“You can’t get anywhere in life without taking risks.”
Esme Bianco
Ok, I know that the second I put “risk” and “career” in the same sentence, you’re going to think I’m crazy, but hear me out.
Starting a new career feels so scary precisely because you see it as a risk – right?
But the moment you remove the danger from the situation, it’s an adventure.
Think about it this way:
If you climbed up a tower and then drove off the top of it in a little car, hurtling through space, whipping around corners and through loops, convinced that at any moment you were going to come crashing down to your death, you’d consider that whole situation pretty risky.
But when you take all the danger out of it, it becomes an amusement park ride that you can take your kids on. For fun.
Finding a new career is a lot like that.
If just thinking about it gives you cold sweats because you can already feel the hunger pangs from the starvation you’re bound to endure and you’ve been picking out the bridge and cardboard accommodations you’re sure you’re going to call home, there’s very little chance you’ll subject yourself to a career change at all.
But instead, if you think of it as an adventure, you might have a chance of making the career move you so desperately want to make.
Now this isn’t just some fancy mind trick. “Think it and and it will be true.” (You’re supposed to say that in a spooky fortune-teller voice. No? Let’s work on it.)
We’re putting all tricks aside here.
The real issue is how do you actually take a reasonable amount of risk out of starting a new career – enough that you’re able to see it as an exciting adventure?
There are many ways to make your career change a whole lot less risky. But it comes down to one word: Planning.
I know, I know. I don’t particularly like that word either. I am more of a live for the moment and expect the best type gal.
But if your current “moment” is feeling bad because of a crummy job, you have to do something different to get out of it.
Your New Career Plan
Here is the skeleton of your game-plan.
1. Think about and write out what’s scaring you about the situation. Is it finances? Not having a clue where to begin or what you even want to do? Starting over?
2. Now, for each fear, write down some possible solutions. DO NOT allow your fear to trap you again. That looks like this: “There’s no way I can ever make (enough) money doing X” or “I’m never going to figure this out, it’s just too complicated” or a variation on that theme.
3. If you find yourself stuck in your fear or needing an outside perspective, coaching is perfect for that.
4. Look at your solutions. Can you take actions toward any of them, or do your solutions suggest next steps?
Good Plan = Less Fear
The plan, or even working the plan might not feel like an exciting adventure.
But what does feel exciting is figuring out what you want to do, or even taking that first step toward it – knowing that you’ve made up your mind to move beyond this job and onto something that feels more like you.
It feels like an adventure to ditch your current job and do something that you care about – and have someone pay you for it.
What feels like an adventure is knowing that you have control over your happiness and the direction your life takes, rather than facing a seemingly infinite number of years doing the same kind of work.
And it also feels exciting to feel like you have control over the variables in the future because you’ve planned for them, not just waited for them to blindside you.
Your New Career
So what do you actually want next? And how do you plan to get it?
If you need help, take the next step by emailing me.
You don’t have to be paralyzed by the risks you see. It’s time to start taking control of them and living with more adventure and less fear.
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If you still have fears about your career change, sign up for my Cheat Sheet for a Fear Free Career Change here!