m making home s*** too.”

Me: “And you don’t want that?”

Coachee: “No, of course not!”

Fast forward an hour or so, add in a conversation about her best and worst work days, and this client was clearer that the problem wasn’t necessarily the work itself, but her response to the environment she was working in. This made her ‘why’ for changing career much clearer, and as a result made the thought of changing (after 14 years) less daunting. 

So, what are your reasons? Similar to home improvement, it may be to add value to your life, to make your career your own or to get back up to date.

We’ll be spending time on helping people discover their reasons for change at our Choose Your Own (Career) Adventure workshops in September. Super early bird tickets are on sale now for the brave ones willing to take that first step. Why invest…it’s only the rest of your life?!

Meanwhile, blog 2 in the Career Change Series is coming in July; ‘What’s Stopping me from Changing Career?”

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