One of the first things I ask a client is, “On a scale of one to ten, how committed are you to finding your dream job?” If the answer is anything less than a ten, we discuss why, and how we can move it up. The reason is that if you don’t carve out the time to make this transition a priority in your life it will never happen.
I’ve had several people say they were committed, start the process, and a month into it not make as much progress as they wanted. They allowed other things to get in the way: their current jobs, hobbies, family commitments. Having hobbies outside work is fabulous and important to creating a balanced life. Spending time with family is a good thing! However, when you’re in career transition, if you truly want to be successful, you must make some sacrifices to make the change. The transition doesn’t last forever so ask yourself, “What do I need to say ‘No’ to in order to say ‘Yes’ to a career I love?”
Often the time to work on a career change occurs in unusual ways. Lydia complained for weeks that she hadn’t been able to devote the time to her career change and, as a result, was making little progress. “I’m too tired when I get home from work,” she told me. “And it just feels like one more obligation.” I knew that Lydia took the train to her office, so I suggested that she do the work on her morning commute when she was rested. This simple step of finding a way to fit in the time made a huge difference; and Lydia went from doing no work in our workbook to spending three hours a week on her dream career. “I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of this myself,” she said. “It was so simple.”
David also started with a bang, making great progress towards clarifying his career direction. He even had created a list of possible career ideas to research. But then he slowed down. One week he said, “Work’s just been so busy.” I told him I understood, and then asked, “If you are still in the same job in six months and haven’t made progress towards another career, how will you feel?” “Not so good,” he replied. So we sat down, talked about his list of career ideas, and started to cut some of them. We created a schedule for his research.
Preparing for a career change is like any other big project. It gets done in small, steady steps over time.
Action step:
Review your weekly calendar and decide when you can find time to work on your career change. Is it early Saturday morning for one hour before the kids get up? Or do you want to use some of your lunch hour away from the office to go to a coffee shop with your computer and work? Allot forty minutes on two different days this week for your career transition. Make it a recurring appointment.
HallieCrawford.com was founded by certified career coach, speaker and author Hallie Crawford. Since 2002, the company’s team of certified career coaches have helped thousands of job seekers worldwide identify their ideal career path, navigate their career transition and achieve their career goals. Schedule a free consult with http://createyourcareerpath.com today to learn more about our services.
