Swim, Jump or Fly? It’s Up to You

If you love your career then this blog post isn’t for you — nothing for you here, please skip on by. If you’re a “Sunday night dreader”, a “wishing away the weeker”, or “isn’t there more to life than this-er” then welcome. Please dip your toes in, the water is warm.

Last year I spoke to over a hundred people going through change in their lives. Most of them were unhappy with their work — lost and unsure where to go next. After I’d got to forty conversations or so I saw a pattern — three types of people, all wanting change but needing different solutions. There were some who wanted a radical shift, something utterly different. Accountants who wanted to be actors, marketeers who wanted to be mid-wives, teachers who wanted to walk the tightrope. OK, I admit I made that last one up.

There was a second group of people who liked bits of their work but hated the rest. Some aspects of their roles were like comfortable old jeans, others like wearing someone else’s smelly shoes — hard not to curl your toes up in disgust. There was a third group who didn’t mind their roles too much. Perhaps they were a bit bored and needed a change. Or the “what” of their work was fine, but the “how” was a bad fit. Introverts who had to talk all day, forestry consultants who were chained to their laptops, mavericks and entrepreneurs tied to rule-bound institutions.