how to change your career path at 30

How to change your career path at 30

Are you too scared to change career (but you desperately want to?)

Are you:

  • In your 40s, 50s or even 30s?
  • Dreaming of a meaningful, fulfilled life you think you’ll never have?
  • Too frightened to leap into a career change, but miserable every day?

Why are so you frightened?

I know from personal experience what it’s like to think: “there literally isn’t one thing that made me smile today”. I know what it’s like to feel broken, boring, and bleak. Stuck in choices you made one, two, three decades ago. Living a life you’re not enjoying.  Feeling like your life will never change.

What’s keeping you in the rut your life has become? I think you’ve suffered enough, and the empty feeling you have in the pit of your stomach doesn’t need to be there.

If every day leaves you feeling more and more down, I’ve got news for you:  You can live the life of your dreams.

Doing this Change Your Life In 5 activity will show you how to break free from your historic feelings of not being good enough, able enough or capable of changing.

How do I know? First off, I’m living proof. I’ve also watched my clients transform from barely existing, to happy and blossoming. You can change.  All you need to do is some focused thinking and you can have the career and life of your dreams. The reward is the free, fulfilled life you always deserved but never got.

So, let’s get started:

What’s your dream career?

What would you love to be doing? Where would you love to be doing it? The answer might already be on the tip of your tongue. If not, take a moment to think. Close your eyes, take yourself far away from your daily life, and picture where you’d like to be working, and what you’d like to be doing.  Think about the answers to the following questions:

  • Where am I? Am I indoors or outdoors? What part of the world am I in?
  • Am I alone, or surrounded by people? Really picture how content you feel in each of these scenarios
  • What kind of things am I doing?
  • Am I in a fast-paced or easy-going environment?

A career change in your 30s, 40s and 50s is possible

There you were, picturing your absolute fantasy life, and it kicked in didn’t it? That voice. That inner voice that says negative things every time you try to change something in your life.  You hear:

  • Stop fantasising
  • What you want is unreasonable, unrealistic, impractical
  • I could never do that. I’m not qualified
  • I’m not good enough.
  • I should’ve already done it by now; my time has gone
  • How dare you even think of improving your life? You have your place, and that’s where you belong
  • You’ve made your bed – now you have to lie in it. FOREVER.

Right now, please take a moment to write down some of the automatic negative thoughts you had when you started fantasising about a new career.

These thoughts form a voice in your head which I call “The Voice Of The Saboteur”, because that’s exactly what it’s doing. It’s sabotaging your life.  It’s not even letting you dare to consider the possibility that life could be different.

The presence of this voice is not a surprise. It’s is a completely natural part of you.  In fact, you’ve probably had it since childhood when you absorbed the rules, regulations, beliefs and thoughts from society, your culture and the people who bought you up.  These rules gave you a blueprint for belonging and survival by forming a voice inside your head.

While that voice kept you safe into your late teens or early 20s (when most of us make career choices), it doesn’t safeguard you anymore now you know who you are. Now it’s just limiting you.

If the voice was built into me as a child, how do I get rid of it?

That’s a completely reasonable question. It’s also got a simple, but powerful, answer. You can get rid of the saboteur’s voice, separate it from you and set yourself free to operate from a position of true choice.

The first step to this is working out where the voice of the saboteur comes from.

For many of us, the voice already has an identity. It will probably be someone who was a strong influence in your life.  It might be a parent, family friend or strict teacher you can still picture when you close your eyes.

To get rid of their voice, here’s an activity for you to do:

All you need to do is picture your saboteur doing an activity which you associate with them.  This could be golfing, cooking, reading, talking – just imagine them doing something which reminds you of them.   Then, once you have them fixed in your mind, say to yourself, or out loud, “GO AWAY” – or something similar – to banish them and their voice from your mind.

But what if I don’t know who my saboteur is?

If you can’t pinpoint someone as the voice of your saboteur, don’t worry. This is actually a great way to unleash your creative side, as you get to make an identity for them. So just pause, and think about your saboteur:

  • Is this person male or female?
  • Are they old or young?
  • What do they look like?
  • What’s their facial expression when they’re talking to you?
  • What kind of job or career do they have?
  • What do they like to do?

Once you can visualise your saboteur, it’s time to get rid of them with the “GO AWAY” technique you learned above.

Now you know what’s been holding you back, and you know what to do about it.

It takes practice (I still do it!), but for a reminder, you can always watch my video, free, as many times as you like.

Career coaching will change your life

Thank you for reading, and do watch the video if you haven’t already. To get my videos directly to your inbox as soon as they are released, just sign up for the newsletter for more CYLI5, or you can book in for a free, 90-minute consultation.

Need help redesigning your life + career? There are a few ways I can do that
    • To get clear on what you do and don’t want in your life + career moving forward, get my book Change Your Life in 5 for free now (just pay P+P). Click here
    • Ready to get unstuck in just one hour – and moving forward into the next phase of your life? Book a power-hour Reset Session with me now click here
    • If you’re ready to do more in-depth or longer-term work on redesigning your life + career, I’ve opened up a few slots for working with me 1-1. Book your free Discovery Call with me by clicking here and find out how I can help.
    • If you are interested in Leadership (including remote leadership) + Executive Coaching for you or your team, find out more about my unique Conscious Leader programme by clicking here

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