'23 Weeknotes #22: 5 Golden Tips for Career Changers 🚀
Also applicable to navigating other big changes in work/life.
You are reading ‘Like person, like coach’, a newsletter about being the coach you are whilst trying to contribute to a better world:
Last week I had a call with a potential client who asked: ‘what have you seen that works in this situation?’. It made me ponder on what I’ve seen that works for people changing careers or roles in the last four years of coaching. A few themes stood out:
1. ‘Nobody said it was easy’ - Coldplay said it best. Once the honeymoon of a transition eases off, you’re left with the grind. It’s rewarding grind because making a change usually does improve wellbeing, but nonetheless it’s work. Slightly killjoy.
2. Don’t seek balance, learn to manage imbalance - Esther Perel talks about freedom and stability and the importance of living in between them in our relationships and work. A classic paradox that comes up in most career/role transitions, is ‘do I prioritise making money or do I prioritise doing what I love?’. Maybe this question isn’t to be resolved but to be lived through differently at different points in our lives?
3. ‘Self-trust happens when you are braver than you want to be’, Zohar Atkins - These days I’m going back to Herminia Ibarra’s ‘Nine unconventional rules for reinventing your career’. I love her approach because she encourages experimentation, small steps and actions over making big decisions and rushing into commitments.
4. Find your people - What will keep you going when things get tough is other people. The teachers, coaches, therapists and supervisors I met in the last few years have helped me find and refind the courage to continue in my own career shift. A person who can help you make leaps in your career is only one cold email away. I’ve never sounded so ‘coachy’ in my entire life.
5. Your Voice Matters (A lot!) - Parker Palmer talks a lot about ‘listening to your life’, the one that wants to live through you, not the one you want to live. I always found that quite deep. He talks about getting quiet enough to be able to listen to one’s voice because as he puts it: ‘The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out.’
✨ Bonus Tip: A career shift is an identity shift. Many big life changes are. Letting loss, grief and sadness be part of moving forward will give you more of a chance to be present for a new beginning and the people and opportunities it brings your way.
This week I’m thinking about:
1. Starting to write a book of poems and essays on transitioning - I’m looking for trans writers’ residencies and grants. Please recommend me some if you’re aware of them. Any support with getting a hang of gettting published is also appreciated.
2. I have availability for coaching: Are you going through a period of transition in your career? Or are you growing into a new leadership role? This is an opportunity to reflect on how things are going and get clearer about where you want to take things next. Find out more on the website and book a free chat to explore coaching with me.
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