Growth: How to Reinvent Your Career

Feeling dissatisfied with your career?  You’re far from alone. Employees in the U.S. are the most unhappy they’ve been in three years. Chalk it up to the pandemic, when all of us began to question…is this all there is at work?

The question is: what are you willing to do about these feelings of discontent? Will you continue to feel apathetic, overwhelmed, and discouraged, or are you ready to make a change that will bring more happiness to your work (and personal) life?

How to Know It’s Time for a Reinvention

Change is scary for most of us, and starting a new career path even more so. Let’s look at a few scenarios that might indicate it’s time to reinvent your career.

With the economy precarious at best, many employees feel overwhelmed watching  more and more work piling on their desks. They don’t feel they have the appropriate resources and training to take on more work, yet the pile grows and grows. Does this describe you? Do you feel like you’ve taken on far more than your job description included years ago?

Many feel underappreciated by their superiors or don’t see a path to further their careers at their current companies. If you have tried talking to your boss and still don’t feel she supports you, it may be time for a change.

For others, being in the same role or industry for years can take its toll. Our attention spans are shrinking, and performing the same tasks day in and out stops providing the challenges we need to thrive.

Maybe it’s not you who wants a career shift but rather technology that’s pushing you out of your role. 61% of Gen Z and Millennials fear artificial intelligence (AI) will completely replace them at work. You may need to quickly learn how to leverage technology to your advantage or find a new career path.

And then, of course, we can blame COVID! Since the pandemic, many people are questioning everything about their lives, including their careers. They’re seeking something more than just a paycheck…dare I say, happiness? Maybe you had a deep love of art in high school but were prodded to study accounting because it was more “practical.” Now might be a great time to revisit that passion and possibly find a career path in that field.

And for some, life simply changes, and with those changes come necessary career shifts. I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years, but when I moved to Italy last year, I found so many people who had questions about how I made the leap across the pond that I added expat coaching to my resume.

Your Compass to Your New Career Path

I realize it’s easier said than done to reinvent your career. In fact, I had my own hiccups on my path to becoming a coach. I started as a business coach, then shifted into spiritual coaching, and now I’ve landed on expat coaching as a niche that feels really good. But that doesn’t mean I won’t shift again!

So, how can you find your path if it’s not immediately clear? Here are a few strategies.

1. Pause for Self-Reflection

Start by spending some time being introspective about what you want in your career. When you can turn your phone off and avoid distractions for a while, I invite you to sit with a notebook and a mug of tea. Make a list of all the things you’re passionate about. This doesn’t have to have anything to do with the career you have or even one you could imagine. My list would look like:

• Reading
• Traveling
• Making art
• Building communities
• Talking with friends about their problems
• Spirituality and personal development

Now, make a list of all the things you’re good at. This might cross over into what you do at work. My list:

• Being hyper-organized
• Creating events
• Making people feel at ease
• Writing 

These lists might or might not spur an idea about the direction to take your career. Either way, keep going. Write about what a perfect day at work would look like. 

You don’t necessarily have to target the role you want. You might talk about how you’d love to spend the day talking with people or working with animals; problem-solving or being creative; working in the great outdoors or behind a screen. Write as long as you are inspired, and hopefully, you’ll get some good insights into what you were meant to do.

2. Do a Deep Dive

Once you land on an industry or career you’re interested in, learn everything you can about it. Read books. Sign up for courses (MOOCs are great for this, and they’re usually free). Volunteer if possible, or even take an internship if you’ve got the time. The more you can learn while still working your 9-to-5, the less pressure you have to fully commit before you’re ready.

3. Explore Multiple Paths

Choosing your next career should be as significant a decision as choosing a romantic partner for life. So date around! If you’re interested in a career healing people, before signing up for medical school, look also at herbalism, health coaching, or osteopathy, for example. Realize that there might be more than one path to fulfillment and possibly a shorter path in terms of the training you need to get started.

4. Be Ready to Start Over

My ego got in the way a lot when I first launched my expat coaching business. My social following for my marketing firm had been phenomenal (thanks to 15 years of building it), and now I felt like a loser with 100 website visitors (including my mother). I didn’t like the feeling of being a newbie with no track record. But I sat with those feelings and moved on.

If you’re going to reinvent yourself professionally, you’ll have to be okay starting anew. Yes, it’s uncomfortable, but look at it as an opportunity to learn something you never knew before.

The hardest part is when you go from making the money you’ve been making to earning…well…less. Get a plan for how you’ll handle your finances if they take a tumble as you embark on a career path you’re more excited about.

I will say: allow yourself to experiment to find the right fit. Be like Goldilocks and try different things. You’ll know when you hit on the right path.

If You’re Ready to Call the Shots

Sometimes, reinventing your career doesn’t mean jumping from your current job to becoming an employee for another company. Sometimes, becoming your own boss is the key to happiness.

I know I love being an entrepreneur, but it’s not all peaches and cream. Realize that being a business owner comes with a whole slew of responsibilities and stressors. You aren’t guaranteed a salary. You’ll have to find customers and do your own marketing. Prepare yourself as best you can by educating yourself on what makes a good business owner and boss. Consider taking a few business classes to bone up on accounting, marketing, management, sales, and finance.

There are many paths to entrepreneurship, including finding an existing business for sale (with the benefit being that it’s already an established business and should require a little less legwork to get running) or launching your own from scratch.

Buying a business or starting a new one is something you’ll need to plan for, so start by creating a budget to understand first how much money you’ll need to buy the business and, second, how much to get it up and running. Don’t count on any profits in the first months. This means you’ll need to have money in reserve to cover your personal expenses. Look at financing options as a way to have enough to cover what your business will need to become a success.

The key to career reinvention is patience and an open mind. Be willing to explore options, learn as much as you can, and try and try again until you find the perfect fit.