Where are all the Jobs?: Fear of Changing Careers: Get Over It

Monday, November 7, 2011

Fear of Changing Careers: Get Over It | Career Rocketeer

Link to Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

Posted: 03 Nov 2011 03:30 AM PDT

Daily almost 60% of all workers get up and go to a job they hate. I think this tells the story about the collective avoidance most of us are doing around this issue. It's not an economy issue; this problem existed before the downturn. The economy makes a good excuse for doing nothing.
How is it that the idea of changing careers strikes more fear in people than the idea of sky diving? It would seem that when you weight the worst case scenario that the worst that could happen when changing careers is you don't like the career and go back to what you were doing. Hey, the worse case of sky diving is you wind up making a big mess that you don't walk away from. That's much worse, so why all the fear around changing careers?
Fear comes from the unknown. For career change, it is the fear:

you don't know if you will really like the work
not knowing if the pay is adequate
not knowing if you'll like the new boss
not knowing how to figure out what you really might like to do
fear of failure

All good issues and all of them can be addressed while making this important decision. Much different than being figuring out your options when you are hurling to year when the parachute doesn't open.
What do you do to move ahead? You really do need to acknowledge how you feel and get over it. This isn't going to kill you (unless your new chosen career is sky diving and maybe not then). The best way to overcome fear is to shine the light of reason and logic on in. Fear can't exist when you turn the unknown into knowledge. You don't jump out of an airplane without first learning all the details important to a successful jump before you go. You need to spend time learning about other careers. You need to take action to educate yourself and turn that fear into inspiration. In other words, the fears I mention are all things you can make go away with the very simple act of research.
The biggest step is the first one. You will discover that once you take the first step in this process that the others come along much easier. Inertia is a good thing. Just like sky diving the hardest part is actually jumping out of the airplane. So, what do you do if you are having a tough time taking that first step? Here are some suggestions:

Figure out what your first step is – if you don't know what that is, it's hard to do
Make a "due date" for your first step and ask someone to keep you accountable to do it
Ask someone to take a first step with you (we often need a companion)
Go to a professional career coach and have them map out your process

Being in love with your career is important because it is such a huge part of our life. Don't let fear keep you from finding a great career. Fear can often immobilize us even on important things like making a career change. You need to know you will have the fear, at least to some degree, and the best way to push through it is with action and insight.
For more career tips and advice claim your Free Instant Access to the Career Makeover Newsletter AND eWorkbook "Should I Stay or Should I Go" – both dedicated to Your career success, when you visit http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldIstayorShouldIGo.com/ From Dorothy Tannahill-Moran – Your Career Change Agent from www.nextchapternewlife.com and www.mbahighway.com.

Author:
Dorothy Tannahill-Moran is a Career Coach and expert on helping her clients achieve their goals. Her programs cover: Career growth and enhancement, Career Change, Retirement Alternatives and Job Search Strategy. Want to discover specific career change strategies that get results? Discover how by claiming your FREE gift, Career Makeover Toolkit at: http://CareerMakeoverToolKitShouldIstayorShouldIGo.com