Why is it hard to make a career change alone?

By Danielle Roessle, LCSW, GCDFI, CCSP

I’m so good at giving others advice in making a change, but it’s hard to do it on my own.

Yes, that is true for many people. And over the next few days, I will share with you the biggest reasons why making a change on our own is so difficult.

First, if you're dissatisfied at work, you're not alone. In the State of the Global Workplace: 2022 report by Gallop, the findings shared workers are experiencing staggering rates of both disengagement and unhappiness. Sixty percent of people reported being emotionally detached at work.

Often people who are unhappy at work, whether it be a job that’s not a good fit, a terrible boss, or their business is no longer aligned with who they are, will disengage or self-protect by hiding some part of their identity. This is what we call dissociation in psychology. It’s your mind's process of becoming disconnected from your thoughts and feelings to self-protect from a negative (and sometimes traumatic) experience.

When we’ve become habituated to pulling away, disassociating, and self-protecting in our work, it’s hard to re-engage again because our mind has become used to it. So, while it’s easy to give others advice or coaching, it’s hard to do it for ourselves and we need the support of others to pull ourselves out of these mental habits.

To make a successful career or business transition, it’s important to ask reflective questions that help you get to know yourself again and take meaningful action through conversation and testing the waters that helps you get the clarity you need to move forward, to move you away from the dissociation you’ve been experiencing in your work. When we get stuck asking ourselves these questions, it’s helpful to have someone bounce ideas and to support us when moving through our blocks.

That’s why we’ve opened the digital doors of the Inner Compass Community! Our unique group coaching program for mid-career, senior leaders, executives, and business owners who want to reignite the fire within by using childhood memories — and identify more fulfilling careers or business opportunities through the support of coach-led community.

Our aim is:

✧ To use childhood memories to help you rediscover what drives you, your innate talents, and to uncover the parts of you that want to be expressed in your work

✧ To have experienced coaches and the support of other professionals to help you work through bottlenecks as you work through your transition

✧ To support you with maintaining positive mental health and wellness as you navigate your transition through 9toThrive classes, so that you don’t fall back into negative past patterns

To learn more about the Inner Compass Community, please click here or schedule your strategy session here.

You've got this!

Danielle