How to create change to inspire career action
Are you looking to create change in your career, yet you’re not sure where to start?
When it comes to our career journey and finding our way, it is no surprise that many of us stumble, or fumble our way through and at times get stuck or lost.
We weren’t taught career education at school and the career advice we were given was limited, in most instances not helpful.
We have made and are continuing to make career decisions with incomplete information, narrow views, and knowledge based on what we have already experienced, which is why we often find ourselves back in this same position.
Where something feels like it is missing or not quite right in our career.
Those days are gone when we chose one job and stayed in it till retirement.
The World of Work is changing so rapidly these days and many people are finding themselves changing what they considered their job forever to be more of an evolving process with highs, lows, twists and turns, that shift with our interests, experiences and opportunities.
This process of evolving can hit obstacles, especially when a person experiences a change and doesn’t have the tools or strategies to adapt swiftly.
They can find themselves in a Career Crisis.
A place of total, ‘I don’t know’ and stuck.
When was the last time you really thought about your career?
Do you know your top 3 values, skills, strengths and interests?
Have you ever created a career plan or set career goals and actually worked towards them?
When was the last time you did a career audit, checked in on how happy you are in your career or spent the time thinking deeply about what you really want?
Do you know the meaning and purpose of your life?
Most people haven’t spent the time thinking about their career until they find themselves in a crisis.
The first step you can take towards creating change in your career is to spend time now thinking deeply about who you are and take inspired career action to get really clear about your next chapter.
Most of the time we begin by looking externally for answers, yet they are within you and always have been.
If you don’t have a career coach, the next best way to connect with yourself is through journaling.
The following questions can be used as a way to be curious and look within for the clues, ah-ha’s and the inspiration you may be searching for.
You will find a series of journaling prompts based on steps I use with clients in my signature transformational journey program.
Use these as a way to reflect on who you are now and who you are becoming.
It’s about putting yourself at the centre of your career.
So, grab yourself a journal, notebook and pen. Find a quiet space and let your inspiration do the talking through your writing.
Step 1 - Unexpected Change
Life is a journey of continual changes and transitions.
You are continually experiencing endings, moving into new beginnings and moving on.
Change can be big or small, expected or unexpected, impactful or non-impactful, positive or negative.
Change is your situation and is external, it can happen collectively, personally or professionally.
What has changed in your life recently?
How has this change impacted your life and career?
Transition is how you are internally experiencing the change in your life. Depending on your resources, sense of self and coping strategies, transitions can be stressful and lengthy or smooth and seamless.
How am I feeling about the change you have been through?
How has this change altered your outlook on your life and career?
Step 2 - Taking Stock
Understanding yourself and your situation, at this very moment can help you make decisions about your next chapter.
How do you feel about the change you want to create in your career?
What does the word career mean to you?
Has this definition of career changed over time?
If you were to rate your career out of 10 (10 being amazing and 0 being not so good), what rating would you give it?
If you were to plot this moment in time on a graph of high or low, where would this moment sit?
Step 3 - Now What?
In our careers, we are all heading towards our peak, the phase where you are in your own power, prioritise yourself, find your voice, and know your worth.
This is when you align your ambitions with a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.
Sometimes we can feel like we veer off path and are not sure what our next step is.
Where are you at in your career journey?
What stripes (badges of honour), a combination of effort, maturity, success in your career have you collected along the way?
What does your peak in your career mean to you?
Step 4 - Let’s Explore for Clues
Without even knowing, there are so many clues within you and around you about your next chapter.
Having the awareness to notice these clues, being curious and seeing what you already have can bring a new sense of perspective to this process of becoming.
Let’s begin with your strengths, and the things you naturally do well.
There are two kinds of strengths.
Personal - part of who you are.
Professional - skills developed over time.
Off the top of my head, 3 strengths I have are…
When I am at my best, I am doing… (What could be the strengths I am using?)
What skills have I developed over time?
What skills do I like using at work?
Step 5 - Defining what you don’t want
Complaining about what you don’t want in your career comes very easy.
Sometimes we can get stuck in what is not working.
Now is the time to get really honest about what is not working in your career.
In my current job, I don’t like…
One thing I would like to change about my career is…
In the future, I don’t want…
Step 6 - Defining what you do want
Most people don’t know how to answer the question - what do you want?
This can be challenging to answer, especially if you have been stuck in what is not working for so long.
The clearer you become, the more focus and energy you can put into what’s important.
In my ideal career, I would be …. (doing, feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling)
If you woke up tomorrow, with all your problems solved and faced no challenges or obstacles, what would you be doing?
What I want from my career is…
Step 7 - What’s holding you back
Everyone has things holding them back.
Obstacles, blocks, barriers, and hurdles can get in the way of your career success.
Most people like to blame something external as to why they are unhappy in their career yet it more than often comes from within.
Inner critic vs inner coach. Which one for you is louder and stronger?
What is holding you back from an inspiring career?
How much control do you have in your situation?
What limiting beliefs are stopping you from taking inspired career action?
Step 8 - Time
Most people feel very comfortable where they are.
Any thought of change can bring up the excuse, I don’t have the time to…
You either feel like there is enough time or not enough time. I wonder which category you sit in?
What does the word ‘time’ mean to you?’
Has the concept of time changed for you throughout life?
How is your time management, priority management and self-management?
Do you take responsibility for your action, thoughts and behaviours?
If you had all the time in the world, what would you do with that time?
What is important for you to spend your time doing now?
Step 9 - Rebuilding from your strengths and interests up
Our knowledge about the world of work is based on our experiences and what we currently know.
Let’s begin to expand this and get to know how your strengths can be transferred into other jobs and industries by understanding the language of the world of work.
What transferable skills do you have?
Are there other industries you have ever considered working in?
Your interests are another clue into what you enjoy doing with your time and what could possibly become more than just a hobby.
Your interests can change over time and it’s important to continually know what engages you now.
I enjoy…
In my spare time I like to…
When I am busy, I would much rather be…
What jobs interest me now?
How have your interests changed throughout your career?
Step 10 - Alternatives | Options | Opportunities
Your next chapter is about opening your mind to new possibilities and expanding your thinking outside of where you currently are.
It’s about being curious, getting creative, and exploring all the alternatives, options and opportunities that are out there.
Beginning with your current role
What is the logical career ladder?
What types of niches or specialities are there for this role?
What other industries are calling for your current role?
If you were to take your skills and strengths outside your industry, what are the alternatives?
What other options have you considered already?
Are you someone who places yourself in the way of opportunities?
Step 11 - Setting an Intention
An intention is what steers your goals, draws in opportunities, and guides your actions.
An intention is an inward approach as it relates to how you want to show up in the world.
While a goal is external and is about what you want to get.
An intention is aligned with who you are becoming and fills the gap, by acting as if you already are that person, bringing you closer to the life you want to live.
What is one word to describe your next chapter?
What does this word mean to you?
How will this word bring you closer to the person you are becoming?
Step 12 - Defining your Values
By defining your values, you are defining your blueprint for happiness.
Your values are what you find important.
They help you prioritise and allow you to feel content with what you do in your career and life.
Knowing your values helps you make career decisions.
When in a role or doing something that doesn’t align with your values, this is when you can feel disheartened, unmotivated and unhappy.
Your values can be looked at from 2 points of view - personal and professional.
What’s important to you personally in your life?
What’s important to you professionally in your career?
How can you align with your values?
How have your values changed over time?
Step 13 - Fears - Call them out
Fear is something everyone experiences.
Some people fear stepping into the unknown, away from what feels safe and comfortable.
While other people fear their own achievements and the change that comes with them.
These are called fear of failure or fear of success.
Some people have both, some people have one or the other.
Which fear do you have?
How do you experience fear?
Has fear ever stopped you from something in the past?
If you were to step into your new chapter, what is the worst that could happen?
Step 14 - Trying change on
When we consider stepping out of our comfort zone, imagine ourselves doing anything different or thinking big, we can feel quite uncomfortable, which is a good thing.
This is called incongruent.
Now the reason we want you to feel uncomfortable, is it means that you're writing something that is bigger than who you are now.
This will be a stretch for you.
Yet it’s what you dream of becoming and will be amazing when you become it.
As you think about the gap between who you are now and who you want to become. How does that feel for you?
Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years’ time in your career?
Have you ever let yourself dream big?
Step 15 - The Structure of Confidence
Confidence is a guide to what is going on within.
The structure of confidence has 3 elements, self-belief, self-value and self-assurance.
What does confidence mean to you?
Has your confidence level changed over time?
What are you not confident about?
Do you believe you can become good at it?
Will learning this skill add value to your career?
Have you stuck with it long enough to become good at it?
Step 16 - Your Support System
As you move into your next chapter, you won’t be able to do this alone.
You will need to build your support system around you, one that will cheer you on, lift you up and support you through this.
It is important to be very picky with whom you talk about your next chapter with and the timing.
What does support mean to you?
How has your support system changed over time?
What support do you need now?
Wrap up
After reading this and journaling, my hope is that you have gained clarity around
who you are now,
know how to create career change
and have inspired yourself into career action.
You now have a tool you can keep coming back, to help when making career decisions.
This is only the beginning, each step you continue to take will bring you closer to filling the gap between who you are now, who you want to become and lead you into your new exciting chapter in your career.
If you would like to learn more about a career change or discuss anything thing that has come up, please book a free discovery session where we can dive deeper together about your career.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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