How to Change Career Direction Without Running off the Road

 

Making decisions is not easy.   There are so many choices available to us in today’s world that even small decisions like what to have for dinner can be difficult.  It’s no surprise, then, that big decisions about our lives can be paralysing.

At some point in our adult lives most of us will find ourselves wanting to change career direction.  The trigger may be loss of a job, a move to a new area, a change of relationship circumstances, or perhaps we’ve just become stuck in a rut and need a new challenge.  Sometimes a small change will suffice (such as changing specialisations within a field or moving to a different employer) while other times we may need to start on something completely new.

When you’re looking to change career direction I recommend that you base your choices around the following questions:

1. What are my core values/ what do I hold dear?

2. What gives me the most joy/ when am I happiest?

3. What are my “superpowers”/ what are my main skills?

4. What did I want to do when I was at school?

5. What advice would my future self give?

6. What would the person I admire most suggest I do?

7. What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

8. What would I do if money was no object?

9. What would I most like to be known for?

10. What work best suits my personality?

If these questions seem easy then you’re either blessed with rare self awareness or you’re not thinking deeply enough about them.  I suggest you spend at least 10 minutes on each one, writing down a range of responses and refining your thinking as you go.  After you’ve gone as far as you can with this it may be helpful to talk them over with someone else as a way of stretching further. 

Generating clear and honest answers to these questions will give you the foundation of self understanding that you need to choose a career path and accept opportunities that you will find rewarding and enriching.

Of course, practical factors such as level of pay and employment conditions are important but I strongly suggest that you hold off on thinking too much about these until after you’ve done the exploration above.  Choosing careers and jobs that are compatible with our true selves is a path to success and happiness while choosing on the basis of how much they pay is almost always a path to disenchantment.

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Elephant Capability can help you make choices about your career path that will set you up for success.  Call 0400917167 or email using the contact form on this website to find out how.