Sab’s Guide to keeping your spirits up during the process of changing career

Jessica McGregor Johnson wrote an article on our site recently about turning around your fears and negative thought to help in the process of changing careers, and it prompted me to share with you some ideas about this.

It takes work, genuine mindful work, to stay on a happy energy level if it‘s not something you‘ve consciously done before, but thankfully the more you do it the easier it becomes - it’s getting into the habit of checking yourself when you’re thinking on the downside of the things and turning it around to appreciate the good. (This is related to Neuro-Linguistic Programming - wiki it for more info!)

This can take work when you’re by yourself and thinking about your own ideas and possible fears, but what about if you’re at a workplace where a lot of your co-workers are unsatisfied with their lot? Or if you live with someone who’s a natural pessimist? That’s when, more than ever, you need to have some easy-to-access techniques or materials to help you resist being dragged down by them. Think about it - if you’re going through a challenging patch or making a big change like a career shift, being surrounded mostly by folk who like to focus on how hard/bad life and the world is is not going to help you at all! (In fact being surrounded by moaners is never a good thing whether you’re making a career change or not, but anyway…!)

Finding positive, can-do folk who, when you’re around them, make you feel your career change is an exciting adventure and journey is the best and easiest way to keep your mindset open to possibilities and to keep moving forward with your career change. I hope you get that from us here at Careershifters. You can also get this kind of positive support from optimistic friends who have a sunny outlook on life, a career coach, or career change buddy.

However sometimes we find ourselves unable to avoid somebody or people who can drag us down - it could be the person at the next desk to you at work or a concerned parent! What can we do to stop their fears, doubts or negative outlooks from becoming our thoughts?

The most important thing is to be clear about your focus, and that is to look for the upside. You might want to play what I call ‘thought tennis’ with them - if someone serves you a negative opinion, challenge it - quickly think of a positive spin and argue it back. For example if someone says to you ‘there’s no work available at the moment, there’s no point even looking for another job, the next few years in the UK are going to be one long struggle’ etc you can turn to them and say ‘actually I know people who have changed career since the recession began, and there are many start-up businesses that are doing well’. After a while the ‘isn’t everything terrible’ person will either start to leave you alone because they know you won’t agree with them (half the time these people just want sympathy) or you’ll talk them round into being more positive themselves.

Another useful thing to do is to create your own positivity arsenal. This can include a collection of books that you can dip into for an instant boost (philosophers, self-help or coaching books, positive articles from people you admire), music that makes you feel so happy you could burst, happy or comedy videos (I have a private you tube channel I use to collect funny clips that make me laugh), positive or comedy podcasts to listen to on the work commute, and maybe magazines or images that when you look at them, you feel anything is possible and that the world holds promise, new friends and beauty (travel books work for me!).

Something that can work is selecting one or two key favourite memories to use as ‘touchstones’ you can think about to perk you right back up if you’re in the middle of being blitzed by someone else’s blaaahness. Think about a time when you felt free, happy, content, happy to be alive. I like to think about a time I was surfing in Cornwall, but yours could be lying in a field in the summer, being at a great spa, riding your motorbike, whatever it is that when you think about it you unconsciously begin to smile. Get a clear picture and feel for that moment - the motion, the smell, the light, the sun, if you had the wind in your hair, if you felt warm etc. The clearer you can ‘feel’ that memory, the better. Keep that memory (or a few if you want) and the feeling of that memory at the front of your mind for a while, so it’s easy to access. Then whenever you feel someone else is trying to rain on your parade, you can pull that memory out quickly to get you feeling good - you’ll easily be able to shrug their negative banter off rather than absorb it.

Nothing beats being surrounded by positive folk who believe the world is a joyful place and that there’s a silver lining to everything. In the times when you aren’t with them, try these other ways to keep yourself upbeat and the negative thoughts at bay. Hope they work for you.