Figuring out how to change careers can seem incredibly complex.
Every time you think you’ve made a choice, it changes some other outcome or opens up new possibilities or questions – just like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories you might have read as a kid.
Every move changes the ending, every decision gives you new possibilities or alternatives.
The trouble is, when you’re trying to figure out how to change careers, you can’t skip ahead to the ending and work backwards to see which paths will get you stuck in the bottom of the viper pit.
You have to do your best to navigate your path forward and see all the choices and possibilities as they could unfold.
But in real life you can’t really seem to be sure of anything. . .
The Viper Pit and Changing Careers
You don’t want to end up in the viper pit.
Taking too big a pay cut, making a move you thought you’d like (but end up not), or staying stuck for too long and feeling depressed and wasting time are all ways that you get tangled up with snakes.
And when that happens it feels like game over.
The fear of doing any of those things can be just as paralyzing as being in a viper pit. One wrong move seems deadly.
So how can you make a career change and survive?
How To Change Careers – Choosing The Right Adventure
Funny enough, making a career change that works for you is about choosing the right adventure for you more than about the technicalities of survival.
We’re all taught that there’s no room in life for error and no way to predict our endings.
I get it.
I also understand that there’s a lot riding on these decisions. But it’s just not true.
Exploring the Path
What if you took the time to explore each of the multiple ways your story could end?
What if you mentally explored each and every rabbit hole and understood where it would likely lead, how you would feel, the consequences, the predictable outcomes and so on?
Let’s say that right now you have three major paths.
You could stay at your current job, leave to find something better, or start your own business.
Use those as starting points to explore what would likely happen in your life. (This is often a technique I use with my own coaching clients.)
Along the way you’re asking yourself, “Is this something I would want?” If not, you have gained information either about how to deal with that particular path or about whether to go down that path at all.
So you don’t have to feel like you need to be prepared for everything at all times (though you are able to deal with things as they come up – I know you) you can largely pre-plan where you want things to go in your life.
This is called life design. It’s not fool proof, but not doing it will end you up in a pit of snakes.
Now, here’s my question: How would you like to design your life? What would you like to see happen in it? Please leave your dreams in the comments below!