During the past few years, I’ve worked with a number of mid to later-career professionals striving for that next big thing in their working lives. It’s an incredible experience and honor to work with individuals who have cultivated so much experience and who ooze hard-won wisdom. It’s also good, hard work for everyone involved.
Oddly, at the point in their lives when they are at their most valuable, their organizations seem to appreciate them less. That, coupled with the reality that the same old grind in friction-filled environments is no longer interesting, and in fact, it’s a big turn-off.
In working with a number of individuals under the umbrella of my REINVENT coaching and on-line development programs, some key points jump out at us over and over again.
9 Lessons Learned Helping Great People Reinvent their Careers.
1. It takes commitment to move from thinking about changing your career for the better to doing something about it. There are no shortcuts for the hard work, exploration, and experimentation.
2. It’s hard to get moving. Many people think about reinvention. Only a few take the initiative. The task seems so daunting that many are frozen in a state of frustrated inactivity.
3. It’s vexing to figure out how to apply your skills. Most people have a body of great skills but aren’t certain how to leverage or apply them in a new career or venture. And unfortunately, many skills don’t translate. That issue of marketability is always the issue.
4. Invisible superpowers. Almost everyone comes to this process with an incomplete or mistaken view of their superpowers. We struggle to see our strengths and the impact we have on others more than we struggle to see our weaknesses. Odd, but true.
5. Hobbies are nice, but mostly never businesses. Many individuals come to the coaching work with a focus on turning a hobby into a vocation. I understand how important it is to be passionate about the work. In many cases, hobbies are best left as hobbies, and it takes discipline to steer back toward a direction that blends superpowers with marketability.
6. Sometimes, passion is manufactured. You can create passion for something that is both marketable and in sync with your best abilities. Discovering what that sweet spot is takes experimentation and some guidance.
7. We’re all lost without a guide. It always helps to have a guide (whether it’s me or someone else). We need another set of eyes and ears to help minimize and mitigate the mistakes.
8. Did I mention this is hard work? Reinventing yourself in your career is difficult. It doesn’t happen on schedule, and it doesn’t happen without a great deal of effort.
9. There must be a burning desire to change. People who succeed with career reinvention are driven to do something and create something better for themselves—often in service of a targeted customer audience.
My Career Reinvention Story and More on a Free Webinar:
About one month ago, I decided to share my story of career reinvention, and my mistakes and lessons won the hard way via a free Reinvent Your Career webinar. Importantly, it outlines a process for getting it right as well.
You learn in the story that I had my superpower all wrong and that had me moving down the wrong path with my reinvention. Getting that right made everything come into balance.
If You Having that Internal Burning Drive for “Next”, Consider These 3 Actions:
1. Watch the webinar. It’s free. It’s 58 minutes of goodness and about 2 minutes of an overview of my coaching service.
2. If you want to move now, I want to coach you. It’s what I do. Let’s talk.
3. If you want access to my process and approach but not the immersive coaching, consider taking advantage of my upcoming Reinvent Your Career Jump-start webinar series. It kicks off on 11/15/17. It’s not free, but the guidance and input will help you get going in the right direction. Visit the overview page to learn more about what’s included.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
Helping others reinvent is critically important work for me. As a coach and mentor, there’s no more valuable work I can perform than helping you move from where you are today to where you need to be for this next run in your career. I’m humbled by people who put their trust in me and motivated to do everything in my power to help them—to help you succeed. If this is important to you, let’s get it started.
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