Tips for Transition: Creating a Manageable Career Transition Plan
There is no doubt that making a career transition can be overwhelming. It is a big change that will create a ripple effect of other changes as you focus on creating a career with meaning and purpose. In the midst of this change it is easy to get paralyzed by all there is to do, focus on, and manage. Here are a few tips that will help you make it more manageable and successful!
1 – Small and focused. If you were to sit down and write a list of all the things you need to do in your career transition you could easily fill several pages and find yourself lost in all the detail. The trick here is to keep your “to do” list focused with bite-size tasks. If a task takes more than an hour, find a way to break it down into smaller steps. For example – if you want to open a food truck, writing “Open a Food Truck” would be a gargantuan task. But it becomes much more manageable when you start with small steps. “Identify 3 successful food truck owners to contact,” “signing up for classes at the local Small Business Association office on how to start a business,” “brainstorm 4 themes that would make great food trucks.” Much more manageable.
2 – Track your progress. Try creating a “Done List” instead of just a “To Do List.” When you feel that things are moving too slowly or you just aren’t getting any traction pull out your Done List and remind yourself how far you’ve come from where you started. It can be just the motivation you need to keep going and can spark new ideas as you reflect on what you have tried and what you can do next to keep your transition fresh and energizing.
3 – Task hacking. Be aware of time-sucks. For some of us it is binge-watching old West Wing episodes. For others it is Facebook or reading a crazy-long Twitter feed. Whatever your time-sucks are there are usually 15 minutes here or 30 minutes there that you can move from the time-suck category to the creating-meaningful-work category! Set a timer and use that 15 or 30 minutes to accomplish a few things each day. It will add up and you will be well on your way to a successful new career.
Yes, a career transition is a big change. But the view will be worth the climb as you pursue your purpose and find meaning in your work!
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