“Any Transition is Easier If You Believe in Yourself and Your Talent” Pryanka Chopra
If you’re a passionate person with goals for your life, you’ve probably been at the “in between” stage more than a few times. This is the stage when you’ve identified your goals, broken them down, identified steps to reach them, and started on that plan—but you’re not yet seeing the fruits of your labor.
Ambitious and excited at the goal-setting stage, you embarked on this path with a vision in front of you. Now you’re in the throes of it—or maybe waiting on the sidelines for the next step. You are feeling frustrated and stuck, like you’re not making progress fast enough. What should you do?
The emotional challenge is adjusting your personal identity and sense of self. According to Gallup research, 55% of people in the U.S. define themselves by their job, instead of considering work as simply what they do to earn a living. If your job or career changes, then you’ll likely need to adjust your self-image too.
People want to be respected and honored for who they are, and one’s chosen career is a big part of that. They also want to feel that their work has meaning and positive impact. That’s one of the reasons, for example, that 4.5 million people between the ages of 50 and 70 have moved into what are called “encore careers,” which leverage skills from a first career into a way of helping others during a second stint at working. One long-time United Way executive, for example, parlayed his social service experience into becoming a police officer and then detective at the age of 50. Similarly, a retiring physician set up a telemedicine project that would allow her, and other senior physicians, to contribute their medical skills to under-served communities.
In this week’s “Master Your Story” podcast we speak with Matthew Siess, Operations Manager for Sahl Communications, Inc. He is also the training committee chair for the Lehigh Valley Professionals Group (LVP). LVP is a volunteer based networking and support organization for experienced professionals, and veterans who are in job transition. For more information, please visit – lvprofessionals.org. Matthew just recently went through a major career transition. He shares with us some of the things he did during his transition and how he sees opportunities to help others.
During our interview Matthew talks about tips to surviving and thriving during the transition time. Below is his top 10 list. Take a moment and listen to the podcast. If you’re not in a period of transition please share with someone who is.