Kids all at school and thinking about what’s next for you? Maybe you’ve had enough of the juggle and want work that’s flexible and close to home? This is the time of year when a lot of mums are thinking about their career. If a change in career is on the agenda for you in 2019 then there are a few things you need to know first. In this blog post I talk about the three inconvenient truths of career change including the biggest barrier of them all – finding time to do it! For more on that you can access my download Four things you MUST do to make time for your career change.
Truth number 1 – Career change is uncomfortable
You will be challenged. If you know exactly what you are going to do and how you are going to do it then congratulations to you! But for 99% of us the path to get to a place of clarity and certainty is long and winding. And in some ways, you’ll never really get there (see below). You are going to confront truths about yourself, your strengths, weaknesses and how you like to do things, that you have probably been avoiding for a long time. You are going to have to put yourself out there, try new things and sometimes fail at them and, gulp, ask for help. When I was in my corporate marketing career it was easy to blame my employer for the long hours, the stress and the dissatisfying content of my work. Once I embarked on my transition and took a long hard look at myself, I began to own up to the fact that I was an introvert. I got my energy from being alone and having time to think. I was cooperative, not competitive and hated confrontation. It was hard to see those things about myself when I’d been fighting them all my life and trying to be more extrovert and outgoing so I could fit into my career. At first, I berated myself for my ‘weaknesses’ but then after a while I felt liberated. I saw how those weaknesses could also be my strengths and was determined to make a career for myself where I could exploit them. Once I got to that place, I wasn’t so scared of failing because I saw it all as part of learning and I was eager to ask for help because I knew what I could offer and could explain my story. Be prepared to feel uncomfortable but know that it is a necessary part of the journey.
Truth number 2 – Career change is a marathon not a sprint
Again, unless you are in the 1% of the population that knows exactly what they are going to do and how they are going to do it, then this is going to be a long and, often, uncertain ride. I see a lot of my clients struggle with the uncertainty. Most of us do not have a lightbulb moment where we suddenly know what we want to do. We have an inkling and a curiosity about a few things, we see how they fit together, we try them out, we talk to people, we do a course, we read some books, we volunteer or we do a side-gig. Gradually things start to piece together. Of course, I do not recommend a scatter-gun approach to career change, and I help my clients to formulate a realistic plan but sometimes that plan starts from a place of complete clarity, other times it is more like 50% clarity, 25% curiosity and the rest of it a mixture of faith, luck and optimism. While this can be really hard because, as mums, we have families that depend on us and hate seeing us grapple with indecision, it is also comforting to know that you don’t have to be 100% certain. It gives you the freedom to take a few calculated risks and it is also quite exciting. When I was in my corporate marketing career, I could pretty much see the path ahead of me if I continued along it. It wasn’t terribly exciting. But now, I have so many ideas and options for the future. I know what my mission is but I’m not totally sure how I’m going to fulfil it. As long as there is some way of paying the bills as I continue on, and my husband and I have faith in the fact that we can, then I can cope with the uncertainty.
Truth number 3 – you will need to get better at managing your time
For the women I work with, this is the most inconvenient truth of them all and the most common complaint I hear … “I would love to do that but I just don’t have the time” or “I will retrain when the kids start school/leave home. I just don’t have the time right now. ” Some women will actually make the brave step of committing to changing career and may even invest in a coach like me but they will still sell themselves short by not doing the work required to change, they will look for short cuts and then lament “but I just don’t have the time” when its all too hard. Actually, I think there is more to this than time and there are usually some deeper fear or confidence issues coming into play here. However, when you’re struggling for time it is easy, and far more inconvenient, to blame your career change inaction on that. So I actually encourage all my clients, and anyone contemplating a career change to get real about managing their time. The first step is making your career change an absolute priority in your life and not something to be fitted in around everything else. You will also need to give up on things that just aren’t that important to you. I barely watch TV and I set strict limits on my social media scrolling and I can’t say I have missed either. Of course, I’m human and things don’t always go to plan but I have some basic practices and structures in my life that mean I have time for the more important things.
I have a FREE download for anyone needing more help with Truth number 3 – the biggest showstopper of them all. Click here to receive. And if you’d like to dive deeper on any of the issues in this article then contact me for a FREE working mum SOS – 30 minutes to strategise solutions to your biggest working mum issues. Quick and powerful.