BecomingWhoYouWantToBe

Nowadays, most people you talk to in their 40s and even many in their 30s have gone through one if not two mid-life career changes. Sometimes, the change may have been brought on due to external forces, such as a redundancy. Other times, the change is a premeditated one and perceived as being the better life choice.

Change is challenging for many people, whether in a career context or not. Career changes are seldom taken without some trepidation, as they often they involve walking away from job security, medical plans and pension plans, as well as colleagues.

I have a life coach friend who decided to set up his own coaching business at the age of 40. Whenever he talks about this decision, he says that it involved many sleepless nights for him. Today, you don’t have to ask him if he made the right decision because it is clear that he has. Hes doing what he loves, and is extremely successful with his billing.

Here are a few pointers for anyone contemplating a midlife career change:

1:Change is inevitable. Its easy to want things to stay the same, no matter what, but if there is one certainty in life, its that change is inevitable. Michael Heppell, author of How to Be Brilliant, asks individuals to ask themselves two questions, and to come up with a number between 1 and 10: How much do you like to learn new things? And how much do you like change? If you want to be brilliant, it goes without saying you want to love learning new things, and love change.

2:Change involves stepping out of your comfort zone. This means things will be uncomfortable for a while. The faster you embrace that change is supposed to be uncomfortable, because you’re stretching yourself, the better. Expect things to be a little unsettling for a while, expect a lot of new, and know that before long you’ll be in a new comfort zone, but one that fits you and your career aspirations even better.

3:Visual what you want, and aim to be as precise as possible. There are plenty of people that believe we create our own life experiences by what we ask for. This involves closing your eyes for a moment, and thinking about where you see yourself in 3, 6 or 9 months, or in any time frame you want. If you want to work in a new office environment, what does it look like? For example, do you spend most of your day you sitting behind a computer screen or talking to clients in a conference room? The logic is simple. With all the choices out there, how are we supposed to spot the right one for us, if we don’t know what were looking for looks like?

Enjoy the changes you are facing. Remind yourself that change is inevitable, and that its supposed to feel a little uncomfortable to begin with. But when you get to where you’re supposed to, what a great feeling.

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