Blog Post 29: The 3 things you need to create an amazing career change mindset

When people know they want to change careers, they are often not in the best headspace. They feel unfulfilled in their current career, and feel stressed and ‘busy’ whilst also feeling bored. 

When they think about what they want their next career move to be, more often than not it’s a list of what they don’t want (ie. A list of what they have in their current work and career that they don’t like or enjoy).

It can be quite tricky to be open-minded and explore all of the opportunities and possibilities out there when you are in a negative mindset.

Many clients come to me when they are deep in this mindset, and know they want to get out of it, but don’t know how.

So here are three strategies that can help shift you from a negative career change mindset to a more positive one, that will better serve you as you start exploring a career change.

1. Embrace a growth mindset

Dr Carol Dweck coined the terms fixed and growth mindsets. 

A fixed mindset is where one believes that their talents, abilities and skills are fixed and unchangeable. You’re either born with that skill or strength or you’re not. People with a fixed mindset find it diffciult to bounce back after perceived failures, and often take things personally. People with a fixed mindset may enjoy learning, but are truly afraid of not knowing something, of being ‘found out’. 

A growth mindset on the other hand is where one believes that their abilities, skills and talents can be developed. They don’t take ‘failures’ personally. They see failing at something as just learning that something didn’t work. They look at obstacles and see them as opportunities for growth.

I’m sure you can guess which mindset is crucial to have when changing careers.

If you approach your career change with a growth mindset, you will see that the challenges you face are opportunities for learning and development.

This is especially important if you are wanting to change careers to an industry or job function where you will need to learn and develop new skills. If you truly embrace the belief that your abilities can be cultivated and developed through determination, dedication and hard work, then you will look at your potential career change from a can-do, and even excited attitude and perspective, rather than it feeling daunting or overwhelming.

2. Clarify your P’s

When clients come to me seeking career clarity, and they want to discover what their professional purpose is, I work with them to create their Career Clarity Compass, which comprises the 5 P’s.

The 5 P’s are: personal values, priorities, prowess (skills and strengths), priorities and passions.

It is so important to reflect on and have a deep understanding of your 5 P’s when you are wanting to change careers, because those become the compass that guides your career change decisions.

It makes it so much easier to discover opportunities, evaluate potential career change options and keep you focused on a path that aligns who you are and what you want to achieve when you know what your 5 P’s are.

3. Reframe the term ‘failing’

Society has conditioned us to avoid failure at all costs. 

For me, even the thought of failing at something, anything, would make me sick.

I had to be good at everything. I couldn’t ‘fail’ at anything.

If I failed at something, it would mean I was a failure.

I’m sure many of you felt the same way I did.

As I delved deep into the world of personal development and discovered the world of coaching, one of the biggest epiphanies I had was around the concept of failure.

We are so afraid of failing, but what does it actually mean?

Failure is defined as “the omission of an expected action.”

So basically failure just means that you had expectations about something, and that it didn’t meet your expectations.

Failing is just a construct that you create in your mind.

Now I’m not saying don’t have any expectations of yourself, but I am saying that you get to choose what you define as failure, and then what you make it mean if you ‘fail’ at something.

For me, if I try something and it doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean I failed. I don’t make it mean I’m a failure. All I make it mean is that the thing I tried, that strategy, didn’t work.

If I fail at something, it just means I learnt something that didn’t work.

And it’s not a failure anyway, because it takes me one step closer to achieving my goal.

If you can shift your mindset and not make ‘failing’ mean something terrible about you, what would you do?

Where would you apply?

Who would you reach out to?

What would your next career move be?

See how many possibilities and opportunities are out there if you reframe what failing means?

You will become unstoppable.

If you want to create your unwavering, unstoppable and strong career change mindset, book in your free Mini Session and you will be amazed with how quickly you will create it.

Love Loren x