If you’ve ever considered making a career change, 

daydreamed about what that might be like …

But haven’t got off the launchpad yet,

Or you don’t even know where the launchpad is?

Today I will be sharing with you 5 secrets about a career change that might help you to get started.

Hello and a very warm welcome to Episode No 17 of ‘Your Bravo Career’

My name is Mark Crossfield, I’m a Professional Career Coach helping you to love your job and build a great career.  

How you can enjoy what you are doing day each day at work

and how to build a great career along the way.

Introduction

In this episode, I’m going to be talking about some career change truths, or, secrets as I like to call them. I’ve got five of them to discuss with you today.

And, I’m hoping these are going to loosen your thinking about career change, and to help you see it differently.

 

I’ve also got some news on my podcast following some feedback from you lovely listeners. 

 

This means that there will be some changes to the format of the show.

 

And I’ve got a couple of new features to share with you.

So, let’s get started on today’s show …

 

Following the last episode when I asked for feedback on my podcast I received several comments from listeners.

 

One comment was from Leo Todaro in Denmark who remarked that the episode I did on resources, that would have been Episode 15, was very useful and that he enjoyed having all the suggestions of books and audiobooks to support you in your career. Thanks for your feedback, Leo.

 

I also received some constructive feedback about the show, the content and how it was structured.

 

So from this week, I am adding in a couple of new sections and I’m making an amendment to one of the sections.

 

From today there will be a new Career News section

 

And, at the end, I will be doing Career Call to Action, which will be a suggested action you can take right now to help you in your career, based on the episode summary

 

And finally, I am amending the middle section from being a showcase of the free stuff that’s on my website to more of a discussion of what resources I have seen recently that could help you in your career. Leo made the point so well that you found this approach valuable. I will also refer to my own material on occasion but this will no longer be the main focus of this section. This section will be called Career Resources.

 

So, without further ado and jumping straight from the old to the new, here is your Career News …

Bravo Career News

So, I want to keep this interesting and brief and of course relevant.

 

And one of the things that many of us wondering is, what will the future of work look like post covid? 

 

Will we be working from home, will we be back in the office or will it be a hybrid situation.

 

And, I saw an article on Forbes.com that discussed this.

The article was titled What The New World Of Work Will Actually Look Like

 

and something caught my eye … And this was

there won’t be one new world of work for everyone. There’ll be many different scenarios depending on what you do, where you live, how you like to work, what your company culture is like

 

So, this matches the hybrid idea of alternating between working from the office and home, right?

 

Well, what’s interesting is that the article describes the new world of work as “Work from Anywhere.” They point out that employees are naturally drawn to places that make them feel comfortable and productive.

 

They go on to describe the third leg of the workplace stool, the first two legs being working from home and working from the office.

 

The third leg is likely to be a convenient and functional refuge from the office or the distractions of home. For some companies, this will be satellite offices or access to coworking facilities like WeWork. But equally, it could be a coffee shop or a hotel lobby.

 

And whilst we are used to seeing people working in these locations, my assumption has always been that these people are maybe solopreneurs, students or people ‘passing through’ and using the facility to dash off a few emails rather than a deliberate work location choice.

 

 

Could you work somewhere that is not your office or your home? Would you want to?

What would be your ideally third leg if you had to choose.

 

Let me know.

 

Ok, let’s get on with the main part of the show.

 

Let’s look at the 5 career change secrets you need to know

 
Part 1

What are the things that stop people from changing their career? 

 

That question has always fascinated me. 

 

What stopped me from making a career change is still something I think about regularly.

You see, most people consider changing their career but never get started. Instead, they daydream about moving to a more exciting industry or about quitting their job and creating their own business. 

 

But the daydream is displaced by the business of work or other pressing matters, and the window of opportunity closes.

 

I've thought deeply about this reluctance to change, to get started to strike out for something new and exciting. 

 

From personal hindsight and through my coaching work, I've found some simple career change truths. 

 

Knowing these truths, or secrets as I describe them here will help you loosen your grip on your current role and get you moving towards something more attractive.

 

I've called these the 5 career change secrets. Let's start with Secret No 1

1.  You need to be honest about your current role

We are not fond of change. 

 

Inertia is our thing, and when it comes to work and careers, this tends to limit our career movement. 

 

In addition to this, when we immerse ourselves within a role or an organisation, it can become easy to be content with the mediocre without considering that better alternatives might exist elsewhere.

 

Most people describe their jobs as OK or tell you how 'good' their job is. 

 

But we can do better than mediocrity. 

 

And, if your current role is a good job, but not a good job for you, then it's not a good job.

 

Maybe you need to hear this as well?

 

Try to be honest about your current role. How much do you enjoy what you do? What happens to your energy levels when you work? How much do you look forward to work on a Monday?

 

So, that’s the first secret, you need to be honest about your current role.

So, let’s move onto the second secret …

1.  Your alternative career options take some time to show up

 

One of the myths of career change is that you will discover what you want to do in a blinding flash. 

 

By thinking hard about some things that look interesting, you will suddenly get an epiphany about your career.

 

The problem with this idea is that you are unlikely to have done the necessary preparation work to help you to explore your options, 

 

and therefore, you have no focus of interest. 

 

Everything could be an option, and therefore nothing is an option. 

 

Like looking for a new car when you have no idea what size, colour, make or features you are looking for in a vehicle.

 

Or, like you are trying to open a fancy safe with 3 dials for which you need the right combination on each dial. 

 

But, you are trying to open the safe without any idea what the dials should be set to.

 

So that is secret No 2, Your alternative career options take some time to show up

 

So, let’s move onto the third secret …

    

2.  You have all the answers; a good coach will help you to access this information.

When it comes to making a change in your career, the new option you choose should fit you like a glove; that's the ideal. 

 

The way to find this good fit for you, however, is to match any potential role to who you are. The principal determinants are your:

 

-          Motivated skills

-          Your values

-          Things you're interested in
-          Your personality

 

These are the dial combinations referred to in the previous secret.

 

Where does this information come from? You! This is unique to you and only you. The challenge is that it is hard to fully recover all this information on your own.

 

That's where a good coach comes in. They will help you to see these things and understand yourself well enough to find a new role that will match who you are right now.

 

By the way, I have a free guide on my website bravocoaching.co.uk which explains how to choose a good coach. So you might want to have a look at that.

 

So, this is all vital to know, as 

 

So the first 3 secrets are:

 

-       you need to be honest about your current role

-       Your alternative career options take some time to show up

-       You have all the answers; a good coach will help you to access this information

 

And, in a few minutes, we will look at the final 2 secrets, but first, it’s time for Career Resources

Bravo Career Resources

One thing I have spotted this week is, 

 

 

This is not a new talk by  Sinek, but it was new for me and it may be new for you also.

 

What Sinek says it that great leaders have empathy and perspective.

 

And there is one sentence he uses which really grabbed me:

 

 

Empathy creates a culture where people feel safe to do their best work and where it’s ok not to get things right every time. We feel understood.

Jacinta Adern, the NZ Prime Minster models empathy as a leader really well

 

I highly recommend this TED talk and I will put a link to it in the show notes.

 

I’ll also put a link to the free resources section on my website, there’s lots of free stuff there, including a guide to help you get a payrise.

 

And, I’ve also got paid content including a course on moving past Imposter Syndrome and how to get resilient.

 

Well worth checking out.

 

Ok, let’s get back to Part 2 of the episode.

Part 2

So the first 3 secrets are:

 

-       you need to be honest about your current role

-       Your alternative career options take some time to show up

-       You have all the answers; a good coach will help you to access this information

And secret No 4 is …

1.  Most of the worries you have about changing career don't materialise

 

When you start to think about what's possible for you in your career, there are some things that 'block' your progress in getting started.

 

These things include:

 

-          Perceived lack of confidence

-          Not wanting to deal with the process of change

-          Financial worries

-          Meeting new people / saying goodbye to work colleagues

What I've found is, almost all of these worries and concerns dissipate when you get started. 

 

That’s because they are vacuous thoughts that are not a good predictor of how things are likely to go.

Have you ever been invited to a party and not wanted to go? But you went anyway, and you had a great time.

 

The fact you didn't want to go wasn't a predictor as to whether you would enjoy the party.

 

It's the same with your career change. 

 

So, you can set aside the worries you have before you start because most aren't going to show up on your career change journey, which reminds me of the quote by Mark Twain.

 

Ok, so that’s secret No 4, Most of the worries you have about changing career don't materialise

 

This leads me on to secret No 5 …

1.  You can't think your way into making a career change.

One of the biggest reasons people don't get started in their career change is that they wait until they have settled on a destination before taking the first steps.  

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way; you need to take action first to understand yourself better and then move towards options that seem like they will be a good match for you.  

 

Taking action in pursuit of a better career is vital.

 

So, there you have it, the 5 things you need to know about a career change. I hope you have found these words helpful. To recap:

 

-       you need to be honest about your current role

-       Your alternative career options take some time to show up

-       You have all the answers; a good coach will help you to access this information

-       Most of the worries you have about changing career won't actually materialise, and

-       You can't think your way into making a career change.

And, that just leaves the Career Takeaway

Career CTA – your call to action

So, that’s it! We’ve come to the end of another episode.

 

I hope you enjoyed the new format.

 

Let me know what you thought of the format and of course the content I have covered today.

 

You can email me at mark@bravocoaching.co.uk and you can find the show notes at bravocoaching.co.uk/podcast.

 

If you are interested in working with me, you can book a free discovery call on my website.

 

Also, … have a look at those helpful resources on my website, most of which are FREE.

 

If you haven’t already subscribed, why not do that now. It’s all free of course and I’ve got lots of great content coming your way and some interesting people who I will be interviewing soon.

 

Also, why not share this podcast? Sharing a podcast with somebody else is very easy and it would be very helpful to me in spreading my message. Somebody who would benefit from the content. Sharing this podcast would help to spread my message and get me better known and would be very helpful.

 

Have a wonderful week and I will speak to you again in a couple of weeks time.

 

Bye for now.