Image: Clement Nivesse
What have people who've successfully made a shift learned that you haven't – yet? Natasha shares the honest (and sometimes surprising) ideas that will help you find fulfilling work faster – and that most people don't recognise until they're already out the other side.
Whether you’re considering a career change or already in the thick of things, you may already have been surprised by just how much it asks of you.
After more than a decade of helping thousands of people find more fulfilling work, there’s one thing that I believe to be true above all else: career change is an inside job.
Networking techniques, advice on transferable skills, and job-hunting guidance are all useful and important, but what will move the needle for you fastest is how you engage with the process itself.
These 16 lessons map some of that inner territory – the shifts in thinking and perspective that I've seen make the biggest difference to people’s progress, over and over again.
They’re not comprehensive. There are plenty more. But they’re a good start.
Each one looks snappy and easily-understood, in a head-nodding, ‘yes, I can see how that makes sense’ sort of way.
But my invitation to you as you read them is to give them room to stew.
Sit with each lesson, one by one.
How would things change for you if you really let this in? What would it force you to examine? To let go of? To do differently?
Let me know what emerges for you in the comments. I’d love to hear.
1. The answer isn't out there waiting for you to find it.
The answer gets created as you act.
2. 95% of a career change is the 'messy middle'.
Feeling lost and frustrated isn't a sign you're doing it wrong; it's a sign you're doing it. Keep going.
3. Loneliness and isolation in career change are a choice.
Everyone knows what it's like to struggle with big life questions. Your vulnerability and willingness to ask for help is a gift to you and to others alike.
4. You already know a lot about what you want.
If it feels like you don't, it's much more likely to be because you're scared to say it out loud.
5. Career change can take a long time.
There is no 'quick fix', 'find your passion in 30 days' shortcut to fulfilment. But the time is going to pass anyway. What do you want to spend it doing?
6. There is never going to come a time when the way forward is crystal-clear and problem-free.
Waiting for things to ‘fall into place’ is a trap. Your success depends on how ready you are to dance with each new problem that arises.
7. Curiosity and humility are career change superpowers.
As soon as you 'already know' how something's going to go, the game is over. Cultivate the habit of creating opportunities to be delightedly wrong, and gloriously surprised.
8. To do what you love, do what you love.
Don't wait for a job offer to get started. The more time you spend around the things that energise you, the more new paths, people, and possibilities begin to emerge.
9. 'Luck' comes from two things: doing stuff, and talking about it.
Exciting opportunities land in the laps of those who do both. (Credit to Jason Roberts for the concept of 'luck surface area').
10. Lighter = Faster.
The more significant and heavy you make things, the slower you move. For quick progress, try light and playful.
11. Big moves are overrated.
Very small actions are easy to take, and they accumulate fast into new and interesting narratives. Take as many as possible.
12. Questioning your life’s purpose is a Sisyphean task.
Just focus on what you want the next few years to be about.
13. The journey is just as valuable as the destination.
Working out what fulfils you could be something you have to ‘get through’ in order to ‘get there’. Or it could be one of the most precious inquiries of your life.
14. Some things are in your control. Most things are not.
Learning to differentiate between the two will make you frighteningly productive.
15. What’s done is already gone.
Don’t hang on to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
16. Nobody ever found an answer by deciding they were doomed.
The world is full of helpful people and secret doors. Assume you're stuck, and you are. Assume there's a way through, and the game begins.
Which of these lessons feels most important to you – and why? Let me know in the comments below.
