Key to a Successful Career Change: Let Go of Convention

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Have you ever considered a career change? I have. I’ve made the leap a few times now to new roles in new industries and one of the pervading emotions, along with excitement and fear and exhilaration is loneliness. So, this month, ahead of the New Year new start of January I wanted to share with you my tips and learnings from making some big career changes and how you can too.

Letting go of conventional expectations is essential for a successful approach to changing career, especially if it’s a dramatic departure from your current career and lifestyle.

Having made some big changes, myself in the last fifteen years from three major career changes to setting up my own business, the thing I’ve consistently had to do was to let go of convention. To actively believe in my own ideas rather than the ‘normal’ that most people are familiar with. This is tough and can be lonely at times, but I’ve never once regretted it.

Learning to let go of convention has been one of the single most freeing factors of all the successful changes I’ve made.

When I say conventional ideas, I don’t just mean about work and career either. I mean about everything. It seems obvious to say, but for me I hadn’t fully anticipated it the first career change I made, that your career impacts everything in your life. The lifestyle you have, the things you aspire to.

Stepping away from convention is essential for change

Convention is the house in the suburbs, the 9-5 office job you’re supposed to progress in, but crucially stay in. It’s the ‘nice’ car you drive and the ‘nicer’ one you’re supposed to aspire to. Convention is what provides comfort and (in my opinion at least) a certain lack of imagination.

But, stepping away from the conventional path means you’re going to have to dig deep and pave your own. Because, as soon as you start to make changes, to put into motion the ideas you’ve got and to believe that with a career change your work as well as your life will be better, you’re breaking with convention and challenging the norm.

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You need to believe in the new

It’s important to be aware of that. To be ok with things being different and sometimes difficult. There will be times when other people, friends, colleagues don’t understand what you’re doing. There will be times you doubt yourself. But to keep going means you’ve got ultimate belief that where you’re paving your way to is better than the comfort you’re choosing to leave behind.

I’ve never once regretted the changes I’ve made, but at times I was surprised by the impact changing a career path had on my wider life, so I always advise others to think about career change more holistically too. Waving goodbye to convention is exciting as well as daunting – what is for sure creating your own new normal on your path to career fulfilment is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Ok, so if you’re going to make the leap then here’s the top five things to help you through the nerves and the excitement.

5 things to inspire and calm you through your career change

Changing careers is exciting, it takes guts and bravery, it is the conscious choice to leap into the unknown. But, it’s also scary, overwhelming and at times a lonely path.

So, when things feel like they’re getting out of control, when you start to feel the fear and to doubt your choice of the new over the old and comfortable.

These are the top 5 things you can do to inspire and support yourself.

  1. Breathe – connecting with your breath and doing simple and short exercises to breathe deeply, counting gently to ten is a proven way to calm and nurture yourself. Best thing about it, you can do it anywhere at any time. There’s lots of guided apps out there to help you like Headspace if you want to have the comfort of being guided through the exercises.

  2. Remember why you started – making a change is many things, but easy isn’t one of them. Keep reminding yourself of why you started in the first place. Share that vision of your future on a post-it, in your journal on your laptop’s notes. Anywhere you’ll see it and be reminded. It’ll help anchor you in your hope for the future.

  3. Take time out to be by yourself – Giving yourself time to reflect, rest and reengage is essential with any big change. Allowing yourself the space to think objectively about things is a crucial part of change. Build it into your weekly schedule, an hour, a morning, a day - whatever works. Just use the time to step back and think calmly. 

  4. Surround yourself with positive influences – Family, friends, pets anyone and anything that is always in your corner and who will help lift you up on the days when things feel hard or overwhelming. We all need a network of people who’ll help us get up when things feel on top of us.

  5. Take time off – This may sound counter-intuitive but it’s essential you give yourself a break – literally. Whether it’s an afternoon pamper or a week’s holiday. Switch off, unwind. Turn the volume down on the world and let your brain rest. Change is turbulent and challenging - giving yourself a proper break will help you cope. Remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint. 

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It’s so easy to get carried away when you instigate a big career change. It’s exciting and all-consuming and there’s a tiny nugget of fear that propels you to keep going. But taking time out to rest, recharge and quietly consider everything you’d already done and the positive changes still to come is a major part of handling change positively over a longer term. Embrace it and keep going. You’ve got this.

By featured writer, Alcea. See ‘Team’ for more information and contact details.