February 23, 2025 • 28 mins
We're discussing five essential questions to consider before making a career change. There is no magic key that will make everything make sense and ensure smooth sailing but answering these questions will give you a strong foundation to work from.
https://www.ahyianaangel.com/
Takeaways:
Chapters:
00:00 Navigating Career Changes
06:39 Understanding Your Motivations
11:21 Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
15:17 Defining Non-Negotiables
19:05 Setting Realistic Expectations
24:44 Creating a Transition Plan
https://www.ahyianaangel.com/
Takeaways:
- Making a career change is hard and requires careful consideration.
- Understanding your motivations is crucial for a successful transition.
- Identifying your strengths can help you find a fulfilling career path.
- Defining your non-negotiables can guide your decision-making process.
- Setting realistic expectations can prepare you for the challenges ahead.
- Having a transition plan is essential for a smooth career change.
- Self-reflection is key to understanding what you truly want.
- Recognizing the importance of financial planning during a transition is vital.
- Building relationships in your desired industry can open new opportunities.
- Investing in yourself through skill development is crucial for success.
Chapters:
00:00 Navigating Career Changes
06:39 Understanding Your Motivations
11:21 Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
15:17 Defining Non-Negotiables
19:05 Setting Realistic Expectations
24:44 Creating a Transition Plan
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is amazing media production. Welcome to the switch Pripter
Quick Podcast. I am your host, Ayana Angel, and this
is where I help you navigate the complexities of personal
and professional development, navigating career changes, life changes, all the changes,
(00:25):
and all the things. And today, dun dun, dum, I
want to get into what I would have loved to know,
questions I would have wanted to ask myself before I
quit my job. These are the things that I think
would have been helpful to really cycle through and get
a proper read on before making such a huge decision. Now,
(00:51):
in hindsight, I did work through some of these, but
not all of them, And I'll try and do my
best to let you know the ones that I work
through versus the ones that I didn't and had to learn.
So we're going to go through today five questions that
you should ask yourself before making a major career change
for a movie. Why are we going through these questions because,
let's face it, making a career change is hard, and
(01:14):
these questions your answers, could be the difference between making
a successful career change and a not so successful career change.
The reality is you're not alone. We have all been there.
There are other people there right now, which is why
we're even having this conversation. So hopefully that makes you
(01:36):
feel a little bit better that you're not alone. And
I actually found a recent study show that in people's lifetimes,
people will make a career change, not a job change,
but a career change at least three to seven times
before they retire. Go figure, So this might not be
(01:56):
your very first career change. You might already be on
your third or fourth. I have no idea, And if
this is your first, it won't probably be your last. Okay,
So the scary part is the unknown, right, And we
can only manage but so much. We can only plan
for but so much. But these five questions will hopefully
(02:17):
give you a base and a foundation to work from
in your planning, in your strategizing, in your understanding what
it is you really want to do next. So what
are some of the common reasons why people want to
make a career change? One could be circumstantial. You've been
laid off, you've been made redundant. You sort of have
(02:38):
no choice but to figure out what your next step is.
You can't just coast. Another one could be management issues.
You're not really getting along with management, they're not really
getting along with you. Maybe the two styles don't complement
each other. I know there's a common phrase that said
(02:58):
people don't leave jobs, they leave managers. So maybe management
is just not working for you. Another reason to leave
could be a toxic work environment. Back to management again,
but maybe the environment is just not healthy for your
mental state. Maybe it crosses boundaries and lines that you'd
rather not have a job cross. One thing that has
(03:22):
been coming up a lot lately is when you hear
a company say we're all like a family here, that's
like a yellow orange flag that it may actually be
a toxic environment. So a toxic environment is never helpful
for anyone. That might be costs to want to leave.
Another option could be you are just looking for better opportunities.
(03:43):
Maybe you want to grow, maybe you want to make
more money. It could be a number of things. But
you're not feeling settled where you are, so you feel
like it's time to make a change and it's time
to go, which is completely realistic, especially the more money part.
And lastly, it can be about progression if you don't
see yourself ascending the corporate ladder where you are, if
(04:07):
you haven't seen promotions come through, raises come through. If
you feel like you're a little stagnant in your current
role and position, progression might be a very viable reason
for you to want to make a change. Whatever the
reason is, it is highly likely that it will be
worth your while to take some time self reflect do
(04:30):
some of the work, the work, because we all know
the work has to be done. But do some of
the work before you make this big change in decisions
so that you can set yourself up to have the
most successful transition. Now let's get into the five questions
you should be asking yourself. The first question is what
(04:50):
is really driving your desire for the change. It feels
a little deceptively simple, right and broad. It's like, oh,
what is behind the desire to want to change? But
I think that it could be related to three possible ps.
(05:11):
The first pe could be people. The people that you
work with, you are just not happy with them for
some reason. It's not jelling, it's not coming together. And
maybe they are people that get on your nerves. Maybe
they are busy bodies and that's not your style. Maybe
they are micromanagers and that's not your style. Whatever it is,
(05:31):
maybe the people are just not conducive to a work
environment that you feel would make you thrive and flourish.
The next pee your position. Are you feeling frustrated about
your level of responsibility or maybe lack of responsibility in
that position? How is that current position affecting you? Is
(05:51):
that what's behind the change? And finally, your last PEE
is the profession overall? Is it just not working for
you anymore? It's really crucial to figure out and identify
which PE may be attributing to your feeling of wanting
to change careers, because that will help inform you more
(06:12):
of what you should be looking for when you're trying
to identify your next career or help you vet the
next career that you think you've identified. I know I
can say for me it was all the peace for
me when I decided to quit my job. It was
the profession. I didn't feel like it aligned with my personality,
(06:34):
who I was and where I saw myself in the future. Also,
it didn't align with my values either. It was also
the people, the people that didn't work for me, and
I'll just leave it at that, right. And it was
also the position I didn't feel like I was having
the growth that I needed. I felt like I was
(06:56):
constantly taking on more responsibility but not seeing anything that
was pouring into me on the other side of taking
on those responsibilities. Let's just say the promotions, the money,
all of that good stuff. So for me, it was
all the piece. So here's why the three p's matter.
Maybe it's not about the career or the industry. Maybe
(07:21):
you're not really looking to change industries. Maybe it's about
the people. Maybe it's about the position that you're in.
So once you really take stock of what is driving
your desire for change and really uncovering and peeling back
the layers on those three piece you might realize that
you have a simpler solution ahead of you that feels
(07:41):
a lot more approachable than making a dramatic life change.
Question number two, what are your strengths and weaknesses? Bear
with me? I know this feels like an age old
question that none of us really want to answer. We're
tired of it popping up. But let's think of it
this way. We're not really going to focus so much
(08:02):
on your weaknesses because your weaknesses are the things that
maybe you need to figure out how to account for
them by managing up, managing down, figuring out how to
delegate and when you know that you have shortcomings in
certain areas. Once you're aware of it, you can then
plan for that. Let's talk about your strengths though. When
(08:23):
you're thinking about switching careers, your strengths really matter. Let's
think about your strengths in terms of when are you
really in your most fluid flow stake. When are you
really doing the things that you love to do and
it is coming naturally to you. When are you solving
problems that are complex and it's just like ease and
(08:46):
you feel so good on the other side of it.
When are you giving advice that really pours into someone
else and it makes all the difference in the world
and solves problems that other people could not solve. When
are you maybe analyzed data or something that just moves
the needle on a project. When are you in your
flow state. When you're in your flow state, this is
(09:09):
when you are at your maximum positive potential. This is
when you are really operating from a space of all
the goodness, all the strengths, and that's what you really
want to pay attention to. So when you're paying attention
to your strengths, you can also jot these down and
think about how do I want to feel every day
when I'm showing up in this potential new career or
(09:31):
at this new company. When you are able to identify
the areas that feel good to you, you can then
search for more alignment with those areas in your future role, position, company,
what have you. So let's talk about a quick example
to just illustrate this a little bit more. Let's just
say you're an accountant, right, and you're always crunching numbers.
(09:53):
But you find that when you're in your flow state,
and when you're really at your best is when you're
talking to clients about education of finances, when you're really
leaning in to educating them on the things that they
need to do, the things that they need to know,
and you're really serving more than a number cruncher role.
You're serving more of an advisory role. If you're paying
(10:16):
attention to your flow state, you may say to yourself, hmm,
I no longer want to crunch numbers, so that particular
position within this industry no longer works for me. But
you know what I do want to do. I want
to be on the education side. I want to be
able to guide people. I want to teach classes in workshops.
I want to be a person that helps to facilitate
(10:37):
the correct information to the correct people. Maybe that's a
different avenue that you could take right and so by
investigating your flow state and really understanding where you show
up best, you're able to tell yourself, Hey, maybe I
stay in this industry, but I don't do this. I
do that. Also another way for you not to have
(10:59):
to make a huge, dramatic, drastic change in your life.
You can still stay somewhat in your wheelhouse, but you
can have the change that you desire so that you
can ultimately have the happiness that you desire on the
other side of it. I know you're locked in sight
and sulking of all this goodness, but hold on for
(11:20):
me just one minute or maybe two, while we hear
from our sponsors. The third question you should ask yourself
is what are my non negotiables? We are very used
to hearing about non negotiables when it comes to dating
(11:40):
and things like that, but it matters in your career
life as well. What are your non negotiables? Another action
for you to take. Please don't get tired of me
with asking you to take these actions, because it's all
for you, and it's all a part of your self
discovery and self understanding to help you make better decisions
and choices when it comes to what you're going to
(12:01):
do next, because that's the question we're trying to answer,
right what are you going to do next? So what
are my non negotiables? When I'm thinking about my non negotiables,
it may be good to take out a piece of
paper and write down what you value. That is something
I did very early on in my journey of self
discovery and understanding what was going to be next for me.
(12:21):
I probably should have done it even earlier, but nonetheless
it got done. So you write down your values, maybe
target a list of ten that you want to start with.
Ten values things that you place in high regard and
that feel like you must have these things present in
your life to be at your best, to operate in
(12:44):
a flow state, to feel like you are doing what
you should be doing, to feel alignment in the work
that you're doing. So some things that you value could
be financial security and stability. It could be a time
to me. It could be creativity. It could be purpose,
having purpose connected to the work that you do. It
(13:07):
could be your environment that you work in, like the
team environment that you work in, What do you value?
Once you make that list of the things that you value,
and like I said, let's do let's target ten. Okay,
if you can't do ten, maybe seven, but let's target
a decent amount so that then you can work your
way backwards and slowly start assessing those things on a
(13:29):
deeper level and checking off things that, ah, maybe you
can compromise on a little bit, until you get to
the three things that you value most. Those three things
you can then put in your back pocket and as
you are vetting the next opportunity, the next decision that
you're gonna make, you can then match up the decision
(13:51):
that you have to make with those values and see
is there alignment there? Does this make sense for me
in terms of the company that I'm caning? Do they
offer the financial stability? Do their values match up with
my values? Is the team environment what I would like
it to be? You can use those values to help
(14:12):
you make stronger decisions and more informed decisions for yourself. Okay,
moving on to number four, what are your realistic expectations?
This is one admittedly I did not consider enough. I
knew what my hopes were I knew what I desired,
(14:36):
but realistic expectations did not exist. They didn't exist. I
think that there are three things you should realistically have
at the forefront of your mind when you're thinking about
making a career change. One is that your financial situation
(14:57):
is probably going to change. More than likely, it might
change for the negative, meaning that you might be in
the negative in the red. No, I'm just kidding. I
shouldn't say it like that. But once you make this change,
the likelihood that you will earn twenty, maybe thirty percent
less than you did before. That's real. That's a realistic likelihood.
(15:19):
So what you want to do is begin to wrap
your mind around that, figure out if you are settled
with that, once again, going back to your values, is
that okay with you? And plan for it. If you
decide that you're okay with it, then you plan for it.
You make sure that whatever you're doing, and whatever decision
you're making, and the time frame that you're making that
(15:41):
decision in you have enough time to give yourself that
cushion to make up for that twenty to thirty percent
that you may lose an income, so that your lifestyle
doesn't have to dramatically change. But that is one of
the realistic expectations that you should have, is that your
financial situation probably will not remain the same. The next
(16:02):
realistic expectation is that you should be prepared to start
from the bottom. You should be prepared to work really
hard growing in whatever new space you decide to show
up in because you are just starting. Yes, you come
to the table with life experiences, with career experiences, with
(16:22):
transferable skills and knowledge, but you have to be realistic
about where you're going to show up in this new position,
this new role, and know that it may take you
six months to a year to really feel like you
have a grasp on what this new role requires of you.
So you really have to be prepared to be a
(16:44):
beginner again. I know we most of us don't want
to start all over again, but sometimes this is just
the sacrifice that you have to make. That's why we
said realistic expectations because it'd be nice to live in
an optimistic flower Field world where we think that everything
(17:05):
that we do is the best thing since slice bread.
So people are just gonna constantly give us everything we
want and everything we need, and the opportunities are just
gonna be handed to us and at our fingertips, so
we don't really have to start from the bottom. But
unfortunately that may happen for a few but really won't
happen for all. So we need to be realistic. And
(17:25):
the third thing that we need to be realistic about
is being prepared to feel defeated some of the time
and to feel like this is just so difficult. I'm
not getting the grasp of it. Because it may take
you about a year before you finally find your footing
in this new role, in this new career, in this
(17:48):
new industry. You are going to be beginning again, right,
and so it may take you some time to feel
steady and to feel confident showing up in this new role.
That's just a reality we must sit with. And so
when you are a decision making, you need to ask yourself,
how comfortable will I be with this? Be real with yourself.
(18:10):
This is the time, like we're talking about, for self inventory,
self reflection, self understanding, self assessment, so that you can
really say, I can swallow that humble pie and I
can show up in any role that I choose and
be a beginner again and learn again and be okay
(18:31):
with it. I'm not going to have an ego that
I carry with me. I will be a pleasant person
to work with even when I get frustrated and I
don't understand things. This is what I must do to
invite the new reality into my life that I desire.
This is the kind of pep talk you're gonna have
to have with yourself. So are you prepared to have
(18:52):
that pep talk? Or no? That's the question. So I'm
not saying any of this to scare you. I'm really
saying it to prepare you. Okay, Now question number five
that we should be asking ourselves. Now this is the biggie.
What is your transition plan? What is my transition plan?
(19:16):
This is where dreaming meets execution. This is where you
get her done. Three things I think you should be
thinking about and making sure that you have an awareness
of when you're considering your plan for your transition. Which
another thing that I didn't really do enough of. I
didn't have a plan, but I was smart about activating
(19:43):
against elements of a plan, but I didn't have something
formal and written out. These are the three things that
I think you should be prepared for and prepared with
your financial plan, create a runway for yourself, create a
cushion for yourself. Maybe start working a side job if
(20:03):
you need to gather extra income that can give you
more of a cushion, so that, like I said, if
you have to run into a situation where you're making
less than you are used to making, you're not devastated.
Your lifestyle is not devastated. And sometimes when you are
devastated by financial realities and your lifestyle is impacted by that,
(20:28):
it makes the transition harder. It doesn't make you fall
in love with the transition. It makes it feel like
it's work that you're questioning should I be doing this,
Like did I make the right decision or not? And
so if you help yourself by eliminating that, it will
make the transition feel much better overall, because there's already
(20:50):
going to be enough things coming at you to where
if you're prepared in this one way, at least, that's
one less thing that you have to deal with. The
next thing that I would prepare for in my transition
planning would be relationship building. Who is already in the
industry that I want to work in, whether it be
internal within a company I'm at or internal being the
(21:13):
people that I already know and I'm in community with,
or external people that I don't know, people that don't
have relationships with or outside of my company. How can
I start formulating those relationships? And one of the easiest
ways is to just introduce yourself and request maybe ten
to fifteen minutes to just hear more about that person.
(21:34):
Not an informational interview. It's just more so like, hey,
can I learn more about your story and how you
do what you do? Because people love to talk about themselves.
So if you invite people to show up in a
conversation where they feel like they are the knowledgeable one,
they have the expertise, and they have the information, you
are more likely to get a yes, and they will
(21:54):
sit there and tell you how they did everything that
they've done, And that is your in to start developing
a relationship with that person, and maybe they'll even be
open to inviting you to their inner circle or meeting
new people within their community by way of you just
having a wonderful exchange with them and being so open
(22:15):
and honest about wanting to hear more about their story
and their journey. The next thing that I would do,
and this is something that I did do was develop
the skills. When I was thinking, Hey, I want to
write this book. I have no idea how to write
a book. I've never done this before, don't know anybody
who has done it like this, What should I do?
(22:35):
I started taking classes. So developing your skills is a
really great element to including your plan. If you know
that you have shortcomings or things that you need to
work on, let's just say it's not even something that's
super practical and normal. Let's say the next career that
you're venturing into, or the role that you would like
(22:56):
it requires you to speak publicly more or present more.
Maybe it's a sales type of role or something of
that nature. Maybe you sign up for something like Toastmasters
to get your feet wet and really get you acclimated
with speaking in front of audiences. Whatever it is that
you need to do to up level your skills, that's
what you should be focused on in your time of
(23:17):
planning for your transition. When you are full fledged in
the midst of the transition, it is going to be
so difficult to try and learn and take on new
skills in the midst of all of that change. That's
not an ideal time, do it ahead of time, do
it in your planning phase, and make sure you are
really dedicating the time and energy that is required for
(23:40):
you to gain these skills, because that's also a little
bit of a test, a personal test that you can
use to say, Hey, how bad do I really want this?
How much am I really interested in this? Like for me,
I was going to these writing classes and workshops, and
I was learning how to write dialogue, and I was
learning how to write captivating storylines and content and all
(24:04):
of these things, and I enjoyed it. But had I
started going to these writing workshops and classes and been
bored to tears or found that I just really wasn't
that great at it, I should have paid attention to
those markers if that were the case, right, Because maybe
that means this is something that I enjoy doing, but
(24:27):
not something that I would enjoy doing for a living.
This is what you want to pay attention to. So
upskill as much as you can to help you understand
if the moves that you are considering may potentially be
the wrong moves for you or the right moves for you. Okay,
So now that we've gone through those five questions, I
hope that your mind is ticking away you're thinking about
(24:53):
how you can approach this. I hope that this gave
you something to work with instead of just continuously spinning
your wheels and saying I'm not I'm not happy, i
don't want to do this anymore, Sunday scaries, I'm tired.
Hopefully this gives you a starting place and something to
work off of. Take this seriously, Take yourself seriously, Pay
(25:13):
attention to the thoughts that you have, Pay attention to
the ways that you are operating. Remember that a career
change is not just about leaving an environment, or leaving
a job, or leaving something behind. It's about inviting newness
into your life. It's about the possibility of moving toward
and moving forward to something better, something bigger, something more
(25:36):
exciting for yourself. So take it seriously if that's what
you really desire. These five questions aren't meant to just
be checkboxes. They are meant to be tools. They are
meant to help you establish and create a foundation for yourself,
so I hope you're able to use them as such.
Before I wrap up, I want to leave you with
this final thought. These questions everything that I've said today
(25:59):
is not to help you eliminate all possibilities of uncertainty.
It's not realistic. It's just to help you create that foundation.
It's to help you move forward with clarity, with understanding
of yourself, your situation, and your desires. And then on
(26:22):
the other side of that, you're figuring out how can
I execute on all of this? And trust me, everything
that we talked about today will be worthwhile. You'll probably
find yourself in conversation with a friend or something who
is in a similar dilemma, because, like we said, most
people will change careers three to seven times, so you'll
(26:46):
probably find yourself in a conversation with a friend suggesting
that they do some of these same things. And might
I add right now, if you've enjoyed what we talked
about today and you already know somebody in a similar position,
and be sure to share this episode with that person.
And if you really like what you heard and you
don't know anybody in the same situation, but you feel
(27:07):
supported and you feel seen, then I would love if
you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts because that
will really help a girl out. And you know, I
always appreciate your help and I always thank you for
being here, thank you for spending time with me, thank
you for listening, and thank you for investing in yourself.
Thank you for investing in yourself by way of spending
your time to be here, to listen to what I
(27:29):
am able to share with you, and to take action
on the other side of it. Right. As always, I
appreciate you and I will chat with you next week
and until then, you well. This podcast is produced by
(27:50):
Mazie Media. Maze Media as a woman led podcast production
company that works with small businesses and corporations. Visit mazimedia
dot com for more details on how you in your
organization can go from ideation to podcasting.
This is amazing media production. Welcome to the switch Pripter
Quick Podcast. I am your host, Ayana Angel, and this
is where I help you navigate the complexities of personal
and professional development, navigating career changes, life changes, all the changes,
(00:25):
and all the things. And today, dun dun, dum, I
want to get into what I would have loved to know,
questions I would have wanted to ask myself before I
quit my job. These are the things that I think
would have been helpful to really cycle through and get
a proper read on before making such a huge decision. Now,
(00:51):
in hindsight, I did work through some of these, but
not all of them, And I'll try and do my
best to let you know the ones that I work
through versus the ones that I didn't and had to learn.
So we're going to go through today five questions that
you should ask yourself before making a major career change
for a movie. Why are we going through these questions because,
let's face it, making a career change is hard, and
(01:14):
these questions your answers, could be the difference between making
a successful career change and a not so successful career change.
The reality is you're not alone. We have all been there.
There are other people there right now, which is why
we're even having this conversation. So hopefully that makes you
(01:36):
feel a little bit better that you're not alone. And
I actually found a recent study show that in people's lifetimes,
people will make a career change, not a job change,
but a career change at least three to seven times
before they retire. Go figure, So this might not be
(01:56):
your very first career change. You might already be on
your third or fourth. I have no idea, And if
this is your first, it won't probably be your last. Okay,
So the scary part is the unknown, right, And we
can only manage but so much. We can only plan
for but so much. But these five questions will hopefully
(02:17):
give you a base and a foundation to work from
in your planning, in your strategizing, in your understanding what
it is you really want to do next. So what
are some of the common reasons why people want to
make a career change? One could be circumstantial. You've been
laid off, you've been made redundant. You sort of have
(02:38):
no choice but to figure out what your next step is.
You can't just coast. Another one could be management issues.
You're not really getting along with management, they're not really
getting along with you. Maybe the two styles don't complement
each other. I know there's a common phrase that said
(02:58):
people don't leave jobs, they leave managers. So maybe management
is just not working for you. Another reason to leave
could be a toxic work environment. Back to management again,
but maybe the environment is just not healthy for your
mental state. Maybe it crosses boundaries and lines that you'd
rather not have a job cross. One thing that has
(03:22):
been coming up a lot lately is when you hear
a company say we're all like a family here, that's
like a yellow orange flag that it may actually be
a toxic environment. So a toxic environment is never helpful
for anyone. That might be costs to want to leave.
Another option could be you are just looking for better opportunities.
(03:43):
Maybe you want to grow, maybe you want to make
more money. It could be a number of things. But
you're not feeling settled where you are, so you feel
like it's time to make a change and it's time
to go, which is completely realistic, especially the more money part.
And lastly, it can be about progression if you don't
see yourself ascending the corporate ladder where you are, if
(04:07):
you haven't seen promotions come through, raises come through. If
you feel like you're a little stagnant in your current
role and position, progression might be a very viable reason
for you to want to make a change. Whatever the
reason is, it is highly likely that it will be
worth your while to take some time self reflect do
(04:30):
some of the work, the work, because we all know
the work has to be done. But do some of
the work before you make this big change in decisions
so that you can set yourself up to have the
most successful transition. Now let's get into the five questions
you should be asking yourself. The first question is what
(04:50):
is really driving your desire for the change. It feels
a little deceptively simple, right and broad. It's like, oh,
what is behind the desire to want to change? But
I think that it could be related to three possible ps.
(05:11):
The first pe could be people. The people that you
work with, you are just not happy with them for
some reason. It's not jelling, it's not coming together. And
maybe they are people that get on your nerves. Maybe
they are busy bodies and that's not your style. Maybe
they are micromanagers and that's not your style. Whatever it is,
(05:31):
maybe the people are just not conducive to a work
environment that you feel would make you thrive and flourish.
The next pee your position. Are you feeling frustrated about
your level of responsibility or maybe lack of responsibility in
that position? How is that current position affecting you? Is
(05:51):
that what's behind the change? And finally, your last PEE
is the profession overall? Is it just not working for
you anymore? It's really crucial to figure out and identify
which PE may be attributing to your feeling of wanting
to change careers, because that will help inform you more
(06:12):
of what you should be looking for when you're trying
to identify your next career or help you vet the
next career that you think you've identified. I know I
can say for me it was all the peace for
me when I decided to quit my job. It was
the profession. I didn't feel like it aligned with my personality,
(06:34):
who I was and where I saw myself in the future. Also,
it didn't align with my values either. It was also
the people, the people that didn't work for me, and
I'll just leave it at that, right. And it was
also the position I didn't feel like I was having
the growth that I needed. I felt like I was
(06:56):
constantly taking on more responsibility but not seeing anything that
was pouring into me on the other side of taking
on those responsibilities. Let's just say the promotions, the money,
all of that good stuff. So for me, it was
all the piece. So here's why the three p's matter.
Maybe it's not about the career or the industry. Maybe
(07:21):
you're not really looking to change industries. Maybe it's about
the people. Maybe it's about the position that you're in.
So once you really take stock of what is driving
your desire for change and really uncovering and peeling back
the layers on those three piece you might realize that
you have a simpler solution ahead of you that feels
(07:41):
a lot more approachable than making a dramatic life change.
Question number two, what are your strengths and weaknesses? Bear
with me? I know this feels like an age old
question that none of us really want to answer. We're
tired of it popping up. But let's think of it
this way. We're not really going to focus so much
(08:02):
on your weaknesses because your weaknesses are the things that
maybe you need to figure out how to account for
them by managing up, managing down, figuring out how to
delegate and when you know that you have shortcomings in
certain areas. Once you're aware of it, you can then
plan for that. Let's talk about your strengths though. When
(08:23):
you're thinking about switching careers, your strengths really matter. Let's
think about your strengths in terms of when are you
really in your most fluid flow stake. When are you
really doing the things that you love to do and
it is coming naturally to you. When are you solving
problems that are complex and it's just like ease and
(08:46):
you feel so good on the other side of it.
When are you giving advice that really pours into someone
else and it makes all the difference in the world
and solves problems that other people could not solve. When
are you maybe analyzed data or something that just moves
the needle on a project. When are you in your
flow state. When you're in your flow state, this is
(09:09):
when you are at your maximum positive potential. This is
when you are really operating from a space of all
the goodness, all the strengths, and that's what you really
want to pay attention to. So when you're paying attention
to your strengths, you can also jot these down and
think about how do I want to feel every day
when I'm showing up in this potential new career or
(09:31):
at this new company. When you are able to identify
the areas that feel good to you, you can then
search for more alignment with those areas in your future role, position, company,
what have you. So let's talk about a quick example
to just illustrate this a little bit more. Let's just
say you're an accountant, right, and you're always crunching numbers.
(09:53):
But you find that when you're in your flow state,
and when you're really at your best is when you're
talking to clients about education of finances, when you're really
leaning in to educating them on the things that they
need to do, the things that they need to know,
and you're really serving more than a number cruncher role.
You're serving more of an advisory role. If you're paying
(10:16):
attention to your flow state, you may say to yourself, hmm,
I no longer want to crunch numbers, so that particular
position within this industry no longer works for me. But
you know what I do want to do. I want
to be on the education side. I want to be
able to guide people. I want to teach classes in workshops.
I want to be a person that helps to facilitate
(10:37):
the correct information to the correct people. Maybe that's a
different avenue that you could take right and so by
investigating your flow state and really understanding where you show
up best, you're able to tell yourself, Hey, maybe I
stay in this industry, but I don't do this. I
do that. Also another way for you not to have
(10:59):
to make a huge, dramatic, drastic change in your life.
You can still stay somewhat in your wheelhouse, but you
can have the change that you desire so that you
can ultimately have the happiness that you desire on the
other side of it. I know you're locked in sight
and sulking of all this goodness, but hold on for
(11:20):
me just one minute or maybe two, while we hear
from our sponsors. The third question you should ask yourself
is what are my non negotiables? We are very used
to hearing about non negotiables when it comes to dating
(11:40):
and things like that, but it matters in your career
life as well. What are your non negotiables? Another action
for you to take. Please don't get tired of me
with asking you to take these actions, because it's all
for you, and it's all a part of your self
discovery and self understanding to help you make better decisions
and choices when it comes to what you're going to
(12:01):
do next, because that's the question we're trying to answer,
right what are you going to do next? So what
are my non negotiables? When I'm thinking about my non negotiables,
it may be good to take out a piece of
paper and write down what you value. That is something
I did very early on in my journey of self
discovery and understanding what was going to be next for me.
(12:21):
I probably should have done it even earlier, but nonetheless
it got done. So you write down your values, maybe
target a list of ten that you want to start with.
Ten values things that you place in high regard and
that feel like you must have these things present in
your life to be at your best, to operate in
(12:44):
a flow state, to feel like you are doing what
you should be doing, to feel alignment in the work
that you're doing. So some things that you value could
be financial security and stability. It could be a time
to me. It could be creativity. It could be purpose,
having purpose connected to the work that you do. It
(13:07):
could be your environment that you work in, like the
team environment that you work in, What do you value?
Once you make that list of the things that you value,
and like I said, let's do let's target ten. Okay,
if you can't do ten, maybe seven, but let's target
a decent amount so that then you can work your
way backwards and slowly start assessing those things on a
(13:29):
deeper level and checking off things that, ah, maybe you
can compromise on a little bit, until you get to
the three things that you value most. Those three things
you can then put in your back pocket and as
you are vetting the next opportunity, the next decision that
you're gonna make, you can then match up the decision
(13:51):
that you have to make with those values and see
is there alignment there? Does this make sense for me
in terms of the company that I'm caning? Do they
offer the financial stability? Do their values match up with
my values? Is the team environment what I would like
it to be? You can use those values to help
(14:12):
you make stronger decisions and more informed decisions for yourself. Okay,
moving on to number four, what are your realistic expectations?
This is one admittedly I did not consider enough. I
knew what my hopes were I knew what I desired,
(14:36):
but realistic expectations did not exist. They didn't exist. I
think that there are three things you should realistically have
at the forefront of your mind when you're thinking about
making a career change. One is that your financial situation
(14:57):
is probably going to change. More than likely, it might
change for the negative, meaning that you might be in
the negative in the red. No, I'm just kidding. I
shouldn't say it like that. But once you make this change,
the likelihood that you will earn twenty, maybe thirty percent
less than you did before. That's real. That's a realistic likelihood.
(15:19):
So what you want to do is begin to wrap
your mind around that, figure out if you are settled
with that, once again, going back to your values, is
that okay with you? And plan for it. If you
decide that you're okay with it, then you plan for it.
You make sure that whatever you're doing, and whatever decision
you're making, and the time frame that you're making that
(15:41):
decision in you have enough time to give yourself that
cushion to make up for that twenty to thirty percent
that you may lose an income, so that your lifestyle
doesn't have to dramatically change. But that is one of
the realistic expectations that you should have, is that your
financial situation probably will not remain the same. The next
(16:02):
realistic expectation is that you should be prepared to start
from the bottom. You should be prepared to work really
hard growing in whatever new space you decide to show
up in because you are just starting. Yes, you come
to the table with life experiences, with career experiences, with
(16:22):
transferable skills and knowledge, but you have to be realistic
about where you're going to show up in this new position,
this new role, and know that it may take you
six months to a year to really feel like you
have a grasp on what this new role requires of you.
So you really have to be prepared to be a
(16:44):
beginner again. I know we most of us don't want
to start all over again, but sometimes this is just
the sacrifice that you have to make. That's why we
said realistic expectations because it'd be nice to live in
an optimistic flower Field world where we think that everything
(17:05):
that we do is the best thing since slice bread.
So people are just gonna constantly give us everything we
want and everything we need, and the opportunities are just
gonna be handed to us and at our fingertips, so
we don't really have to start from the bottom. But
unfortunately that may happen for a few but really won't
happen for all. So we need to be realistic. And
(17:25):
the third thing that we need to be realistic about
is being prepared to feel defeated some of the time
and to feel like this is just so difficult. I'm
not getting the grasp of it. Because it may take
you about a year before you finally find your footing
in this new role, in this new career, in this
(17:48):
new industry. You are going to be beginning again, right,
and so it may take you some time to feel
steady and to feel confident showing up in this new role.
That's just a reality we must sit with. And so
when you are a decision making, you need to ask yourself,
how comfortable will I be with this? Be real with yourself.
(18:10):
This is the time, like we're talking about, for self inventory,
self reflection, self understanding, self assessment, so that you can
really say, I can swallow that humble pie and I
can show up in any role that I choose and
be a beginner again and learn again and be okay
(18:31):
with it. I'm not going to have an ego that
I carry with me. I will be a pleasant person
to work with even when I get frustrated and I
don't understand things. This is what I must do to
invite the new reality into my life that I desire.
This is the kind of pep talk you're gonna have
to have with yourself. So are you prepared to have
(18:52):
that pep talk? Or no? That's the question. So I'm
not saying any of this to scare you. I'm really
saying it to prepare you. Okay, Now question number five
that we should be asking ourselves. Now this is the biggie.
What is your transition plan? What is my transition plan?
(19:16):
This is where dreaming meets execution. This is where you
get her done. Three things I think you should be
thinking about and making sure that you have an awareness
of when you're considering your plan for your transition. Which
another thing that I didn't really do enough of. I
didn't have a plan, but I was smart about activating
(19:43):
against elements of a plan, but I didn't have something
formal and written out. These are the three things that
I think you should be prepared for and prepared with
your financial plan, create a runway for yourself, create a
cushion for yourself. Maybe start working a side job if
(20:03):
you need to gather extra income that can give you
more of a cushion, so that, like I said, if
you have to run into a situation where you're making
less than you are used to making, you're not devastated.
Your lifestyle is not devastated. And sometimes when you are
devastated by financial realities and your lifestyle is impacted by that,
(20:28):
it makes the transition harder. It doesn't make you fall
in love with the transition. It makes it feel like
it's work that you're questioning should I be doing this,
Like did I make the right decision or not? And
so if you help yourself by eliminating that, it will
make the transition feel much better overall, because there's already
(20:50):
going to be enough things coming at you to where
if you're prepared in this one way, at least, that's
one less thing that you have to deal with. The
next thing that I would prepare for in my transition
planning would be relationship building. Who is already in the
industry that I want to work in, whether it be
internal within a company I'm at or internal being the
(21:13):
people that I already know and I'm in community with,
or external people that I don't know, people that don't
have relationships with or outside of my company. How can
I start formulating those relationships? And one of the easiest
ways is to just introduce yourself and request maybe ten
to fifteen minutes to just hear more about that person.
(21:34):
Not an informational interview. It's just more so like, hey,
can I learn more about your story and how you
do what you do? Because people love to talk about themselves.
So if you invite people to show up in a
conversation where they feel like they are the knowledgeable one,
they have the expertise, and they have the information, you
are more likely to get a yes, and they will
(21:54):
sit there and tell you how they did everything that
they've done, And that is your in to start developing
a relationship with that person, and maybe they'll even be
open to inviting you to their inner circle or meeting
new people within their community by way of you just
having a wonderful exchange with them and being so open
(22:15):
and honest about wanting to hear more about their story
and their journey. The next thing that I would do,
and this is something that I did do was develop
the skills. When I was thinking, Hey, I want to
write this book. I have no idea how to write
a book. I've never done this before, don't know anybody
who has done it like this, What should I do?
(22:35):
I started taking classes. So developing your skills is a
really great element to including your plan. If you know
that you have shortcomings or things that you need to
work on, let's just say it's not even something that's
super practical and normal. Let's say the next career that
you're venturing into, or the role that you would like
(22:56):
it requires you to speak publicly more or present more.
Maybe it's a sales type of role or something of
that nature. Maybe you sign up for something like Toastmasters
to get your feet wet and really get you acclimated
with speaking in front of audiences. Whatever it is that
you need to do to up level your skills, that's
what you should be focused on in your time of
(23:17):
planning for your transition. When you are full fledged in
the midst of the transition, it is going to be
so difficult to try and learn and take on new
skills in the midst of all of that change. That's
not an ideal time, do it ahead of time, do
it in your planning phase, and make sure you are
really dedicating the time and energy that is required for
(23:40):
you to gain these skills, because that's also a little
bit of a test, a personal test that you can
use to say, Hey, how bad do I really want this?
How much am I really interested in this? Like for me,
I was going to these writing classes and workshops, and
I was learning how to write dialogue, and I was
learning how to write captivating storylines and content and all
(24:04):
of these things, and I enjoyed it. But had I
started going to these writing workshops and classes and been
bored to tears or found that I just really wasn't
that great at it, I should have paid attention to
those markers if that were the case, right, Because maybe
that means this is something that I enjoy doing, but
(24:27):
not something that I would enjoy doing for a living.
This is what you want to pay attention to. So
upskill as much as you can to help you understand
if the moves that you are considering may potentially be
the wrong moves for you or the right moves for you. Okay,
So now that we've gone through those five questions, I
hope that your mind is ticking away you're thinking about
(24:53):
how you can approach this. I hope that this gave
you something to work with instead of just continuously spinning
your wheels and saying I'm not I'm not happy, i
don't want to do this anymore, Sunday scaries, I'm tired.
Hopefully this gives you a starting place and something to
work off of. Take this seriously, Take yourself seriously, Pay
(25:13):
attention to the thoughts that you have, Pay attention to
the ways that you are operating. Remember that a career
change is not just about leaving an environment, or leaving
a job, or leaving something behind. It's about inviting newness
into your life. It's about the possibility of moving toward
and moving forward to something better, something bigger, something more
(25:36):
exciting for yourself. So take it seriously if that's what
you really desire. These five questions aren't meant to just
be checkboxes. They are meant to be tools. They are
meant to help you establish and create a foundation for yourself,
so I hope you're able to use them as such.
Before I wrap up, I want to leave you with
this final thought. These questions everything that I've said today
(25:59):
is not to help you eliminate all possibilities of uncertainty.
It's not realistic. It's just to help you create that foundation.
It's to help you move forward with clarity, with understanding
of yourself, your situation, and your desires. And then on
(26:22):
the other side of that, you're figuring out how can
I execute on all of this? And trust me, everything
that we talked about today will be worthwhile. You'll probably
find yourself in conversation with a friend or something who
is in a similar dilemma, because, like we said, most
people will change careers three to seven times, so you'll
(26:46):
probably find yourself in a conversation with a friend suggesting
that they do some of these same things. And might
I add right now, if you've enjoyed what we talked
about today and you already know somebody in a similar position,
and be sure to share this episode with that person.
And if you really like what you heard and you
don't know anybody in the same situation, but you feel
(27:07):
supported and you feel seen, then I would love if
you would leave a review on Apple Podcasts because that
will really help a girl out. And you know, I
always appreciate your help and I always thank you for
being here, thank you for spending time with me, thank
you for listening, and thank you for investing in yourself.
Thank you for investing in yourself by way of spending
your time to be here, to listen to what I
(27:29):
am able to share with you, and to take action
on the other side of it. Right. As always, I
appreciate you and I will chat with you next week
and until then, you well. This podcast is produced by
(27:50):
Mazie Media. Maze Media as a woman led podcast production
company that works with small businesses and corporations. Visit mazimedia
dot com for more details on how you in your
organization can go from ideation to podcasting.
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