Changing Your Mind
How are you with change?
We experience change every day. Sometimes, it's not a big deal; other times, it's all-consuming. Looking for new partners, new jobs, or reaching for something we've never done tends to fall in the "all-consuming" category because it puts our identity under the spotlight.
Change is scary.
Changing your mind is scary.
Managing the assumptions people have made about you and who you should be adds to the fear and introduces a layer of dread on top of everything else.
In Working Identity, Herminia Ibarra, the Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, writes about the career transition journey. Her description of the tension, confusion, and emotions associated with transitions is relatable. I say this as someone who has changed course a few times and listens to others speak about their transition journeys.
Some days, it's easy to belittle ourselves and grumble about changing our minds again. In the hope of interrupting your next grumbling session, I share this with you. Ibarra says people change careers more often today than in the past. She cites the following as contributing factors:
People live longer.
Technology has changed the way we work.
Companies feel the pressure to restructure their practices and the jobs they offer.
People want to do meaningful work.
Ibarra explains that a career change is an identity change. She says we have many selves and offers these suggestions to anyone navigating a career transition:
SUGGESTION #1: Explore other possibilities.
SUGGESTION #2: Intentionally meet new people and seek different connections.
SUGGESTION #3: Allow yourself to make sense of what you're learning as you explore possibilities.
Transition is only possible if we take action and explore what Ibarra calls "our possible selves." So what does this look like?
Side projects that help us learn about another type of work.
Accepting the ebb and flow of change and taking action when opportunity presents itself.
It looks like introducing yourself to new people.
It looks like practicing the story of who you are now.
It looks like taking time to reflect.
It also looks like asking yourself if you are hiding.
(Do you really need to do all that busy work? Have you heard of yak shaving?)
Do you need help considering what your possible selves might be? Ibarra will help you figure this out. If what's next for you isn't obvious, yet you know you don't want to stay where you are, Working Identity is a book to consider.
You'll find Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career at Bookshop.org* and wherever you buy books.
Photo by Shane Aldendorff on Unsplash
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