5 Things Youre Doing About Your Career Change That Are Unproductive - What To Do Instead - When I Grow Up

5 Things Youre Doing About Your Career Change That Are Unproductive - What To Do Instead - When I Grow Up Career changes are so  messy, right? I have been there and done that multiple times over, and Im still shaking years later! Are you making progress? What should the next step(s) be? How can you get people to take you seriously when you have experience in X but youre yearning to do Y? And lets not mention those who are in the I-dont-know-what-I-want-but-I-know-its-not-this camp. If your only certainty is Out Out Out! I Need Ouuuuuuutttttt!, then things are even cloudier. I think itll help if we go over the 5 things youre doing about your career change that are unproductive and what to do instead: 1. Youre bitching 24/7. Yeah, not helpful. Im hippy-dippy enough to believe that this attitude permeates everything, and you dont need negativity like this hanging around you like a rain cloud. It also makes those who are subjected to said bitching tune out when you talk about work, so even if you clue them in on your plans and ask them for help, theyre only half listening. While Im all for venting, lets time this bitchfest instead. Ask your one trusted friend or partner to just listen for 15 minutes while you go on about your abusive boss, your jerky colleague, your mind-numbing project. I had a friend like this  at my day job, and wed take a coffee break together most weekdays around 3p to bitch bitch bitch. But tell her you want to leave it there and then, when the 15 minutes are up, you can both talk about what youre actively doing to change your situation. Ever better? Journal out your complaints as much and as long as you want. Writing is theraputic and could lead to real clar ity and action. 2. You care too much about your day job. It was true of me when I was at my Executive Assistant job, and its true for so many of my clients: Youre too attached to your work. Youre most likely a teachers pet-type and you want to do a stellar job even if your boss treats you like dirt, you could care less about what your company does, and/or youre so bored with your work youre thisclose to shooting yourself in the face. My husband gave me great advice at that job: I should work on the level of being the 4th person fired. I worked in a department of about a dozen, so it made sense to do an okay-ish job as long as I could think of 3 people whod get fired before me. Please put your hand down and stop volunteering for extra work. Please put up a wall when it comes up to your yearly review and how many high marks you get. Aim for average, please. Save the A+s for your long-term business or career. 3. Youre doing (lots of) research.  Sure, research is great. You need to know about that interior design program, or how to build a SquareSpace site, or what it takes to become an LLC in your state. But seriously, if youve just been a research machine for multiple weeks (months? YEARS?!) without any action, youre not doing anything productive. This includes those of you who take a class (after class after class) and yet dont follow through on the implementation. Put yourself on a research ban and start taking action instead.  Buy your business url, write your bio, update your LinkedIn account its how you eat that career change elephant, one bite at a time. 4. Youre expecting The Answer from personality tests. Yes, knowing your Myers-Briggs and working through Strengths Finders is helpful, sure. But being an ENFJ doesnt come with an exact career change prescription. Through my 9 years of coaching, Ive found that the introspective work like defining your lifestyle goals, sketching out your dream work week, and finding your mission statement leads to  way more clarification than a test ever could. 5. Youre not utilizing your network.  This is also known as Staying Quiet. While, sure, you cant shout about your career change from the rooftops when you have a job that you dont want to lose, only applying for jobs online or attempting to find your first client solely by tweeting wont do you much good. Instead, talk to your trusted network about your business goals. Send an email out specifying the work that youre looking for. My first client came through my boyfriends (now husbands) first improv class, and my second came from writing a direct Facebook message. If you stay small and quiet and dont let your peeps (and the Universe!) know your plans, youre mostly doing busy work. Ooh, I can add a 6th mistake:  doing it on your own!  We dont want to have you go through this big, stressful life transition in a vacuum. Thats why Jenny Foss and I along with 14 of our career change expert friends are here to help you evolve your career with confidence at  Pivot Assembly, a free virtual conference! While our interviews wont be live for another week, theyre only available gratis for  24 hours each. Sign up here and get the tools, inspiration and wisdom you need to start the new business or land that new position youve been dreaming of!