According to a recent survey, only 17% of UK employees love their job and over half express being unhappy at work. Job satisfaction is essential for our overall health and well-being.
When you feel a fog of uncertainty about your career it can be daunting to consider making a change. You may be ready for a whole new start but have no idea where to begin. Worries creep in and those worries can cause paralysis.
When changing career myself, I worried about what others would think, feared that I might not be successful, and fretted that I didn’t even know what I wanted to do, let alone how.
Changing career can be likened to a process of innovation. You’re having to reinvent yourself, and to reinvent yourself you need to begin to free yourself from that fog of uncertainty.
Here’s 5 tips for getting started:
1. Stop looking for jobs and take a good look at yourself!
This may seem counter intuitive, but it’s important to get you thinking about your strengths, skills, and interests. Taking some time to step back and really think about what energises you is liberating! Try writing down 5 things you love doing. You will gain new insights and start to feel empowered in your career change.
2. Step out of your comfort zone and act.
Most answers reveal themselves through doing, not thinking. Trying new things and taking risks can be scary, but it’s also one of the first essential steps towards finding the work you love. Listen to new podcasts, volunteer, sign up for a course or try something you’ve never done before. When you begin to act, you may take wrong turns, but you’ll be able to test and validate potential interests and future career paths. All the best ideas come out of the process of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
3. Nurture your curiosity.
You don’t know what you don’t know. Following your curiosity will open up your world to new ideas and possibilities. Allowing yourself to break free from the familiar and consider new perspectives will help you discover new ideas and connections. Take yourself to new environments, get curious about the people around you, and look at the familiar with a fresh perspective.
4. Tell your friends and family.
Once you tell the people around you, introductions and new connections will open up. You’ll expand your network, and this will lead to new opportunities and new insights. Talking to people about what you’re doing will also give you the support you need through the transition.
5. Focus on the process, not the end goal.
Recent neuroscience studies demonstrate that when we set out to achieve a goal, our focus is on the reward. We visualise achieving the reward, and what it will feel like when we do. This propels us into action. However, once we get started, we begin to focus on the effort required to achieve it! The more we focus on the effort, the more likely we are to fail. Career change takes time and will be full of ups and downs. Instead of visualising the end goal, visualise and enjoy the process, knowing that success will come from the hard work and effort!
I will work with you to figure out your future direction. You will have the time and space to reflect, alongside taking clear action to progress you towards your goals. You will develop the mindset for change and the ability to navigate uncertainty.
Above all, you will gain clarity. Book a free consultation here.
