ON BUSINESS || Here's What to do When You Reach Your Goal but It's Not What You Want
Uh oh. You finally made it. You hit that BHAG, but you discover that it’s not what you want.
That sexy online entrepreneur CEO title? You realize it’s not all glam and glitz and you’re unlikely to land on the cover of Forbes anytime soon.
The promotion to a managerial position that you so eagerly angled for at your company? You realized after a month on the job that you don’t enjoy managing people one bit.
That marketing job where you thought you’d be leading the creative efforts and coming up with an award-winning campaign? It’s more about the data and numbers and A/B testing with stock images.
What do you do? When the exact thing you wanted is not what you thought it’d be. But you’re here now. Should you give it up? Start again?
Until you’re in the job, you don’t really know what the day to day will be like.
I’ve started over three times now, and I can tell you from experience that it’s tough to let go of a dream you once built. I thought I wanted to be an online fintech CEO, only to find out that I didn’t want to deal with bankers and money laundering regulations and everything in between.
I thought I would love working in fashion because I loved dressing up and styling others, but when I went into fashion show production, it was a different story. You know when you can do something, but if you were given a choice and didn’t have to do it, you wouldn’t? It was one of those experiences.
But you know, we each make our own zig-zagged paths through the world before we land in the right spot. At least, that’s what I’d like to think. You might think that you’ve already invested all this time, maybe it’s months, maybe it’s years, to build this career, and you don’t want to give up the expertise and seniority you’ve accumulated, but is it worth the additional time you’re forcing yourself to work in this career that makes you dread going to work each day?
If this describes the position you’re in here, where you feel stuck and aren’t sure whether you should give up what you thought was the dream goal or job, here are a few things you could do.
ASSESS | IS IT AS BAD AS YOU THINK?
As we progress through life, we learn that nothing is perfect. No job or career is flawless. Sometimes you love the job, but your colleagues are a nightmare. Sometimes you love the team, but the work doesn’t fuel your fire.
Do you know the 80-20 rule? I’ve found that it applies to pretty much everything in life. You’ll enjoy roughly 80 percent of the things related to your job and hate the remaining 20 percent. If I apply this to my previous businesses, the rule is that I would enjoy working with 80 percent of my clients, and the other 20 percent were the cause of all the problems. 80 percent of my staff would be great teammates, while 20 percent are B or C players that caused client service quality issues.
I love pitching new ideas and creating campaigns and marketing materials, but I hate administrative work. Hate is a strong word, but when I’m sitting in front of a computer looking at our monthly invoicing spreadsheet, I can feel the life drain out of me. But these are things that will be part of every job. Is it something you can’t live with? Do the things that irk you about your current career go against your core values? If that’s the case, yes, it’s likely time for a change.
TEST | DIP YOUR TOE IN IT
You won’t know until you try it. We have our preconceptions about different careers and the responsibilities that come with each role within an industry. It’s sad when we realize that our judgements are often wrong by a large margin.
Determining whether you would enjoy a potential career by judging a book by its cover is dangerous. While you may dislike your current job so much that you’re desperate for a change, jumping from one disappointing job into another one can’t really be what you’re looking for. Right?
So, dip your toe in it. if you want to become a graphic designer, maybe try taking a few online courses to see if you have the right skills. if you think you’re good enough, the next step is to test your skills in the market. You’re only as good as what people are willing to pay you for your skills. Are you able to attract design jobs? Do your clients think you’re great? Are there aspects of a graphic design career that you dislike? Are these dealbreakers or things you can handle as long as you enjoy the other 80 percent of the job?
ACTION | MAKE THE SWITCH
How long is long enough to decide whether you want to make the full commitment? You’ll need to be the one making this decision before you start the test phase. Otherwise, you’ll give yourself the excuse that you might want to test for a while longer before taking the leap. At that point, it’s worse because you’ll be like a startup coming that can’t launch; you’re stuck in beta forever.
So, set a decision date tailored to your decision-making process. If you are the type that needs a long time to assess the potential fit of a new career, give yourself a year. If you are relatively fast in figuring out whether you like or don’t like something, maybe three months is enough for you to work things out. There’s no rush in making the call, but you must have an endpoint you’re working towards, or you’re working without a deadline, and the risk is you never move on from a horrible job.
I hope this simple three-step process can help you navigate the fear of making a career change and take action so that you can open a new chapter in your life.
