Quantity / Quality

When searching for a new career direction, I often see clients prioritise quality over quantity. And I think it’s a big mistake!

The Usual Approach

When you hate your work and you’re searching for an alternative, you naturally want to find something that you will love…something that will feel amazing! Something perfect!

So you sit down and consider your options but if you have any doubt at all, if there is even a slight yehbut, you reject the idea:

Yehbut: it doesn’t pay enough, I’m too old to retrain, there are no jobs, people would judge me, I don’t know how I would break into the field, I’m not sure about the opportunities for progression, studying would affect my lifestyle…

The result? You end up with no alternatives so you stay stuck where you are but feel increasingly disheartened and miserable. Ugh.

And the kicker is this: those yehbuts are usually untested and unsubstantiated. But you willingly rely on them to discard career directions that could actually be incredibly satisfying [or that could lead to other ideas].

Instead..try this!

If you’re wanting to make a big career-shift but you’re stuck for ideas, I suggest flipping your approach. Just in the initial stages, prioritise quantity over quality.

Here’s how:

+ List: Start with a List of Possibilities

+ More: Add everything you can possibly think of (if you’re stuck for creative ways to expand this list, please shout out! I can help!]

+ Stretch: Push yourself to add 100 more. I’m not even joking. Instead of aiming for perfect ideas, go for a seriously stretched numerical figure. Focusing on achieving a number, your doubts will quiet long enough to come up with some great possibilities.

+ Group: look at your ideas thematically and group all the similar options.

+ Identify: identify your Yehbuts and actually address them.

What is the pay? How many more years would I have in the field once I retrained? What jobs exist? Who am I worried would judge me? What could I do to break into the field? What are the opportunities for progression? What elements of my lifestyle do I want to maintain? How could I do that?

+ Refine: Refine your options based on all your new info [this is where you start to focus on quality over quantity].

+ Decide: And then, finally? Make a decision.

Tags: career-coaching, life-coaching, Melbourne, women