How to find the courage to change your career and then do so gracefully is no easy task.
The career path you choose is one of the most important decisions you make in life. After all, most of your waking hours each year are spent at work!
If you struggle to find happiness in your current line of work, you may be experiencing a temporary lack of motivation that will quickly disappear. Or it may be a signal that it's time for a change.
A career choice is more than just paying the bills and putting food on the table. You deserve to spend your days doing work you enjoy, and your career should align with your values and goals. You owe it to yourself to find within you the courage to change your career direction!
I am intimately familiar with this pain and the process of making a change to alleviate it.
In my last nursing job, I found myself in a situation where I loved the people I was working with, both clients and colleagues, but I found myself, most days beating my head against a wall trying to get the services my clients needed and too often, coming up short.
I really believed in the work I was doing and knew the funding was there to serve the clients, but too often the ability to access the very services we were tasked to provide were inaccessible.
I was becoming less confident, and often blaming myself, asking myself, “Did I fight as hard as I could have? Maybe I didn’t communicate the need well enough. Could I lay it out in a different way? Why am I not getting the results that my clients deserve?” Thinking like this led me to allow thoughts of work to invade my evenings and weekends, trying to find better ways to get my job done.
This led to anger, frustration, feeling helpless, and sleepless nights.
I knew I was burned out.
This is when I started looking at things in a different way.
I started asking better questions.
What is the purpose of a nurse?
What is my purpose on this planet?
What are my values?
What lights me up?
What frustrates me?
What do I believe?
In doing this introspection, I found that my values were not aligned with the corporate health system the department was a part of. Upon further reflection and research, I learned that it was not just my department or the health corporation, but a national problem, and this was the norm, not the exception.
The current system of healthcare in the United States is broken.
It’s gotten to the point where I am not sure I can call it “healthcare” anymore, due to the lack of care involved in too many circumstances.
This is when I knew I needed a change.
It was not an easy decision, because I’ve been a nurse for a long time and I truly did love what I was doing, when I felt I was making a difference, sadly that did not happen often enough to make up for the frustration.
When I realized I could do something similar, being in business for myself as a coach, this is when it all changed.
This was my favorite part of being a nurse! Helping another person to recognize their worth so they could make the decisions and choices to make the change they desired for themselves. So they could be healthier, happier, more confident, and have what they desire in their lives.
I had been working on my coaching business for a little while, but it was more like dabbling. After working through my process and seeing it as a real career choice, one that fit with my values, expertise and life goals, it became my exit plan.
The inner work, the confidence boost this brought, and the networking is what made the decision a no-brainer. But it didn’t happen overnight.
Making the decision was the hardest part. After that, making the plan to line up the opportunities, volunteering to learn valuable skills and network, and then doing the work needed to phase out my nursing job was what it took for me to take the leap.
I share this with you to help you gain some clarity, offer some suggestions of how to look inward to know yourself, what lights you up and how to go after that, if you are thinking of making a career shift for yourself.
If you are reading this post, chances are you already know there is something off track with either your career choice or workplace at this time in your life.
Awareness is the first step!
You've made that first big step, now you want to know how to make a change and do it gracefully, in a way to feels right to you.
Take Your Time
A career change is an opportunity to think carefully about your values and determine what matters most to you. This takes time. Be patient and give yourself permission to take the time you need to determine what's most important to you in your career.
Ask Questions
Ask yourself some questions to explore your values and find out what's important to you. Why did you choose your career in the first place? What did you like about this line of work? Have those elements of your job disappeared through changes that have taken place, or have you simply forgotten what drew you to this line of work in the first place?
What do you wish you were doing instead? Is there a job within your current company that can better utilize your talents in a more interesting position? Seek advice from your employer on opportunities that exist within your company to learn new skills or transfer to a more interesting position.
Take Small Steps
Take baby steps towards the life you crave. While it may seem right to run away from your current career as fast as you can, a hurried approach may backfire. If you take the time to think through your decisions and make the best decision possible, you'll experience greater joy and fulfillment in the long run.
Accomplish your big dreams by breaking them down into small, manageable action steps.
Seek the advice of others who are already successful in the line of work you're seeking to enter. Structure your goals in a way that allows you to attain regular feedback on your progress, so you know when you're on track and when you're off course.
Start volunteering
Becoming a volunteer allows you to do something you feel passionate about and make a difference at the same time.
As an added bonus, you can often gain valuable, transferrable skills as a volunteer that can be a benefit to you in your next endeavor.
Respect Your Current Employer
When it's time to leave, do so gracefully. As you move closer and closer to the career change you seek, continue to perform your current job to the best of your ability. You may need your current employer as a reference, and an attitude of service will increase your self-confidence as you prepare for a dramatic change in your life.
Believe in Yourself
Trust your instincts and your ability to succeed.
You can achieve any goal that you set out to accomplish. With proper planning and a hunger to succeed, you'll experience the career success you crave. Keep your dreams in front of you, believe you can achieve them, and begin today to take the first steps toward the career you are destined to enjoy.
Remember, the career path you choose is one of the most important decisions you make in life.
With time, asking the right questions, and following the steps above, you can decide what you value and then make sure you are living in those values with your job choice, or explore making a change.
Don't forget, you don't have to do this alone! This is where a great coach comes in. Someone who can illuminate your path so you can see things that may have been hidden from your current view. If you want a guide for your journey, click this link to schedule yourself a free discovery call with me.
If you find yourself not loving where you are in your career or workplace, you owe it to yourself to find within you the courage to change your direction!