Beth Jannery is Founder of Titan, a Boutique Strategic Advisory firm.
Let’s take a look at your future self. Who do you want to become? What do you really want to do with your life? When was the last time you asked yourself if you were truly happy?
As we all know, change is constant. But meaningful and deliberate change can be difficult.
Here are a few ideas of what’s possible. Take a look and then fill in the blank with your own transformational dream. You write a book. You leave corporate culture to start your own consulting business. You completely switch career paths. You go after a big promotion. You walk away from the rat race. You hop in an RV and work remotely from the National Parks. You acquire a new company, or several. You let the toxic employees or leaders go and bring on employees that better align with your mission.
You fill in the blank. What is possible for you?
If you are truly ready to transform and make a change in your career, you might notice a few powerful signs: You’ll feel like something is off but aren’t sure what. You get frustrated more easily. You feel less connected to your inner self. You feel stressed when thinking about taking time off from work, even though you may have unlimited paid time off. You feel disconnected from what is possible. You notice others around you who seem to have figured out how to do work they enjoy and not worry about paying the bills. You feel like paths have closed off to you, and you wonder how you got here. You simply feel stuck. This is when you know it is time to make a change.
As a Strategic Thought Partner, I’ve helped leaders go from being stuck to discovering what’s possible in just a few months, and I want to share my advice.
The key ingredient in change is to make the decision.
You notice something has felt off for a while, but you aren’t sure what to do about it. You feel like you missed out on the manual for how to change and live your best life. Here are a couple of cases from my experience who went from feeling overwhelmed and on a treadmill to discovering what is possible. See if you resonate and select any of the strategies to make a change to get started on your own shift in consciousness.
Change 1
Rob is a leader in the recovery community and helps his clients with anything that falls under the umbrella of mental health, recovery and wellness. He is divorced and has dedicated his life to his child, who is now in college, and his clients. He felt like he needed something more. Rob decided to take a cross-country trip solo and then begin writing a book on recovery that he could use in his practice.
Change 2
Kate, a large consulting firm leader, felt fed up. She was doing the daily grind (her words), and her whole life was achieving. The thing is, she never thought past the point of the leadership role. Once she got there, now what? She discovered her perfectionism and overachieving was actually a hindrance to her true self. When she got raw and honest, she felt more aligned with nonprofit and work with deeper personal meaning and purpose. After processing where she was, she took action to create a more authentic career path that better aligns with her values today.
Change 3
Today Henry describes himself as living in his future self as he notes feeling more awake and alive and now lives his life firing on all cylinders. He was a senior leader at a Fortune 100 company focusing on growth and revenue. He had a spark of an idea to take his strategic knowledge and venture out on his own to help clients in a very specific industry. But he was petrified to give up the stability and, quite honestly, the consistent paycheck. When he made the leap, he went from a daily sleepwalk to honoring his unique skills, where he began to apply to a much larger audience as a solo consultant. During his change process, Henry culled his set of best practices with strategies he truly enjoyed, and then he set out to find different industry sectors that needed this unique skill set. He has expanded his reach and enjoys his own consulting from remote locations, going into client locations as needed.
Seven Best Practices To Make A Change
1. Listen to your own longing. Pay attention to your own intuition, knowing that it is time to make a change.
2. Decide to make one change at a time. A location change or move, a career acceleration, a family dynamics change, a financial decision. One thing at a time keeps your focus as opposed to this multitasking world that has everyone frenzied.
3. Decide it is time. Commit to it. Give yourself at least three to 18 months for a full shift.
4. Don’t change mid-way. You are already on a course correction of your life in a big way, don’t go adding more layers to the change. Keep the focus.
5. Begin the shedding process. Letting go is as important as changing. As you begin to let go, you discover who or what was there all along. Allow that to be enough.
6. Creating a meaningful and lasting change may mean letting go of a persona you have carried for so long.
7. Realize you are not your title or your outward description of the roles you’ve played. You are pure awareness and consciousness. Be witness to your new life and powerful change taking place.
Many people who desire to make a change in their careers often don’t act on it. Truly changing and evolving takes work, which can be time consuming and an investment. If you are feeling the deep pull to grow, evolve and ultimately change, then you have the opportunity to discover what is possible.
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