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The 9 Stages to finding and doing meaingful work – career change for high performers

If you’re unhappy enough with your career to have found your way to this guide, then I have good news for you and I have bad news about the career change advice below. 

The good news is that by following this guide, you can change careers, find truly meaningful work, be well compensated and transform your life in less than a year.

The bad news is that everything you are currently doing to find meaningful work is wrong.

Episode 1

is career change right for you?

You have questions – I know, I had the same ones. Let’s run through them.

• Is career change really possible? Yes. We’ve helped thousands of people transition into fulfilling careers – we tell a few of their stories below. Think of how many impossible things have happened since January 2020. Do you really think that your changing careers would be crazier than any of those things? Yes, career change is possible.

• How long does career change take? The amount of time it takes to change careers is different for everybody. It may take 30 days or 18 months. But you’re not going to make it up the mountain by sprinting to the summit. Career change is a process and it takes time. Our clients’ average career change takes 6-9 months.

• But how do I know what’s out there for me, or how to get it? Of course you don’t know what’s out there for you or how to get it – if you knew, you’d already be doing ‘it. Discovering new career options IS the process. They are out there. You will find them. You just need to begin. 
• How do I begin? By listening to this audio guide. Congrats! You’ve begun. Now keep going — the guide is full of client stories that will show you how the process works.

Episode 2

Plan for inevitable success

The best to avoid failure is to make success inevitable. The way to make success inevitable is to plan for problems before they happen. Because I have helped thousands of people through this process, I know how it is likely to go — the fun parts, the hard parts, the parts that are going to make you want to quit. The great advantage of this information is that we can prepare for those problems now, so when they arise, we will already be prepared with a solution.

Episode 3

identify your ideal career and life

You’re ready to climb a mountain, but which one? The next stage is to not only identify your new career but to imagine your new life. This is a fun one, but not an easy one. We’ll help you determine what it is that you truly want from your career change.

Episode 4

test drive your new career

You know what you want. Or do you? Before you hoist your pack and start clambering up the mountain, we’ll show you how to design career experiments to investigate your new career. Call it test driving, wine tasting, ice cream sampling. The point is to try your new career before you commit to it. That way, when you start climbing the career change mountain, you’ll be rock-solid certain that it’s the right mountain for you.

Episode 5

pursue your ideal career and life

You’re climbing! Finally! And whaddya know, you’re good at it! At this stage of the process, we’ll help you use your Signature Strengths to move you up the mountain towards your new career. Get ready for personal achievements, “a-ha!” moments and key realizations. We’ll show you how.

Episode 6

Overcoming Setbacks and Adjusting The Plan For Your Career Change

You can’t do it. You’re not smart enough. Why did you think you could change careers? Whose stupid idea was it to climb a mountain, anyway? It’s too hard. You want to quit. This stage is about discovering a path forward when you are absolutely certain there isn’t one. There is. We’ll help you find it.

Episode 7

Find Your New Role – Making Your Career Change

They said you couldn’t do it. You said you couldn’t do it. But you did it. You got a job offer in your new career. You reached the summit, now don’t fall off. We’ll guide you through negotiating your opportunity and mastering your arrival. Congratulations!

Episode 8

Thrive In Work That Fits – After Your Career Change

Your new life on the summit is great, but it’s still life. You have a fantastic new career, but it’s not perfect. We’ll help you through the growing pains of adjusting to your new career and life.

Episode 9

 Evolve In Your New Life – After Your Career Change

Career change is an on-going, iterative process that will last through the rest of your career. As you grow and evolve, your needs and dreams will grow and evolve, also. Your career path will be a constant process of refinement to move yourself closer and closer to your ideal, even when that ideal changes. But now that you have the skills and have applied them once, you will always have them at your disposal. 

Congratulations! You now know everything there is to know about career change! So get out there and be somebody!

No, not really.

I’ve been a career coach for over a decade, and I learn more about careers, career goals and career change every day. The reality is that every person is different, so every person’s ideal career is different, and every person’s career needs are different. And people change, so their career needs and goals change, too. Understanding your personal and professional strengths, and how to leverage them to create your ideal career, is a lifelong process. 

But if you’ve made it all the way to the end of this guide (and, seriously, let me say not only, thank you! But also, wow!) then hopefully you understand that simply by analyzing your career goals, recognizing that there is an ideal career for you and pursuing that ideal career, you are far ahead of almost everyone else. 

I’ll continue to update this guide with new stories and new ideas as I continue to develop and refine my understanding of career change, so please check back.

If you are interested in discussing your ideal career and how to achieve it, I’d love to chat. Please feel free to set up a time to talk here.

You can also check out my eight-day career change mini-course to help you get started on your career change. That’s available here.

And if you’d like to subscribe to the Happen To Your Career Podcast, you can do that here.

Thank you again. And best of luck with your career.

— Scott