Wait! Just One More Thing...Then A Career Change

One of the beliefs that I see often in my Life Coaching business is the belief that, "I need to know more before I make a career change." It is such a convenient belief because it can keep you stuck in your comfort zone of inaction forever. This belief comes from a place of fear. Fear that you might make a mistake. Fear that you won't do it perfectly because you don't have enough information. Let me clear this up. You will make mistakes no matter how much you know because it is the first time you have been in this career or business. There is no way you can avoid this!

It is true that the process of finding out what you are passionate about and then making the move to start a business or change careers does require some learning and research. But and it's a big but! Research and learning need to be done in the PROCESS of moving forward and taking action. It is all too easy to get stuck in the "learning phase" and spend the rest of your life waiting until you "know enough."

Often the belief that "I don't know enough" is simply an excuse to spend time in perpetual worry. "What if this happens? What would I do? What would I say? What if I can't answer this question? Will people think I am a fraud?" The worries go on. Guess what? You can never answer those questions fully enough to feel comfortable getting out of your comfort zone and starting something new.

When I was in Coaching school we were told to start coaching right away. We were supposed to learn in action. I remember that first coaching call, knowing that I didn't know what I was doing. I learned more in those first calls then I could have ever learned in class or by reading a book. The problem is that when we are starting something new whether a career or business we don't really know what we need to know until we get started and then we learn very quickly. I found a quote in the magazine Fast Company that says it best, "There is no substitute for getting smarter faster. And the way that you get smarter is to screw around vigorously. Try stuff. See what works. See what fails miserably. Learn. Rinse. Repeat." It's all about learning while taking steps forward towards your new career.

I remember reading the story of the poet Maya Angelou's life. The one thing that struck me is that she was willing to jump into jobs and other opportunities whether she knew what she was doing or not. If it was what she wanted she said, "I'll do it!" This is a pattern seen in the lives of successful people. They are willing to have a high degree of uncertainty and learn in action.

My challenge to you is to change the limiting belief, "I don't know enough." to " I know all I need to know for right now." This frees you up to take action from a place of confidence knowing you know enough for the moment and when you find out that you need to learn more you will. This eliminates the endless hours of research and years of waiting to "know enough."

You are on your way to an exciting passion-filled career and with your new belief you will find yourself taking action and moving forward with less effort. Here's to jumping in, getting messy and heading towards success!