Making A Mid-Life Career Change?
June 13, 2011 by Charlene · Leave a Comment
Midlife is a lot like being a teenager again–only with more wisdom. Making a career change is a lot different than meeting with your career counsellor and scouring the various college catalogs. You may not stay out all night and run with a wild crowd, but many in their 40s and 50s experience the same restlessness and yearning for change. They’re still asking questions about what they want to be when they grow up, but the questions are deeper, more profound, more purpose driven. This time around, they won’t settle for less than what makes them truly happy. At this time of year as the “empty-nest” begins these questions are surfacing but now more loudly. Know that when the questions comes, a career change mid-life is possible, because this time you have a lot more wisdom and you know what you want. Yet, are you still wondering is it realistic?
We all have to pay the bills, support a family, save for retirement and we may want to go on a vacation some time. But, for many, as the children go off to college and the “busy-ness” of life seems to slow down, many are seeking work that’s meaningful, profitable and makes a difference. “Now what?” resonates deeply because the future is here. Billy is leaving for college in a month. And all the things you’ve put off are staring back at you and asking “if not now, when?” What better time to act on those unfulfilled dreams? Work is one of the most profound ways we live our true selves, and now is the time to start doing that. In fact, every person living out his or her dreams gives a gift to the world–a gift because it inspires others to do the same.
Craving FREEDOM?
Are you worried making a change to follow a dream would be selfish? It can seem as if there’s a chasm between the knowing and the doing. We know something’s not right with our career path, but we tell ourselves to live with it. In fact, for some even questioning the meaning of their work gives them feelings of guilt. In an economy where many are taking 6 to 9 months or even longer to find a new job, it may appear to be ungrateful to want more. But consider the cost of inaction? The lack of motivation, the added stress, missed opportunities and the knot in your stomach that’s getting tighter.
Are you feeling overwhelmed at the enormity of changing careers after being 20 or 30 years in the same field? Even if we set goals, there may be feelings of overwhelm as you try to manage daily life with trying something new. “We often hesitate to follow our hearts, to grow, because of perceived barriers,” writes Carole Kanchier in Dare to Change Your Job–and Your Life. Her book is one of many resources that help break down those barriers, the two biggest of which are fear and confusion.
Are you asking: “Why can’t I make the leap?”
Fear. Do you think: I’m too old to change? If I switch jobs now, I’ll have to start over at the bottom. What if I fail, then what? Fear is normal, and it’s important to acknowledge it. There are numerous tactics to help you through the fear. The most powerful may be looking to others who’ve gone through life/career changes. With targeted information comes clarity. With clarity comes confidence. With confidence comes action toward fulfilling your goals. In this economy, I’m often talking to folks who are starting over in their careers due to downsizing, restructuring, technology or belly-up businesses.
Confusion. Many of us are clearer about what we don’t want than what we actually do want. The key is to focus on what you do want. What you FOCUS on grows and becomes permanent in your life. If you have lived out others’ expectations of you for so long and you’re not sure what actually makes you happy then begin with discovering what your passionate about and then build your new life on your unique ability. Not sure what your unique ability is? Then be sure to contact me for my Profit, Passion and Purpose program designed to help you focus the vision of your ideal life based on your talents, gifts and abilities. Imagine in 6 weeks you’ll discover what makes you unique and what you can do to create the life you deserve. Maybe you’re not certain how to turn your many talents and skills into meaningful work? No problem, you don’t need to know the HOW, just focus on what you want and the resources, tools and strategies you need to accomplish the HOW will appear. Will you be ready to take the opportunity when it appears?
The sage advice of our age is always the same whether you are starting up or starting over: Keep your options open. Harvey Mackay provides this most important tip “Never be afraid to ask for help. There are plenty of people who have created successful businesses, and even more who have built successful careers. Learning from others is essential, no matter how much you have learned from your own experience.” Coaches are an excellent resource to help you ask the right questions to sharpen your focus and goals. They can guide you to imagine and create real work that isn’t just a job, but a whole new life.
Whether it’s a new career or small shifts in how you work, making a change in midlife can bring new energy and joy for life. Like being a teenager again–only better.
Would you like to create a life you love doing work you love? If you enjoyed this article and would like to claim your FREE e-book with 5 TIPS to help you find, create and profit from work you love, click on the link to gain access and you’ll also receive my newsletter, filled with helpful tips to help you master the career transition journey and first dibs on all classes and teleseminars.
This post was written by Charlene Nora, your Career Change Mentor and Profit From Your Passions Coach on 06/12/2011.
Is There A Secret To Career Change Success?
June 6, 2011 by Charlene · Leave a Comment
Is there a magic bullet for experiencing success when you change careers? Is there something you can do to increase your chances of success? There is actually ONE thing you can start doing today to help you secure your success spot when you change careers. Want to know the secret? Grow Your Self Confidence!
Is it important what other people think of you?
Do you struggle to recover from a mistake / failure?
Then you probably suffer from low-confidence and may have missed out on many career change opportunities life had to offer. Begin to follow the tips outlined in this article to grow your self-confidence and improve your chances of success.
Don’t think for a moment that your lack of motivation at work is enclosed in a vacuum. If you’re missing job satisfaction then you’re probably missing life satisfaction. When you fix your self confidence, your natural ability, talents, strengths, gifts and passions are able to shine. Not sure what your PASSION is? Then be sure to contact me today for a journey that takes you to YOUR PASSION and the life you deserve. It would be better, if you want to increase your chances of success, then confront the limits you’ve allowed to keep you boxed in, and search for ways to overcome them consistently, it is only then you give yourself a real chance of achieving success. Ignoring your constraints or limitations is never a good idea because they only limit you and your life. “Wherever you go, there you are”.
Maximize Your Potential
Assessments Don’t Help! They give you an “idea” of your potential
DISC, Myers Briggs and other personality based assessments provide useful information to describe the quality or state of your “being” as a person but it doesn’t really direct your personal growth. Marcus Buckingham and the highly popularized “Play to your Strengths” movement has given the Strengths theory a powerful tool for helping us to find our gifts, develop them and use them for the greater good.
But knowing “who” you are or staying within your “strengths zone” does not let you know which “behaviors” you need to change for you to live a life of passion, purpose and greater fulfillment. Because talent and skill could only take you so far: Practice does not make perfect, it only makes you BETTER.
What DO I DO?
Confidence is the Difference that makes THE DIFFERENCE in your life and the way it goes. It helps you take the action your heart is calling for and taking the career path based on your passions and interests. To improve your confidence here’s the simple key: Focus on the ONE thing that’s holding you back, which if you work on it, will give you the biggest pay off. Take time to discover where it came from? Find the root and pull it up. Now this is a process so don’t expect your confidence level to boost in 2 days. Why? Because you’ve probably spent a life time living with these limits, and they’re strongly attached to loads of emotional stories, so they’re not going to fall off immediately.
GROW Your Confidence in 5 Steps:
1. Ask yourself “What BEHAVIOR do I need to change?”
2. Then ask “How do I change them?” If you’re struggling with this question ask a friend, mentor or coach but whatever you do, answer the question.
3. Make a list of your strengths and review daily.
4. When something unforeseen or sad happens change your vocabulary to “There’s nothing I can do about it at this point, so I’m not going to lose sight of the meaning in a present XYZ event.”
5. At the end of the day, write down the thoughts you’re having about your self and watch the progression over time. If you’re trending toward the negative, repeat steps #1, 2 and 3.
You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them. ~Michael Jordan
Would you like to create a life you love doing work you love? If you enjoyed this article and would like to claim your FREE e-book with 5 TIPS to help you find, create and profit from work you love, click on the link to gain access and you’ll also receive my newsletter, filled with helpful tips to help you master the career transition journey and first dibs on all classes and teleseminars.
This post was written by Charlene Nora, your Career Change Mentor and Profit From Your Passions Coach on 06/06/2011.
Got Fear? How To Overcome Fear of A Career Change.
June 1, 2011 by Charlene · Leave a Comment
You’ve been in the same job for 30 years and it looks like there is no end in sight to the dread you feel going to work everyday. You know there’s more to life but you can’t seem to put your finger on it. It’s beginning to look like it will take a catastrophic circumstance for you to finally change course. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.” In Career Change Fear and How To Overcome It, I pointed out the Top 5 Fears that prevent most people from changing careers. Below are the other 5 fears that commonly get in our way.
6. Fear of emotional pain. Rather than incapacitate us, painful feelings can sharpen our sense of joy and gratitude.
7. Fear of expressing feelings. An authentic life means being willing to express our true feelings to our loved ones, colleagues, and even ourselves. How is it helping you to be afraid of expressing yourself? Make the effort to deliberately reject the notion you need a majority or popular opinion to have a successful life.
Fear Has You Stuck?
8. Fear of intimacy. Emotional intimacy—really being seen by another—can be as scary as sexual intimacy.
9. Fear of the unknown. The unknown can be exciting and vast if we shift our fear to curiosity. Following your passions on your path to profit require you to awaken your creativity by being curious. Are you willing to become curious about your interests? Are you ready to discover what you don’t know about what you don’t know?
10. Fear of success. More responsibility, more attention, pressure to perform can be frightening when we don’t believe in ourselves. SO what’s the antidote for the fear of success? Boosting your self confidence and self-esteem.
But just what is fear anyway? Defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. Concern, anxiety and anything that causes the feeling of being afraid. Notice here that the FEAR is real or imagined and causes you to experience the feeling of fear. Within the context of career transition, most of the times, the fear is imagined.
We interpret the change we’re facing as a risk, as a challenge to our current existence (although we harbor that feeling of dread when we go to a job where there is no passion and or motivation) and if the Fear wins, we stay where we are, frozen in time, wishing we could move on but never taking action to acquire the knowledge we need to get over the fear of rejection, failure, or even success.
How do you get over the FEAR?
- Get Clarity- what is the fear? What is painful, missing or unsatisfying? Choose to focus on the answer you need to get over the fear. For example, if you’re afraid of marketing your new venture, learn the essential pieces of a marketing campaign.
- Visualize where you would like to be! Valerie Young calls it the Life First Work Second Approach to Career change. If you were doing work that added value, meaning and significance to others while being handsomely rewarded, what would that look like?
- Make A Decision. Whether it’s to make peace with your situation OR to finally get the tools you need to change course. In the Secrets of Multimillionaire Entrepreneurs, David Neagle states ” …when you make your decision, say this, “I will follow my desire. I will step into this greatness, and I accept everything that comes along with it.”
- Let Go – Pressing toward a dream or goal you have will require you to let go of what has been holding you in place. If you think you may experience some temporary losses how will you minimize them?
- Take Action – What is the action you can take right now to get you closer to achieving your goal of working at what you love. When are you going to take that action?
“Each time we face our fear, we gain strength, courage, and confidence in the doing.” ~ Unknown
Would you like to create a life you love doing work you love? If you enjoyed this article and would like to claim your FREE e-book with 5 TIPS to help you find, create and profit from work you love, click on the link to gain access and you’ll also receive my newsletter, filled with helpful tips to help you master the career transition journey and first dibs on all classes and teleseminars.
This post was written by Charlene Nora, your Career Change Mentor and Profit From Your Passions Coach on 5/31/2011.
Career Change Fears and HOW to Get Over Them …
May 31, 2011 by Charlene · Leave a Comment
Change is scary. Changing Careers is scarier. There I said it. But because it’s scarier, doesn’t mean its something you have to avoid forever. Fear often stands between us and our ability to make decisions, take action, or even ask for what we want—even to know what we really want. It is the gatekeeper of our comfort zone. Have you been regretting your current career path? Maybe you want to follow your passions on your path to profit but the fear has you stuck? Judith Sills PhD, author of The Comfort Trap says, “Don’t be a hamster on the same old wheel forever. Stop avoiding the change you know you want to make.”
The truth is you are only born with 2 fears: fear of falling and loud noises. Every other thing that you’re afraid of, is learned. And if they’re learned, then you can un-learn. The point: There’s nothing to fear when starting (or growing) a small business.
Below are the TOP 10 fears I’ve seen with clients who are seeking a career change and prevent them from taking action to doing work they love.
1. Fear of being judged. Needing approval from family, friends or peers can keep us from going after dreams and goals. But what if your family, friends and peers have never done anything that was “outside of the box”? Can their opinions really shape your future? Should it?
2. Fear of rejection. Rejection just means that someone else has a different opinion. I see this fear commonly with my clients who have a great business idea but fear asking the sales and marketing portions of growing a business. Taking rejection of your service (or product) personally keeps you from sharing your gifts with someone who would benefit from what you have to offer. Often with information and applied knowledge the fear diminishes.
3. Fear of embarrassment. Making mistakes publicly is awful only when we let ourselves feel ashamed.
Fear Has You Stuck?
4. Fear of being alone/abandoned. A strong sense of self-worth and what we can offer the world reduces this fear. Have you tapped into what special gift you possess and how you can offer the world and still be financially rewarded? Have you found a group of like-minded individuals who can support and encourage your growth?
5. Fear of failure. A biggie for most of us and born of the notion that it’s not OK to fail. But the fact is: everyone who has ever enjoyed any measure of success has had a failure or two. But as Maya Angelou would say, when you know better you do better. Follow Henry Ford’s advice and begin more intelligently- again.
Do you recognize any of these fears in your life? What opportunities have you passed on for fear? If you would like to demolish the fear and capture the opportunities that are in front of you be sure to claim your FR’EE Idea to Income Strategy Session. At the end of this session you will:
- Create a crystal clear vision for the work you were born to do (hint:it won’t even feel like work)
- Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success with transitioning out of your current job and into your dream career.
- Leave this session renewed, re-energized, and inspired to get hired now in the most rewarding and fulfilling career path you’ve ever had.
A Meaningful Career Path Begins With Your Unique Ability
May 16, 2011 by Charlene · Leave a Comment
Whats the most important part of your life?
In an interview late in his life, the psychologist Sigmund Freud was asked to expound on what he felt were the most important constituents of life. His answer? “Liebe und Arbeit.” Love and work.
This is hardly a surprise: For most of human history, the meaning of work and the meaning of life intersected at survival. Work was life. When cheap energy and mechanization started us down the path of staggering increases in productivity, some philosophers and visionaries began speculating about how we would use the extra “leisure time” we would gain from all this productivity. The reality has proved much different than projected. How do we spend the “extra time?” We work. And the more advances in technology we see, the more we work. Emails, blackberries – smartphones it only means we work even when we are not at work. Could this be why most people are questioning the chosen career paths? But what else could you do?
Find Your Genius
Ultimately, the meaning in your work isn’t whether the enterprise you work for is local or global but how closely the work you perform is in alignment with what author Dick Richards labels “your genius“. In his book Is Your Genius at Work? Richards uses the term to mean that unique intersection between what you are good at (your gift) and what you love to do (your passion). As he explains it, you have just one genius, it is a positive talent, and it can be described in a two-word phrase such as “Engaging the Heart,” or “Optimizing Results.” While his rules may be a little rigid, the point is well-taken: Your genius is a transitive verb, not an adjective. It’s about doing something, not being something.
Your Career Change Path
While I think the thought of ONE genius is rigid, the generalization is true in that we all possess one, maybe two things we do better than others and it comes so naturally to us, we tend to overlook our genius. Dan Sullivan poses this interesting question to anyone contemplating a career change and wanting to create a successful life – “What would your life be like if you could get to the essence of who you are and what you’re about? What if you could focus on doing what you’re best at and love to do most? ” Can you imagine the value you could add to others? I see your increased energy, commitment and motivation to your work. I see the impact you’ll make in the world! Do you know what your unique ability is? Would you like to find out? It’s one of the things the people I work with discover and then choose to build their life on. It’s the key to a successful, ideal life.
Once you have identified your unique genius, your unique ability, the thing only you can do – the challenge becomes how to find that often-elusive intersection between your genius and that “unmet need” in the world, so that someone will pay you to work in a way that uses your genius. But by identifying and labeling your genius, Richards says, you gain in confidence and in the ability to articulate just how you can contribute in those situations. Your heart gets into alignment with your work, and suddenly work looks more like play.
What is the meaning of meaningful?
To answer questions like that, take the Alarm-Clock Test. If the alarm clock rings and you’re already out of bed getting ready for work because you are thrilled by what you’re doing and each new day on the job is certain to provide some worthy experience, then the chances are pretty good that you’re somewhere near that sweet spot—regardless of the size of the enterprise that employs you.
But if you’re failing the Alarm-Clock Test—not some of the time, but all the time—looking for a different kind of work makes sense. These days, more and more people in that situation are turning toward self-employment opportunities as the key to matching up purpose with genius. All the challenges of figuring out what to do and how best to do it come along with that change. But that change should not be feared, rather it should be embraced because 10 years from now, when you’re looking back on this day as you sit at your desk feeling hopeless and trapped you know the action you need to take TODAY.
Wanna create a life you love doing work you love? If you enjoyed this article and would like to claim your FREE e-book with 5 TIPS to help you find, create and profit from work you love, click on the link to gain access and you’ll also receive as my bi-weekly newsletter, filled with helpful tips to help you master the career transition journey and first dibs on all classes and teleseminars.
Are you an ACTION TAKER? Then feel free to schedule your FR*EE Strategy Session with me by scheduling a time for us to Get Acquainted by Clicking on this link. In this session you’ll:
- Create a crystal clear vision for the work you were born to do (hint:it won’t even feel like work)
- Create a sense of clarity about which path you really want that supports the life you’re craving.
- Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success with transitioning out of your current job and into your dream career
- Leave this session renewed, re-energized, and inspired to get started finding and creating work you love.
This post was written by Charlene Nora, your Profit From Your Passions Coach and Career Transition Mentor, on 05/16/2011.
