#52 Professional Reinvention after Big Personal or Life Shifts

In this episode, I open up about my personal journey of managing professional responsibilities amidst personal upheaval. I share my experiences after the loss of my and how it led me to reassess my professional and personal life. This episode explores the profound identity shifts that can arise from various life changes such as loss, caring responsibilities, or a midlife crisis and more. Join me as I provide practical tips and strategies for navigating these challenging transitions, including taking time to explore, treating the period as a learning phase, creating a transition plan, and seeking support. Tune in to gain insights on how to realign your work with your evolving life circumstances and find a fulfilling path forward.

LINKS

Meaningful Career Change Course
Purpose Statement Workbook

00:00 Introduction

01:04 Personal Story and Challenges

03:49 Navigating Big Identity Shifts

08:45 Tips for Successful Transition

24:51 Conclusion and Support

Meaningful Career Change 

A self-paced, online audio course to kickstart your mindful and meaningful career change journey with focus and intention. 

Avoid the overwhelm and get started on the right foot with logical steps, practical exercises and insightful tips.  Sign up at https://www.leadingbeings.com/meaningful-career-change-course

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction & Acknowledgement of Country
• 1:04 Personal Story & Challenges
• 3:49 Navigating Big Identity Shifts
• 8:45 Tips for Successful Transitions
• 25:55 Conclusion & Support

Transcript

Kate: 0:01

I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I record this podcast The Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and pay my respects to their elders past present and emerging Hey folks I'm your host Kate McCready integrative business leadership and human potential Coach meets mindful strategist for humans uplifting people and planet Welcome to the Leading Beings podcast a show about elevating and expanding your awareness potential and leadership for meaningful impact Conscious success at a work-life or business in flow Join me and some incredible guests for inspiration ideas tips strategies and stories to help you grow and evolve yourself and your mission So you can make your unique positive difference in life and work from the inside out Whether you're leading a team a business a community an organization a cause or simply yourself Tune in as we explore what it means to be and become a leading Being.

1:04

Well, hello. It has been a very long time over a year since I last recorded an episode of the Leading Beings podcast. And unfortunately I'm going to start with, uh, not the happiest of tales. If you have been a listener in the past, You may remember my last episode, which was about managing the load in stressful times, Uh, I was recording that episode in the middle of dealing with my dad being really quite sick with cancer. Um, and yeah, very sad to say dad actually passed away a week after I recorded that episode. Um, somewhat unexpectedly. Uh, and. Yeah, what I thought was difficult before he passed away became even more difficult following on from that. Just to give you a bit of background, which you're welcome to skip through if you know, you're not feeling like this kind of thing today. Uh, dad was caring a lot for mom and, I'm an only child. And so, I went on to be executive. He's a state. He was a business owner. I all of a sudden had to take over looking after dad's business. In order to prepare it for shutting it down and, and selling. Um, I had to organize funerals. I had to start stepping in and caring for my mum more because that's what dad was doing, before he got sick and passed away. And so. My life just turned upside down. And so, well, obviously podcasting probably wasn't top of my priority list, but, you know, even my business took a massive backseat. To really step in and look after the people that I care about and step in there as, as a daughter and. Do what I needed to do in that. And so it's been a time, a lot has changed in the past year and a bit for me since then, I've actually ended up going back into corporate Part time. So I'm running my business part-time and in corporate part-time just cause I needed something where I didn't have to hold everything for awhile. And when you go through these times where you have these big personal changes or professional changes, What I wanted to talk about in today's podcast was that you sometimes have these huge identity shifts, uh, that go on to change the course of how you want to do life, how you want to do work. In my case, it was obviously, and sadly the, the death of someone very loved to me. But it can happen for all kinds of reasons as well. Having a baby. having a significant injury or illness, taking on caring responsibilities. The good old existential crisis or midlife crisis, moving house, traveling. A child starting school, maybe a partner being made redundant, just impact of economic circumstances, which I know so many of us are experiencing right now. COVID was another really good example. But all of these big things that can happen to us throughout our lives, in my experience as a coach, but also just as a human, as a friend. I see how much those big things really do shift us internally. And if this has ever happened to you, if this is happening to you now, if it's happened to a loved one, You'll know that it often has you at the end of that, or even in the middle of that going. What am I doing with my work life? What am I doing with my career? Uh, and searching for something different. Searching for something perhaps more, perhaps less, because you actually want to take the foot off the pedal and place your energy and attention towards something that's more. Well, what might feel more important at the time? but it's often tough when everything always, all of a sudden feels like it's, it's different and your different, but yet the life that you have, or you know, something in your life, like your profession is the same and maybe feel stale and maybe like it doesn't fit. Anymore. There can be a couple of shifts that can happen. This there's the internal shift. There's the internal shift of how we see the world, how we see ourselves. What's important to us, all of those kinds of things, how we relate to people. But then there's also the external shifts that can come from these big life changes. The practical considerations, you know, it might be the time that you have available to you, how the changes impacted your finances. You know, having a baby, for example. Is a really massive one for women in that all of a sudden. Well for men too but, you know, it particularly impacts women, and primary carers, but, you know, you've had that. Whole human come into your life and your, your time and your energy, and it's no longer your own. So all of a sudden you have to try and make room for that. And so the practical needs of your professional life and how you show up need to change. same as, you know, for example, maybe, a kid going to school is one that people often don't think about, but it can completely shift how you need to show up as a parent. Or, you know, a partner being made in redundant. For example, if you need to step in as the primary income earner that can shift things. But then also it's just, you know, As I mentioned those internal things, they can deeply change how you feel and how you relate to the world as a person. And I think often. What I've observed working with people, uh, in this space, is that what feels like it's meaningful, no longer feels the same. And so. What do you do when you find yourself in one of these situations where you feel like maybe you need to completely. You know, reinvent your professional identity. You no longer feel the same. The work no longer feels the same. You need something else emotionally, spiritually, you maybe need something else practically. So, what do you do when that happens? I've been going through this myself recently. I'm not saying that. Uh, I've completely changed, but there are a lot of circumstances in my life that have made me reflect on what I want out of work and life. Um, and as I mentioned, Guided a lot of clients through career transitions of varying kinds. So I wanted to share with you some of the things, uh, and some tips, I suppose, in terms of how you might navigate this. Now you can apply these to big shifts, but maybe you haven't had something massive go on in your life, but there's still things that you can apply from this. So listen on a. And I'll share some of those with you. So I think the first thing that's really important is don't try to make big changes while you are still in the thick of whatever has been going on. Because what I found personally in this situation is that like your, your brain can be pretty scrambled, particularly if it's something that has been, one of the more negative circumstances, you know, if you've had particular stress or burnout or something from the life upheaval that's occurred, trying to make shifts and changes in the midst of that can often be counterproductive because your you're not really like yourself. You're not really stable. You don't have a solid foundations to be working from. And I made this mistake and I started to make some shifts or try and make some shifts in the middle of things. And what I found is it kind of ended up being not time wasted because I still learned from the things that I explored, but. Um, things probably didn't really start, uh, making sense until I lifted from the real challenge of the situation. So, don't try to make, make the big changes while you're still in the thick of it. Second. Treat it as a time to explore, to learn and understand when we are going through a big transition like this personally, professionally, the answers don't come generally in light bulb moments just out of nowhere, you have to spend time. Uh, exploring your self, your situation what's important to you. And that can look like all kinds of things. It could be journaling, it could be reading, it could be talking things out to friends. It could be, um, brainstorming post-it noting. it could be going on retreat, learning to meditate. It, it could be anything really. But taking time to explore and, get a sense of what might be next for you and just. Aligned with that. The next tip is to really do that slowly. Don't rush it. You might have this feeling that you want it to happen right now, but you know, there's this discomfort in you because who you are and who you now are after this experience has shifted from where you were, but you are still in the situation and the scenario of, that old version of self. And so it feels really sticky. It feels tricky. Like you don't want to be there. You want to have the insights and make the move and get that momentum going, but it doesn't always happen at the speed you would like it to. Um, but you can't rush it. So just it's like almost like get comfortable with the uncomfortable, because it might take your while to move through that, that sticky period. And. Know that the practical and the emotional timeframes of what you want a need and not always going to line up. If you think about these big shifts, sometimes there might be a real emotional driver to, to shift or something within you. Those internal ones that I was talking about earlier. But sometimes the driver might be more practical or it might be a combination of both. And sometimes the practical need, there's a real immediacy to a practical need that you kind of have to deal with before you have the space and time to deal with the emotional need. For example, let's take that scenario where your partner is made redundant and maybe you have to, um, step up in terms of earning income for the family. And you can see an immediate path forward. To do that. However. You also have some kind of emotional need and some kind of identity shift that's happening. But. You can't necessarily fulfill both those needs at the same time. The practical need might need you to. Take on an extra day's work a week, do some really hardcore business development, which might actually be in conflict with what your emotional need is to perhaps find some more meaningful work. Same might go with, if you've say had something shift or change in a business or in a professional sense because of an economic scenario. You might need to do something to make sure that you are financially supported before you can move on to finding the meaning and finding the purpose and the drive. Same with something like, having a baby and finding that, your time isn't As flexible and as open as it used to be. the immediate practical need might be working out well, how do you fit work in, around caring or how do you fit in around childcare before again, you work on. The other stuff. So, knowing that you sometimes have to split those out and you can't work on them at the same time as important in some cases you might be able to, but, um, It can be easier if you just deal with the, the most pressing issue at hand. on the, on the flip side of that too, like there can be scenarios when you actually do need to deal with maybe the mental or the emotional thing first. So let's say you have been so stressed out and burnt out and you're in a scenario where. You are having a lot of pressure placed on you. You might actually need to remove yourself from that scenario before you can move practically into something else because you're, you're literally just not functioning properly. So, yeah, there's no right or wrong ways to do that, but just know that emotional timelines and practical timelines don't always happen in the same. On the same timeframes. So on that note or something that's related to that you might want to consider a transition plan with this often when I'm working with, um, career transition clients, there's this kind of idea that when we make a career change or move into something else it's like, Oh, I'm going from this to this. And there's nothing in the middle. It always takes me back to this south park episode. You're going to have to look this up on, um, on YouTube or something, but this is south park episode where there's these underpants gnomes, and they've got this plan to make money by stealing people's underpads, but they have no idea. What the step in the middle is from stealing the underpants to making money. Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, but you have to, you have to think about the step in between a, to B and how you're going to do that. And, and sometimes there's, you know, there's a way to do that more slowly or in a way that's more considered you don't just quit your job. You don't just, um, Throw in the towel or, Go and join a convent or. Whatever it might be. You know, you have to really think about, well, what's, what's the considered way to get from here to there so that, firstly, you don't. I suppose to something irresponsible from a practical or a financial, position to make sure that you're really considering. Your your current scenario and how you're going to maintain, your standard of living or pay your mortgage or that kind of thing. Um, but then there's also not throwing yourself out into something without really having put the energy and effort into making sure that it is aligned. Because I think when you're going through a professional identity kind of shift like this it's. It's easy to jump at things and think that that's the solution. But I think if you take a little bit more time to explore things and really kind of get a sense of what's going on for you, you'll avoid the case where you like get into something and then go, oh, actually that that's not right as well. Which goes back to that idea of exploring slowly and not rushing it. Something else that I think is really important with any kind of big identity shift like this has go back to the foundations of things like vision values, purpose, impact. What is it that you actually want to create in terms of a wider life vision, beyond just the work itself and ensuring that whatever professional shift you make does align to that life, vision Going back to your values and also reassessing those values, our values don't tend to change a lot as humans over time, but the time that they do change is when we have had something really significant particularly personally, go on for us. Those are the times in which we find ourselves re-evaluating what is important? What matters most to us? And to that end, you know, exploring purpose and what actually drives you now that you've had this shift in life perspective can really help when you, when you were going through something like this. Um, if you do want a resource for supporting you on the purpose side of things, I have a purpose workbook, which has it's for creating a purpose statement, but there's 50 coaching questions in that purpose workbook to help you really just sift through and, draw out some insight around what your purpose might be. And then also some practical suggestions on kind of. Bringing that together into a concise statement, but you don't necessarily have to do that part. Something else that I really recommend for people which goes to this idea of exploration is pull it threads. Um, what I mean by that is like, when you get a little nudge that something is interesting or something is exciting or meaningful to you. Go and pull at that thread. See what's there, explore it, dive into it. And that's where the kind of the juicy stuff is as you. You're not going to get answers, just kind of serve to you on a platter. So you have to pull up those threads and find one emerges. And sometimes you'll pull it a thread and you'll get a snack and there'll be nothing at the end of it and you can't go any further and that's totally fine. Pull it another thread and see where that takes you. Uh, eventually if you pull it enough threads, you'll find that something starts to emerge and, one particular direction or an, an area that you want to go down into or explore more. We'll start to really, present itself to you. Something else that I think really helps with this is to give yourself space away from this type of exploration. I know, for example, when I am like, ah, something really needs to shift here, I can get really overthinky with it overthinky that's the technical term. Uh, and I won't be able to step away from it, but it's when I step away that I often get those moments of clarity and, you know, it's like the thing when you, you get the ideas in the shower. So, in terms of giving yourself space away from the thinking of the identity shift, like rest play, find inspiration, um, go for walks in nature, play with your kids go to something that is, doesn't seem related, like go to some theater or an art gallery or go skiing. Whatever. Whatever floats your boat, but gets you kind of into a different head space and not thinking about it. Um, cause often when you do that and come back to stuff, you either get a moment of clarity while you're doing something completely unrelated, or at least when you come back to something, you can see it with fresh eyes. And no as well that you don't have to do a complete 180. Sometimes when we think, oh my gosh, everything feels like it's changed. I want to go and do something different. Our tendency is to feel like we've got to throw it all in and, go work on a hobby farm, or, become a meditation teacher or do something that feels really the opposite of your professional, career, or if you've been in some kind of professional environment and you want to go and become an artist or something like that. That might be the answer. Again, do your exploration. But sometimes it can be easier to actually evolve or tweak what's already there in the space that you're in, rather than doing a complete change. And if I just look back through my own professional, shifts and transitions over the years, which there have been many of, it's never been this like complete change in direction. It's always been like a slow evolution of something kind of forming or emerging out of something else that I've done or I've kept doing the thing that I was, was doing, and slowly began to introduce things in as maybe hobbies or something else. And then eventually I can start looking at them more seriously in a professional sense once I've already been doing them for a while. It's very rare. I find that people take massive, um, one eighties in, in what they're doing. And even if they go into a completely different. You know, career path or something, they usually building on skills and experience and, strengths that they've had in their other professional environments. It's just applying them in a new way. Almost finished, got two more here. So consider whether you can find what you're looking for outside of your professional life. Now I know this is about, you know, professional re-invention, but. The tendency can often be, or this profession doesn't feel right for me anymore. So therefore I'm not going to find meaning and purpose in this anymore. So I need to go and do something different professionally. When another good way to approach it as well. I'm going to do this and continue to do this because it serves a professional purpose. I'm going to go and find that feeling that I'm seeking inside myself. I'm going to go find that in something else. And it might be actually, getting a hobby that that fills that for you or Volunteering or something like that to find it in something else, rather than trying to find it through your professional life. And these are considerations too, depending on where you are at in your life and the considerations you might need to make, like if you're towards the end of your career. Uh, you know, let's say you're 60 or something. It's not to say you can't do a career change, but you know, you've got to look at things like, do you have enough to retire on and is trying to do something completely different the approach that is going to be right for you. Um, Financially or, if you are in, a time where. Like we are now, for example, where, um, things are economically tricky, you know, it might be not the best time to try and move out and find a new job in something completely different because, um, yeah, it's going to be harder establishing yourself when there's not as many jobs around or something like that. The final one. And look, I think this is, um, One of the most important ones is get support. Uh, don't try and do it all on your own. It can be really hard when you get up in your own head and try and figure it all out by yourself. And when I say get support, I mean, obviously you can hire a coach, come and see me if you need help with that. But it doesn't have to be that support can mean, um, having a friend that you talk this through too, it could be brainstorming some stuff out with your partner. If you have a partner that's good with that kind of stuff. Um, wish my husband was probably not his strong suit. Um, but yeah, find someone who can, can help move through this with you. It could be talking to a psychologist even, um, to, to help you get a better sense of, of what's important to you and what you need. You could find support through something online, like an online group Or even some kind of online course or something like that. Um, so yeah, just, just don't try and do it all up in your own head because yeah if my experience tells me anything, we don't make great progress when we just spin our own wheels. Uh, and try and do it all. Up in our own brains. So, yeah. Went through a lot there, but they're just some of the things that can really help when you are in this kind of like tricky, sticky situation of feeling like you need to reinvent yourself professionally off the back of some kind of personal change. It's certainly not an easy thing to do. It does take time. So be kind to yourself as well. And, uh, if you need support with it, like I said, check out my purpose statement workbook. If you want to nut through some coaching questions there. I've also got a meaningful career change course, uh, which you it's an audio course. So kind of like a podcast, you just listen to it. And there's a bunch of modules on things like transition plans and. How do you explore things and that kind of thing. Or, yeah, hit me up if you are interested in some coaching, but also know, you've got this, just don't don't put too much pressure on yourself. If this is a space that you're in right now. If it is reach out. I'd love to hear from you. Is there anything that you took from this episode that, made you go, ah, yeah. Um, shoot me an email, kate@leadingbeings.Com or reach out on LinkedIn, Kate McCready. Where I'm spending a bit of my time now and otherwise. Um, I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. I don't know what that's going to look like. I'm not going to say I'm going to be super consistent. This because. History has taught me that. Yeah. That's not one of my strong suits. Um, and I might just be lying to you, but yeah, if there's anything you'd like to hear about on the podcast to let me know. I'm always open to suggestions of things that I can chat to you about that will be useful to you. And please share this with anyone. If you think it might be helpful to them too. And I will see you in the next episode.