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Lesson 1:  It Really Is Possible!                                                 Lesson Library

In This Lesson… ü   What Does Career Change Look Like? ü   Keeping The Emotional Stalkers At Bay   ü   Creating A Mindset For Change   You'll receive a lesson every 3 days via email.  But if you'd like to fly faster, click on the "Lesson Library" link above.  You'll have access to all five lessons immediately.   Hi!  Patricia Soldati here...   Congratulations for taking this important step toward exploring a new working life.  Many professionals never get this far -- despite lots of talk about wanting career change.   It's a challenge, no question.  In fact, let's see if I have this right...you’re uninspired by your work, you want a career that challenges you and feeds your spirit, AND you’re skeptical that this could happen because:   a.      here are no work possibilities that seem remotely viable to you b.      you’re scared about the money c.       your confidence swings up and down d.      you know what you want -- you just don’t know how to make it happen. e.      all of the above.   If you picked "e", you’re not alone.  Most seekers begin their journey overwhelmed and scared.  In fact, just thinking about a new career brings up fears that can stop you in your tracks.   Mind you, they are not fears of the ‘clear and present danger’ kind.  They are projections of what might happen in the future…uncertainty that gets projected by our mental drama into full-blown disaster.  Yet, all too often, these projections prevent you from even exploring your options.   This almost happened to me in 1999.  To think that I might never have taken the steps that have ultimately led to the working life I love so much is now unimaginable.   But my enlightenment didn’t happen overnight.  It was a progression of learning about the process of career change – and taking a step.  And learning more.  And taking another step...and the next...and the next.    What Does Career Change Look Like? Until the past ten years, career change meant moving from one company to another – usually in a similar role.  It was really more of a company change than a career shift.  Today, that’s not the case at all.  Driven by downsizing, general economic factors, the desire to escape the pressures of corporate America and the creativity inherent in the Internet, there are many different kinds of career opportunities available for change-minded professionals.    A few of my clients illustrate this perfectly:     ·        Sharon Sellet:  Co-ordinator of disability programs for a large Cinncinnati hospital to full-time professional coach (with a specialty in disability-related coaching) ·        John Taylor:  Film/documentary production company partner to college professor (in communications, of course!) ·        Regina Burgio:  Graphic designer in a large, commercial retail company to graphic designer for her community’s visitor bureau; not only did Regina find work she loved in a  more values-based organization, she negotiated a 4-day work week to allow more time to pursue her passion around community activism. ·        Scott Traybing:  sales executive for a Fortune 1000 company-turned-sales consultant and fine cabinet builder   Just from these few examples, it's easy to see that career change has many faces:    ·        pure “solo-preneurship” ·        a shift into significantly different work -- with a different type of organization ·        maintaining work you love and taking it to a values-based organization ·        a combination of part-time or contract work and “solo-preneurship”   Are these individuals still working hard?  You bet!  Are there days when they want to pull their hair out?  Of course!  Would they give up their hard won autonomy for their old corporate jobs?  No way!    We really do seem to be a “free agent nation” as author Dan Pink calls it.  According to recent census data, the number of single person businesses has been rising since 1997 and rose another 4% in 2002 – to 17.6 million.  It’s not clear how many of these businesses are the sole support of their entrepreneurial founders – but the trend is very clear:  we are entering an era of creative entrepreneurship where multiple streams of income and substantial flexibility replace the traditional corporate paycheck.    Enter The Emotional Stalkers As much as you might want a change, and as much as the trends might favor it, just contemplating a shift is a glittering invitation to four emotional stalkers who love nothing better than to play a nasty game of team-tag at your personal expense.  When you unmask these bandits -- even a little -- they begin to lose their emotional charge – leaving you free to more fully explore the opportunities before you.          Stalker # 1:  The Devil You Know.  Imagine that you’re headed for work.  You’re at the station, briefcase and newspaper in hand, waiting in a narrow sea of gray look-alikes to catch the 6:10 train.  Or, jailed in your car, radio droning, you crawl along the highway, hypnotized by the swaying bumpers ahead.  You arrive in town, grab your daily coffee, rise silently in a packed elevator and pad to your office, numb before you even start your day.  Work done, you reverse direction, back and forth, each day more effort than the one before.      After ten or twenty years, once colorful work has faded.  Yet how good it feels to know the ropes!  How seductively easy it is to stay stuck in what you know!   To break out of your comfort zone, tap into the most inspiring, personal benefit that your career change can bring you:  More intriguing and challenging work?  Being your own boss? or, perhaps it’s the luxury of more personal time to pursue other interests.    Mentally scan your list of friends and acquaintances who are fulfilled in their work.  Find a role model who has a working life that you find intriguing.  Who is demonstrating that hard work and life in full bloom are not mutually exclusive realities?            Stalker #2:  Clueless in Seattle.  If you have a passion for particular work, or specialized expertise that you intend to lever, Fortune is smiling and waving you forward.  Count yourself lucky, indeed!  The rest of us face the thorny battle of believing that there's work out there that is we can embrace with our logic brain and our heart brain.  Two different animals, worlds apart!  Intellectually, lots of options exist, but how do you make the visceral leap that one of these options is right for you?   This was my #1 dilemma in 1999.  Objectively, I knew that I had good skills that I could leverage.  But emotionally I was not a believer.  Since I didn’t know what THE work was, how could I believe it was possible?  I probably would have given up then and there, if it wasn’t for a friend who suggested that I was trying to accomplish too much, too early.  He saw me desperate to “swing from tree to tree” and challenged my need to nail down exactly what I was going to do for work before I even started my career change process.     “Figuring out what to do for a living IS the process,” he explained.  “The answers unfold slowly, with diligent work.”  He encouraged me to explore my talents and work preferences fully and methodically.  And to think with my heart.  “It’s your heart,” he advised, “that allows you to leap.”     Without a doubt, this was the most important career-change advice I ever got.      Stalker #3:  The Slippery Slope:  Money.   Of course, you want to make a good living!  The green stuff pays our bills, educates our kids, entertains us and gives us a sense that all is well with the world.   All completely valid issues.   But as long as you are still drawing a paycheck, worrying about financial ruin is completely self-defeating.  Spend your energy constructively, working the math in a deliberate way and letting the results dictate your path – not your fear.   On my journey, once I “got” this wisdom, I scratched out budgets like a miser obsessed.  The results weren’t ideal, but they weren’t devastating either.  After chopping expenses and eliminating debt, my savings would support me for 11 months.  I wanted a minimum of 24 months of cushion to cover a ramp up period to get my coaching business off the ground.  Closing the gap meant staying put until next year’s bonus was paid -– 10 months away!  This placed my escape squarely at 20 months from start to finish, longer than I had anticipated, but at least I had a solid target in my gun site.  My exit had become a question of “when” not “if”.          Stalker #4:  The Mush Factor.  Lack of confidence is the subtlest form of exit sabotage, but just as lethal as its three stalker-friends.  It creeps up, scores, and then evaporates like soft mist.  Just when you’re ready to take on the world, it attacks again, melting you into a puddle of doubts about your ability to even come close to career change.   When you feel vulnerable, think about the bounty you’ve gained from your corporate run -– sharp-as-a-tack analytical skills, business acumen, process know-how, leadership, and the solid technical expertise -– law, accounting, finance, organizational and human development, marketing, sales – the list is as long and as rich as Rapunzel’s hair.  These attributes fueled your corporate career; they will do no less for you now.   That said, perfect confidence all the time is not realistic either.  Emotional wobbles go with the territory.  To steady yourself, remember that your journey is one of choice, not force.  You control it from beginning to end –- the pace, how it unfolds and when.  When the level of uncertainty feels too great, accept it.  It will pass.  When it does, pick up the reins again.  Work with your flow of energy, not against it.  Before you know it, you will have conceived a plan and a financial strategy that will feed your confidence -- not suck it dry. ****************************                                Want to be inspired by your work again? Consider PurposefulWork's member community.  It's everything you need to make a successful career transition -- a proven process, my personal support  four times per month and great resources --  for as little as $39 per month.  To learn more, click here.  Or join us any Monday at 12 noon ET for an introductory tele-class.  It takes under an hour...and it's free, though you will incur the cost of the long-distance call.  Register here to receive the call-in number.                                                    *********************************     I'm curious... did anything come up for you as a result of this lesson.  Reaction?  Comments?  Just email me at patricia@purposefulwork.com  I'd love to hear from you.  Or, if you know someone who could benefit from these lessons, just click here:   Tell a friend!   © 2004 - 2005                              www.purposefulwork.com                          All rights reserved.