Eight reasons your career planning will fail

Here are some of the things you might be telling yourself about improving your station in life, especially when it involves career planning.

1 – This is too complicated, I am not sure I can do this

When you are under pressure or stressed, it is easy to begin to question your ability to accomplish difficult tasks. Changing careers is difficult, it is time-consuming, and it is a minefield that is difficult to navigate. You must remember though; most people go through a career change 5-7 times in their lives on average. In other words, what you are experiencing is not uncommon for almost everyone else.

Things that are complicated must be broken down into smaller tasks. The truth of this is easy to see when you consider a career change as a project. Projects are completed by using a process. And processes are accomplished one task at a time, and each task is accomplished using methods that are tried and true. It is the only way to assure things will be completed on time and at the lowest cost possible.

Your career change needs to be completed one task at a time, but it needs to be planned, it needs to use a process that is tested and true.

You can read more about it or get some help by going to www.careerchangeplanning.com.

2 – I’m not happy with my career

The only way to fix this one is to act, do something about it. Here are the steps you need to take (this is not an exhaustive list, but it will help you get a feel for the process.)

• Take a thorough assessment to find out who you are.
• Use what you learn about yourself to identify careers that fit who you are.
• Figure out how to overcome career change obstacles.
• Choose a new career.
• Plan your career change.
• Plan your transition.

3 – I don’t know what career I would like to move into, or if it is the right one

My eBook “The Should I Paradigm” will teach you how to select the right career, actually, it will help you make decisions about any issue with ramifications in the future. The bottom line is: you should not be using the same decision-making process for things that matter in the future that you use to decide day to day issues. But that is exactly what most people do, they use what they know to make decisions that involve things they have no way of knowing much about. The “Should I Paradigm” will teach you how to use a better decision-making strategy.

4 – I have a career in mind, but it sounds more like my hobby

Making your hobby your career sounds great, but it rarely works. Hobbies, by their nature, are something many people want to do, in other words, the supply is very high and the demand is very low. I suggest thinking about your “hobby job” as plan B and a career that will fit you well as plan A.

5 – I can’t see my way through the process of a career change

Unless you have gone through it a couple of times it is very likely that you do not have the experience or expertise to pull of a career change without making lots of mistakes, costly mistakes that can be avoided if you will take the time to read a few eBooks, take some assessments and get some coaching.

Spending some time on the internet will give you some insights, however, it will be confusing to try and put it all together. My eBooks will remove the confusion and help you see the entire process, end to end.

6 – I’m wondering what a transition could be, or even if it is possible

Career transitions are difficult, probably the most difficult part of the entire process is figuring out how you are going to finance the transition, and how long it will take. Obviously, it will cost more and take longer than you expect. There are lots of landmines along the way that you need to avoid at all costs. My eBooks will help you see your way through it, but you should expect to deal with unknowns, it is just the nature of the beast.

Talk to some people who have gone through the process. It is impossible to see into the future, but those of us who have gone through it can be a goldmine of information.

I have to warn you, do not attempt this if you have other high stressors in your life, like chronic illness, a looming divorce, or a bankruptcy to name a few.

7 – I’m hearing seeds of doubt, both from within and outside

Doubt is normal, procrastination is normal, denial is normal. Know what you can up front, learn how to deal with issues as they come up the best you can. Confide in someone you can trust and meet with them periodically, they can help keep you accountable during a very stressful time.

8 – My anxiety increases when I even think about what the short-term financial implications are

This is where the rubber meets the road, so the speak. A career move of any kind, and especially a career change, will impact your financial status. In my eBook “Career Change Transition” I outline different strategies on how to deal with the financial impact of a career change, it is not easy, but it is not impossible, I have done it four times.

The only thing that makes this work is that you must have decided that you are going to transition, then it is just a matter of how you are going to do it with the least risky strategy you can implement.

Here are some examples of how I pulled it off each time.

1 – I worked two full-time jobs, one at my new career, the other at my old career

2 – I sold my company

3 – I got a second on my home

4 – I started at my new career while I was still working, I just cut my hours as the new career progressed