Not surprisingly in this economy, a great number of people are busy plotting their next career and life steps.
Whether prompted by a layoff, a threat of a layoff or the recognition that conditions can all too easily result in a layoff; I’m listening to many people who are dancing with the idea of a shift in direction. Some have already pulled the trigger.
My armchair psychologist opinion is that negative circumstances force people to think about how they are spending their time and what it is doing for them both financially and psychically. This happens as people mature or as they experience some of life’s challenging moments, like the illness and passing of a loved one or close friend.
As people mature, it seems like the need for psychic rewards increases. Perhaps it is natural that we move from the push for success to the drive for significance.
This shift in direction is much more than a new job. I’m talking about a radical reinvention in a different field. A few significant changes that I’ve witnessed include:
- Housewife and volunteer extraordinaire to college student and then middle-school teacher.
- Executive to Not for Profit Executive Director
- Mid-career IT Specialist to Grad School and next to Law School
- Mid-level manager to Restaurant Owner
- Executive to Personal Coach
- Executive Director of a Not for Profit to Retail Specialty Shop Owner
- Corporate Attorney to Software Entrepreneur
- Venture Capital Executive to Owner of Small Manufacturer
Perhaps the most significant change that I’ve encountered was a dear friend and college roommate who was sitting at his swimming pool in his Chicago-area North Shore mansion as a wildly successful Doctor and came to the realization that he finally had achieved everything he had ever hoped for. A successful practice, expensive cars, a great home, and a wife.
He quit the next day. He truly hated what he was doing and who/what he had become. His wife left him immediately and he started down the path of a decade long journey that took him to the far corners of the world, including a stint as a Shaman.
He’s a happy, successful man today with no regrets on the life change.
While his example is the most radical change that I’ve encountered, his story is powerful. What courage it took to walk away from it all.
There are many more people that are in the early thinking phase of “Hmmm, maybe I should dust off that old life’s goal and… .”
Some individuals will describe what they would like to do and just as quickly you will hear them talk themselves out of it. “I’ve always thought of…, but the kids are in college and… .”
Ideas to Get Going:
Similar to the theme in my post the other day on Beating the Economic Blues, it is critical to do something…to take some form of action when change is on your mind.
While I don’t advocate giving up your practice tomorrow, there are many actions that you can take that can help you process on whether a significant change might work. In particular, you can investigate whether your vision of your dream job and reality are even closely connected.
Fair warning, we often romanticize things in our mind. The best advice I ever saw for someone considering buying a fast food restaurant was to find a location out of town and go to work there for a few weeks. The person that offered this advice had done just that and he hated every second of the work. His primary research saved him from making a catastrophic financial and career mistake.
- Find people who are doing what you want to do and reach out and ask questions. Tap into your alumni association or other groups that you belong to for contacts.
- If you find yourself “talking yourself out of” pursuing a dream, cut it out and investigate what it might mean to start moving down that path.
- Once you’ve done your homework, including serious soul-searching with your significant other to gauge his/her willingness to work through this phase with you, make a plan.
- Work the plan. Rome wasn’t built in a day and you don’t have to follow my college roommate’s approach and quit tomorrow. Although his approach did guarantee change!
The Bottom Line for Now
What do you want to be when you grow up? What did you want to be? How important is it for you to achieve better balance on the success/significance scale?
There are few good reasons short of survival to give up your dreams. While they may seem distant, this is often an illusion. The first steps of researching, investigating and experimenting are critical to making a future big step less daunting. Quit thinking, quit talking and start doing.
Where do you want to go from here?
Great and timely content.
When I did some research about six months ago, 1 out of every 10 US adults is thinking about starting a business. Chances are with unemployment growing that number may be 1 out of every 6 today. Of those who courageously charge on, 2/3 will fail and roll up the carpet within 18 months.
At first this really disturbed me. However looking at big national companies, their new products launched also follow the rule that about 2/3 will be off the shelves in 18 months as well.
Unfortunately, the phone calls I receive are often after someone has left a job, an industry they have served for some time, for business ownership in a new market. Unfortunately they usually call after they have drained the 401k and took a second mortgage on their house.
It’s awesome to have a passion for something. That thing makes your heart beat; it helps to wake up in the morning before the alarm rings. The problem is a business makes money. It produces continuous and repeatable revenue when it consistently solves unresolved problems in the market. If your business does not produce revenue, no matter how passionate you are, it’s not a business, it’s a hobby.
So how do you know if the business you are about to buy, or start from scratch will work?
Start with answering the following four questions for me;
1.What problem does your business solve?
2.Is the problem urgent?
3.Is the problem pervasive? (Other words, do many people have this problem?)
4.Are people willing to pay to solve the problem?
There are a number of problems that are urgent and pervasive, but people fail to ask if the market is willing to pay to solve them. Far too often they share their idea with a spouse or buddies, and hear “ ya, that’s a great idea!”
Take the idea of internet groceries. Urgent? Sure, I am very busy and it would be great to order what I need on line. Pervasive? Yes, a number of US consumers are very busy and would enjoy delivery of their groceries. Willing to pay? Ah there’s the rub. With the exception of consumers with physical challenges, the purchase of groceries on line has not blossomed into a profitable business.
As you indicated do your research.
For me it is absolutely critical to gain significance. Success was easy.
If you chose to pursue a new venture after doing your research and personal assessment soul searching remember with most growth comes some degree of pain. Expect it; embrace it as the pain points will be the areas that you will have the greatest growth in, in the years to come.