One thing that my clients often don’t want to hear is that career change takes time. For me it took almost four years between working out what I wanted to do with my life and actually being paid to do it (albeit alongside raising my children, running my home and other paid work). And actually along the way there were many twists and turns and changes in my plan.
For most of us, who live in the real word, it is simply not possible to quit our unhappy jobs one day and land in our dream career the next. There are bills to be paid and commitments to honour and that’s before we even get into the non-financial aspects of work such as identity, socialising with others and needing to feel useful. If you think you only go to your unhappy job every day for the money then think again. There is a lot more to it than that.
And for those non-working mums, who may not have paid employment to quit, there are still many considerations to take into account before a return to meaningful paid employment, such as paying for childcare whilst retraining or starting at the bottom rung of the ladder (sometimes it just doesn’t seem financially worthwhile), fitting in all the things you’ve been used to doing and convincing others who depend on you that a return to work in a more meaningful career is worth the upheaval to the family routine. Hint: to do this you need to convince yourself first.
For most of us this means the transition is gradual and needs to be planned for. That also means putting up with a situation that is making us unhappy for a little while longer.
If that seems almost too much for you to bear, then read on for my tips about staying happy while working on your exit strategy.
Be clear about your vision
Ironically enough my last two years in my professional services marketing career were my happiest. There were many reasons for this, most of which I cover off in this article, but the key over-riding factor was that I knew this wasn’t forever and I had a vision as to where I was heading, no matter how long it took. Try creating a vision as to how your life will look in 5, even 10 years’ time, when you are in fulfilling work. What will you be doing with your days, weeks, months? How will you work? Who will you interact with? How will you feel? Try making a vision board, either using a collage from magazine cut outs or on pinterest and look at this whenever you feel your heart sinking. You will be amazed at how much more you can tolerate your present situation when you can visualise what you are working towards.
Have a plan
Without a plan a vision is just a daydream, so you need to work out your exit plan. Determine what you need to do to reach your vision, how you are going to do it (for example do you need to study something, do volunteer work or read some books?), when you are going to do it and how much is it going to cost you? There are always some costs, either financial or time, usually both! Don’t just write your plan and then stick it in a drawer somewhere though, the key is to continuously review it and see how you are tracking against it. Try doing this on a monthly, or even weekly basis and make sure the activities you are doing take you closer to that vision.
Find or create some joy in your current situation
Whether it’s your awesome colleagues, the training opportunities or the great coffee, seek out and appreciate the joy in your current situation. And if you’re really struggling to find joy then create some. Perhaps you could listen to a new podcast on the way to work, take a walk in the fresh air during your lunchbreak or get some new plants for your desk, you need to do whatever you can, no matter how small to give your happiness a boost.
Maximise the benefits of your situation
This goes a step further than the above, in that, not only should you recognise and be grateful for what is good about the situation you should maximise the benefits that it offers. For example, if your organisation offers some great opportunities for training you should think about whether there is anything you can do that would benefit you in your future endeavours. Particularly if they offer training in soft skills areas which are invaluable in any job. If your job pays well then maybe you could look at it as a fund for your future career. You could even put aside a set amount of your salary each month towards your career change fund.
If you’re a stay at home and not in paid employment then maybe use the time when the kids are at school or having downtime to do an online course. I know there’s always other stuff to be done, but maybe try getting other members of the household involved in cooking dinner, for example, so you can have half an hour to yourself?
Use the time to get ready
You need to use this time to be ready for your change in career as much as possible. Whether that’s hitting a savings goal, studying or reading up on your new career or arranging childcare for your return to work, it makes sense to use this time to be ready so you can hit the ground running when you do make the switch.
Create boundaries
This is a great time to start creating better boundaries between your home life and your working life. You are going to need to create extra time to devote to your career change and what better way to create that time than taking it from the hours you devote to the job you’re unhappy in. Now I am in no way suggesting that you slack off, call in sick or surf the net when your boss isn’t looking. What I am saying is that rather than spend your commute home working on ‘prettying up a report’ or filing work emails, you could spend that time on your career change project, or reading a nice book!
Once I began working on my exit strategy, I seriously looked at the extra hours I was giving to my job and began thinking about ways I could be smarter with that time or cut back, without cutting back on the quality of my work. Because I didn’t feel so needy in my job, since I knew I wasn’t going to be doing it forever, I was able to do this from a place of love and concern for myself, rather than fear about keeping my present employers happy. I don’t think my work suffered at all, in fact I think I was a better employee and team member in some ways because I was happier and less stressed.
Consider a bridging job
If you really cannot hack it any longer in your current job then you may need to consider a bridging job. This job may not tick all the boxes for your ideal career but it should, ideally, tick some of them in the meantime. For example, if you currently work in accounting but you want to become a personal trainer you could try moving to an accounting role within a gym. This gets you into the industry that you’re interested in, you’re building up contacts and you’re learning the terminology but you are still paid for doing the thing you have experience in while you are retraining. For some people who are starting their own businesses, a bridging job can become an invaluable part-time side hustle job that pays the bills during the early days of getting established.
Have other things in your life
It can be very easy to get so caught up in your career change that you neglect the other things you need in your life. Remember to do the oh so obvious, but often neglected things you need to do to take care of yourself, such as exercise, getting enough sleep, eating well and resting when you need to. You also don’t want to give up on your friends, family, hobbies and other passions that make you shine because in the end you’ll wonder what it’s all for, if you’re working so hard in your amazing new career but have neglected the rest of your life. As with most things, balance is the key.
Have a support team
Share your career change plan with your nearest and dearest so they can help you stay accountable and support you when the going gets tough. You could even consider working with a career coach who can help you stay on track with your goals and help you in your job hunting strategy.
Don’t give up
Above all, don’t give up. As the popular Chinese proverb goes “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” You don’t want to be looking back in 20 years wishing you’d stuck with this and wondering what your life would have been like if you’d made the change.
As with most things, this takes commitment and regular practice. Pick one of the above and try working on it this week. Or if you’d like to talk these ideas over then book in with me for a free working mum SOS.