When I talk about career reinvention, I’m not talking about the person who just wants to spiff up his resume, clean up rusty interview skills, and learn how to negotiate a good salary. Those are important things to do, but I’m talking to the person who has decided she is ready to figure out what she is really meant to do – how she can do the most good for herself and the world. This process involves a lot of soul searching, trial and error, and good old fashioned work.
Mistakes are part of this process. I encourage people to take some risks while reinventing themselves. Of course, sometimes this results in mistakes that allow them to learn more about themselves. I love these kind of mistakes.
On the other hand, there are some mistakes that are best avoided. They don’t really add value, and they can really slow you down. Take some advice from those who have gone before you – here are my top 5 avoidable mistakes of the career reinventor:
1. Not being honest: If you really want to reinvent yourself – not just tweak your job, but truly redesign – you must, must, must be truly honest with yourself. This is not the time to think about what your family, friends, church group, or current coworkers will think. You can worry about how to deal with them later. It is not the time to think about what is politically correct or what will make you seem like a “good” person. That will work itself out. It is not the time to latch onto something (or ignore something) because of how much money you can earn. Trust me – once you find the purpose that lights you up, you will come up with creative ways to make it work. Just be honest. Please. If you aren’t, it won’t work. Period.
2. Focusing only on the external: A lot of people come to me talking about the external trappings of their dream career – things like lots of money, a certain kind of office, the perfect job title. Others ask about how they should position themselves on their resumes, websites, LinkedIn profiles, Facebook profiles, etc. This is all nice and necessary – but it is the last thing you should worry about. How do you want to FEEL? What things make you FEEL that way? What kind of impact do you want to have, and how will this affect the people meant to benefit from what you do? When are you honestly at your best? What kinds of people do you enjoy spending time with? These are examples of questions to ask of your internal compass. The other, external stuff will be a natural outgrowth of your internal compass reading. For more about the difference between internal and external personal “branding”, see Malcolm Levene’s great post on the topic.
3. Investing too much, too soon: For many of us, the career reinvention process includes exploring a lot of different options. If you are considering creating your own business, you will probably explore a lot of different business structures, identities, and services. This is all good. It only becomes a problem if you invest too much time, energy, and resources in one particular path before you have tested it out. A great example of this is when new entrepreneurs spend thousands of dollars for a new, professionally designed website. I’m all for using design professionals, and they can be a crucial part of creating an external identity. But wait and engage them after you have at least some level of confidence that this path is for you. Same goes for hiring people to rewrite and design your resume. This will save you a ton of money and headaches.
4. Not investing enough: This is the opposite of #3 above. You need to know when it is time to get help from a coach, consultant, therapist, teacher, mentor, designer, etc. You will probably need to pay for this help. Researching things on websites and reading books are fine and a great place to start. But these tools don’t hold you accountable, they don’t make sure you are honest, and they don’t help you get over your personal fears and obstacles. Don’t waste your money or sign up for every class and service you see, but also don’t get stingy about investing in your future and leveraging people who can help you.
5. Focusing on what you don’t know: Excuse the cliche, but I genuinely believe that if I had a dollar for everyone who told me they weren’t qualified to do what they love, I would never need to work again. Save yourself from your own pity party. These self defeating thoughts are often untrue. And if they are true, you will find a way to get qualified if you really want to. Worry about this after you figure out what you want to do, not while you are trying to figure it out.
So, there you have it. My version of the top 5 avoidable mistakes of the career reinventor. What are some other top mistakes? How can we avoid them?
