The trouble with change is that – for many of us – it can be scary.
So you’re stuck in a rut, unhappy with your job, looking to change your work life.
But big dramatic change – giving up the security and safety of a job with a decent salary to become say, an organic farmer – is just too big for most people to embrace.
But changing your career destiny doesn’t have to be about those crude, black and white, choices. It’s not always either you stick with your job or you quit. There is a third way – juggling. Why not carve out a plural work life that includes more than one talent, passion or role?
Not only can this give you better assets for the job market and provide more strings to your bow, it can also give you greater fulfilment as you incorporate your passions into your working life. It’s like when a mate of mine asked if I wanted to get involved in his start-up managing bands. I wanted to work with him but not at the risk of losing my core business as a consultant. So I extended my project portfolio and juggled it alongside other commitments. The arrangement worked well for the start-up as they couldn’t afford me full-time anyway; and I had fun, learning about the music industry and working with a great bunch of people. My portfolio now juggled brands with bands; days spent doing a marketing project for my client Benetton in the morning and going to a gig rehearsal in the afternoon.
Admittedly that juggle is easier if you work for yourself and have control over your work life. But even if you’re in a full-time role, there’s still ways you can juggle other interests. I met a guy this week who is an IT consultant by day and in his spare time has a website selling Lego figures to collectors. That’s his real passion and one day he might do that full-time, but in the meantime it’s a good split between what he does for money and what he does for love.
Another upside of juggling is that it can be less risky than a big move. If you’re looking to quit your job to set up your own business, now might not be the best time to risk everything in an instant. Try testing your entrepreneurial skills in your spare-time like the Lego Guy by setting up an e-bay business or trying to monetise a hobby or passion at weekends and evenings. If you like it and more importantly if you’re good at it, then build it up. When it gets to the stage that it’s billing enough money, *then* you can consider migrating to doing it full time or you could even go part-time in your day job.
I know lots of employers who are keen to have people even at a senior level work three days a week as it lessens their overhead at a time when they’re looking to cut costs. What a great opportunity to juggle other talents and passions: to experiment, to try your hand at a new career without making that full commitment. Because let’s face it, you might think you want to change your career, but in reality you might hate the solitude of working for yourself. So part-time working gives you the perfect opportunity to juggle a mortgage-paying gig with a more risky passion-based career. There’s Rachel, a business-development executive in the media three days a week who runs her jewellery business the rest of the week. It’s the perfect mix for her. She acknowledges the jewellery making can be lonely and needs that buzz of an office to stimulate her. Then there’s Jan, who’s a HR manager three days a week who also makes jewellery at home and attends craft fairs the rest of the week. They’re both juggling jewellers! It’s about crafting a work life that reflects your multi-dimensional talents: stuff you are good at, and stuff you are passionate about. It’s about re-inventing your offering. Again, reinvention doesn’t have to be about huge game-changing steps, it can be more organic; just being open to opportunities and going with the flow.
After all, it’s difficult to strategise and plan your career shift so fully when serendipity and randomness play such a huge part in personal development. That chance meeting on a train, the random Twitter link to a site that will inspire change, that email from an old friend that opens up big unforeseen opportunities. It’s been the story of my life; I never had a big grand plan for my career but over 10 years working for myself, I stand back from time to time and re-appraise, asking myself these three questions:
1) What do I want to do (my passion)?
2) What am I good at (my talent)?
3) Where is the market demand (my market) for my offering?
I then reinvent my offering accordingly. Whether you are self-employed or you’re an executive in an organisation you can do that to reappraise your goals. Indeed you can reinvent your role within an organisation without even moving desks! It’s about re-evaluating your talents and carving out a different role or refreshing/ tweaking your current one. Going to the boss and saying you’re good at generating new ideas, why don’t you include R&D in your role? It’s that trick of not just filling a role, but making it yours, making it unique. Perhaps you work in admin but are passionate about journalism? Volunteer to edit the company newsletter. Work in finance but have a yearning for event planning? Organise the company away day. Incorporate the spirit of Juggle into your job!
But whatever you do it’s about staying authentic. It’s not about bullshitting or being unrealistic about your abilities, but it is about being bold and going out of your comfort zone to embrace new things or new ways of doing things. The end goal is that the Real You is the Work You, because when you succeed in having a job, role or career that reflects your talents and personality then work stops feeling like a chore.
Ian Sanders is founder of The Ian Sanders Company, a consultancy that helps clients boost their success by reinventing their offering and coming up with new marketing ideas. Having advised many businesses over the years Ian is now advising executives and entrepreneurs how to reinvent themselves to fully realise their talents and potential. Ian is author of ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ (Capstone 2009) and ‘Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free’ (Capstone 2008). Ian has taken his message to audiences at events from the South By South West festival in Texas to London’s Royal College Of Art. Check out his website at www.iansanders.com and if you want Ian to help you reinvent your career, get in touch at hello@iansanders.com
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