Throughout the years, I’ve met lots of people who seemed to want so desperately to change careers but couldn’t get out of their own way to make it happen. I thought I’d share with you the lessons learned by one such would-be career changer who after some coaching realized how she had been leading herself toward a career change meltdown!When I first started working with Stephanie, she was overwhelmed when it came to changing careers. Even though she knew she wanted to be doing something different, she couldn’t get past the fact that she didn’t really know what that was and therefore did nothing but complain! She also didn’t think she could even afford to explore what her dream was because she needed her job to pay the bills. Sound familiar?

Stephanie was making three key mistakes that most career changers make. After working together, Stephanie was able to shift her mindset and avoid these common pitfalls. You can too!

1) Not taking any action until you really know what you want. You often need to take action FIRST to figure out what you want, not the other way around. Try out one of your random ideas in a way that doesn’t require much of a commitment. Maybe it’s through a class, part-time job, job shadowing, or talking to friends. The point is you’re wasting your time thinking that the certainty you’re looking for is just going to come to you. You need to experiment with your ideas and let the certainty gradually reveal itself to you.

2) Ignoring great opportunities because they are not perfect! Stephanie had a few former colleagues offer to put her in touch with a graphic designer who was interested in hiring a part-time assistant. Stephanie turned down the offers since she ultimately didn’t want to be working for someone else. What she learned was that this offer could have led her in the direction she wished to go.

3) Believing a career change is a leap rather than a transition. Stephanie would panic at the thought of really doing work she loved since she believed the only way to make it happen was to quit her current job and devote herself to finding her passion. She also thought that once she found it, she’d end up at a job she loved but that paid peanuts. Wasn’t that how it worked? Not so!! It’s a transition. Stephanie learned that keeping her day job was an investment in her new career. It wouldn’t matter how clear Stephanie was about her passion. If she couldn’t eat, end of story. And along those lines, just because you might do work you actually enjoy, it doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be in the poor house as some sort of sacrifice for finding your destiny. That’s just plain ol’ scarcity thinking!

© 2007 Segaric Coaching Inc.

Annemarie Segaric is a respected career change coach, motivational speaker, and the author of the ebook, 107 Tips for Changing Your Career While Still Paying the Bills. Ready to switch careers and don’t know where to begin? Visit www.segaric.com and download your own career change toolkit today.