Two barriers: to a new career
Monday, September 27, 2021As an evidence-based life and career coach, people often come to see me when they’ve decided they want to find a new career but they can’t work out what else they could be doing.
I generally see two main factors getting in their way: pre-filtering and/or a lack of fresh input.
Let’s explore them!
+ Pre-Filtering
If you’re getting stuck trying to find a new career direction, I would put money on it being because you’re pre-filtering.
You come up wth an idea but your fears and assumptions lead you to strike it off your list before you’ve had a chance to even explore it: I’d love to write for TV but I’ve heard it’s ridiculously hard to crack the industry so I won’t even consider it.
+ Lack of Fresh Input
The other factor that might be getting in the way is a lack of fresh input.
You’re working with the same raw materials – doing the same activities, seeing the same people, reading the same articles, watching the same stuff, walking the same routes, scrolling the same sites – but you’re expecting new output.
It just doesn’t make sense!
What to Do About It
If you’re struggling to identify possible new career directions, here’s are two simple things to do about it:
- Make a List of Possibilities and add anything that has ever occurred to you. In the initial stages, don’t take anything off.
- Shake up your world and start to invite in as much fresh input as you possibly can: new people, conversations, pictures, trips, sounds, experiences – new everything!
As you start to think and do differently, new possibilities will emerge. Notice what happens!
Tags: career-coaching, life-coaching, Melbourne