Five provocative impulses for a fresh start in your career. You possess deep knowledge of the professional world. You’ve dedicated years to understanding its complexities: climbing the corporate ladder, applying for positions, securing clients, polishing your resume, attending interviews… and all that comes with it. Even if you feel stuck and bewildered during your career transition, we can confidently state it’s not due to a lack of skill in navigating a professional path. So, what’s the real issue? How can an intelligent, driven, and capable individual like you, with a solid grasp of the working world, feel utterly paralyzed when trying to find and enter a career that doesn’t fill you with dread?
Maybe it’s because conventional career guidance is crafted to help you ascend vertically, not move laterally. Perhaps your school career counselor (along with your parents and most people who felt qualified to advise your first career steps) trained you more thoroughly in concepts like security and speed than in meaningful work and handling failure. But assigning blame isn’t productive when there’s work to be done. So, if the people, institutions, and systems meant to support you are falling short, it might be time to seek inspiration from entirely different sources: places completely disconnected from the work world as we know it. Consider the insights of a dog psychologist, a radio host, or a painter paralyzed from the neck down…
1. “We are not blind, but we wear blinders”
In 2013, Alexandra Horowitz published ‘On Looking, Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes,’ detailing her exploration of what becomes visible when you bring new perspectives to a routine walk around her block. Horowitz was amazed at how much of her everyday environment had become obscured by a creeping veil of familiarity. The daily grind of her life had rendered the world and its myriad possibilities increasingly invisible to her: “I find myself simultaneously alarmed, delighted, and humbled by the limits of my ordinary seeing. My comfort is that this lack is quite human. We see, but we do not really see: We use our eyes, yet our gaze is fleeting, superficially considering its object. We see the signs, but not their meanings. We are not blind, but we wear blinders.”
It’s inescapable: Your world (including your ideas, perspectives, opportunities, skills, and even your imagination) is constrained by your experience. Even the things you can conceive are merely combinations and variations of what you already know. There may be opportunities for your future career directly in front of you that you’re completely overlooking. So, if you’re struggling to generate ideas, techniques, and possibilities, it’s worth asking: What are you unable to perceive? And if options exist, hidden only from your view, what could you do to illuminate them?
For Horowitz, a new companion for her walk was sufficient. She took eleven walks, each with a different expert: an artist, an architect, a physician… and with each fresh lens, she uncovered a whole new spectrum of conversations and possibilities. Jamie, who joined our Career Change Launch Pad, found that even a single novel experience dramatically shifted his perception of the work world. Attending a talk by a renowned adventurer, who spoke about how small breaks can refresh the mind, was his first step away from his normal routine. This experience was monumental for him, leading to deep reflection on using adventure as a tool for personal development and eventually to building a business combining short adventure breaks with coaching.
“What made a huge impression was putting myself in proximity to opportunities and placing myself in different environments.”
What could you do to view the world with fresh eyes? Where could you go to gain a new vantage point on what’s available to you? Break your routine. Connect seemingly unrelated concepts. Remove your blinders.
2. “It is not your job to determine how good it is”
In the 1940s, after choreographer Agnes de Mille found phenomenal success with ‘Oklahoma!’—a work she personally considered mediocre compared to her other creations—she expressed her confusion to the legendary Martha Graham. Graham’s response was profound: “It is not your job to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares to other forms of expression. It is your job to keep it clear and direct with yourself, to keep the channel open. You don’t even have to believe in yourself or your work. You just have to keep yourself open and receptive to the impulses that motivate you. Keep the channel open… no artist is satisfied.”
During my own career shift, I faced smaller versions of de Mille’s frustration. At 25, I was convinced wanting to become a coach was nonsensical—who would take me seriously? Every time I drafted an article, I feared public humiliation. Mike, a Launch Pad participant, felt similar doubts when designing an entrepreneurship course, constantly questioning his unique value. Yet, he discovered that abandoning the search for uniqueness and simply starting was the only way forward. His course was later adopted by a university.
What de Mille, Mike, and I learned is that we are poor judges of our own work and its potential impact. As Graham explained, judging the quality isn’t your role. It’s not your job to decide if you’re ‘good enough’ to apply for that exciting position. For those waiting for confidence to magically appear: stop. You don’t have the right to declare yourself unworthy of a career you love—especially before you’ve tried. Your task is simply to show up, do the work, and share from your current standpoint. Rejection will happen, and that’s okay. Learn, adjust, and move on. This tendency to self-judge kills opportunity and keeps you stagnant. Do what you love. Show up. Stop wasting time on evaluation. That is not your business.
3. “Nothing that is good is easy”
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote to his disheartened daughter, “Nothing that is good is easy.” The career change corner of the internet is saturated with beaming faces and buzzwords like ‘passionate’ and ‘finally myself.’ While coaches and experts offer inspiring ‘You can do it!’ attitudes, the reality of changing careers is less a leap into a happy montage and more a series of frustrating Wednesdays, paralyzed Thursdays, and procrastinating Saturdays. It’s hours of nervous effort, weeks of managing failure, and, if you’re fortunate, glimmers of hope.
Alain de Botton, in discussing Nietzsche, highlights the uncomfortable link between struggle and value: “The most fulfilling human projects seemed inseparably linked with a certain degree of suffering…” Why? Because mastery, whether in art, position, or love, requires experience and endures the painful gap between initial failure and subsequent success, between who we are and who we aspire to be.
Your career transition will take time. It will involve tentative, hopeful attempts that solidify and then dissolve. It will require asking for help and sometimes receiving none. It will confront you, repeatedly, with fears of inadequacy. To join the ranks of those happy faces, you must embrace—not just accept—this hard reality. Kelly, a Launch Pad participant, almost dropped out because the tasks felt too challenging. She realized her lack of progress stemmed from avoiding difficulty. Once she pushed through, she met someone doing her dream job who mentioned upcoming hiring. Progress began when she accepted the discomfort.
“I guess if I want things to change, I just have to accept that part of it will sometimes be uncomfortable…”
Where are you avoiding challenges and thus missing rewards? Where do you encounter the ‘pain, fear, and humiliation’ and immediately retreat? Where could you embrace the struggle, recognizing it as a sign of progress? Nothing that is good is easy.
4. “Inspiration is for amateurs”
After a spinal injury left him paralyzed, painter Chuck Close regained slight arm movement and painted again with a brush strapped to his wrist. He famously advised, “Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. All the best ideas come from the process; they come from the work itself… If you just get to work, something will occur to you.”
Many love the idea of being a rockstar but not the four hours of daily practice. They desire the title of millionaire but not the six-year grind of building a business. It’s one thing to want the outcome, another entirely to want the process. In a career change, you often struggle because the outcome is unclear. You desire fulfilling work but don’t know what it is, and the path seems dull and uncomfortable.
How can you act when you don’t know what you want? Start by doing things that bring you joy. Spend time with inspiring people. Dive into interests that spark curiosity. These small, seemingly unrelated actions become your process. One action sparks an idea for another. You attend a course, meet someone, see a flyer, have a conversation that reveals a new possibility. Louise explored mentoring by taking small steps: talking to coaches, researching, then taking a short course. That small inkling led to her first clients. It’s a shift from chasing an outcome to immersing in a process—an unfolding, a persistent working. Follow the process. Inspiration is for amateurs.
5. “Imagine the Unimaginable”
Author and podcaster Debbie Millman writes, “Do what you love. And don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can. Imagine the unimaginable… To strive for a remarkable life, you must decide that you want one. Start now.”
Life owes you nothing. It won’t rearrange itself for your convenience. A career change is a significant disruption—a reordering, a realignment. When your life is gliding smoothly on its tracks and you decide to switch them, you’re calling for a derailment. Derailment requires upheaval and initial discomfort. That’s why there seem to be endless reasons not to change: it might require adjusting your schedule, asking for help, spending money, having difficult conversations, or showing vulnerability. These are excellent reasons to stay put, reading articles and maintaining the status quo. It would be sensible to stay on the tracks.
But if you hear the call for something more, reason alone won’t help you answer. For those for whom a life of mediocrity is insufficient, reason will not fulfill your dreams. Reason settles. Reason concedes. If you’re determined to make this the year you feel motivated and fulfilled, it’s time to get a little unreasonable. Yes, you may need to change your schedule, spend money, find new allies, have tough talks, and push your comfort zone. In the context of a life you love, that’s a small price. Which of these pieces of advice resonates most with you? And what step could you take this week to act on it?
