Clearing Your Mistaken Beliefs
Here we’ll explode the six most-common fairy tales of reinvention:
MYTH #1: The first step of reinvention is to figure out the one job you should aim for.
Most people start their search for a new career by looking for one target, because they’re hoping it will be like a game of darts—a straight shot to bulls-eye.
But reinvention is akin to the game show Let’s Make a Deal—you’ll probably have to look behind more than one door in order to win the big prize. Thankfully, in real life you get to keep opening new doors till you find the prize you like best!
You need to try on a few different career ideas before settling on the job that’s best for you.
MYTH #2: Picking the “wrong” reinvention goal means wasting time.
The reason many people try to find “the Answer” (Myth #1) is because they’re worried they’ll invest time and energy exploring a career option that turns out to be a bust.
But it’s not possible to make a truly effective decision without gathering information about what doesn’t work. You can’t know what works and what doesn’t until you try a few job options on for size.
When you try out a career idea that turns out to be a poor fit, you gather valuable information that will help you make better decisions down the road.
When testing ideas for careers at the outset of a reinvention, there is no such thing as wasted time.
MYTH #3: You must know 100% of the “how” before getting started.
You can’t possibly know exactly how you’ll get to your reinvention goal because you’re missing valuable information that you can gather only when you’re in motion.
In reinvention, you find out how to reach your goal one step at a time.
The only way to know the pathway to your new career is to hit the road and get going.
MYTH #4: Having a career you love solves all your problems.
We have a tendency to pour all of our expectations for happiness into one single area of our lives. We believe that once that particular problem zone is fixed, everything else will fall into place and we’ll magically skip off to the end of the rainbow.
In reality, you’ll have more work to do to reach that pot of gold. Solving your career unhappiness may make it easier to handle the other issues, but you’ll still need to put in the effort to get the results you want.
There’s a good chance that not all your unhappiness can be solved by a career fix.
MYTH #5: You can find a career that’s completely perfect for you.
A very common illusion many people hold is that they’re going to love everything about their new career.
#TRUTH: No matter how great your new career may be, it is 100% guaranteed that it contains things you won’t enjoy.
It is very important to check, up front, what those not-so-good points are so that you can determine whether or not you’ll be able to cope with them. If there are any deal breakers, you want to find them out before you land.
MYTH #6: You’re making a decision for the rest of your life.
This myth springs from the mistaken belief that once you make a choice, you will never change again. But you are brainstorming a career for the next stage of your life, not the rest of your life.
In a few years, your circumstances or interests may change and the world will change. Remember that the ability to reinvent yourself is a life skill; once you master it, you have the power to adjust course as needed.
Plan today’s reinvention decision so that it can carry you for the next five to seven years.
Coaching Action Steps
Myth busting exercise:
By holding onto myths you can also miss seeing what you can do right now that will make your life better. When you concentrate on improving your life in the present, new paths open up, unexpected opportunities present themselves, and your chances of achieving the change you seek increase exponentially.
List 3 myths you have about your career reinvention you need to debunk.
