The hidden first step high achievers overlook when deciding their next career move
Figuring out your next career step is a part time job on its own.
You have to pause and reflect on what’s not working in your current role and what you want out of your next step.
You have to think about whether leaving now is really the right answer, or if you should stay where you are till the next milestone.
You have to talk to people — mentors for advice, peers for informational coffee chats, friends for brainstorming and support.
You might want to do some quick experimenting to test potential next steps before committing to something.
Then once you’ve chosen a path, you actually have to network and apply and get referrals and prepare for interviews…
And often, this whole process can open up an existential can of worms:
What are my goals? What are my values?
What am I even trying to DO in my career?
Am I good at anything?
If you’re lucky enough to be able to take a sabbatical…
Or brave enough to quit without having your next step figured out…
Then you have plenty of time to do all the things I just listed.
But if you’re trying to figure this out while still working your full-time job…
Then here’s the crucial first step you need to take, that high achievers almost always overlook—
You need to create a downshifted
operating model in your current job…
In order to create the time and
headspace to figure out what’s next.
You need to take one hand off the monkey bar you’re currently holding in order to reach for the next bar.
I know you don’t want to take BOTH hands off the current bar and drop into the unknown, hoping you’ll grab the next bar on the way down…
But you also can’t keep both hands on the CURRENT bar and then wonder why you’re not making any progress toward what’s next.
You have to downshift where you are — one hand off the bar — in order to reach for what’s next.
I know you’re used to giving 120% in every role you’re in.
I know that giving any less than that feels so against your nature that it physically sets your teeth on edge.
(I’m this way too.)
But you can’t give 120% AND figure out what’s next.
There’s just not enough time in the day, or enough bandwidth in your brain to do it.
You’re probably feeling this, as you tell yourself you’re going to make progress on the “what’s next?” question this week…
But then the “what’s next?” tasks keep getting pushed and pushed, in favor of the fire of the week at work.
And you deserve to do full justice to getting clear and confident on what’s next.
You are the only one who is in charge of your career.
If you drop a task at work, I guarantee you, someone else will pick it up and things will get figured out.
If you drop your career planning, no one else can pick it up for you.
If you downshift a bit at work, things might go slower by days or weeks.
A poorly thought-out next step means at least a YEAR or two of you being stuck in a role you’re not that excited about.
Work will take as much of you as you will give it.
No one is going to tell you to de-prioritize their requests and focus on yourself.
(They are only going to tell you the opposite 😂)
So if you don’t consciously create and implement a downshifted operating model in your current job…
You are going to be swept up in the current of everybody else’s requests…
And you’re going to pick your head back up a year from now, wondering why you’re still in the same place.
So what does that downshifted operating model even look like?
That’s the first thing I help you figure out.
Come talk to me, and let’s get clear on exactly what you need to do to figure out your next career step.
And then let’s figure out how to create the time and space for you to do it, without making everyone at your job mad at you.
(I promise you, you have WAY more room to downshift without pissing anyone off than you think.)
And then, let’s fill the extra time you’ve created with THE most high value reflections, conversations, and experiments.
So that you can get clarity, conviction, and momentum on your next career step as fast as humanly possible :)
I’ve done this so many times for myself and for my clients.
I know I can get it done for you too :)
So come talk to me, and let’s get started.
Book a free consult call at the link below, and let’s chat.
What my clients have to say…
“Pretty immediately, I was able to break through the decision of whether or not to leave my job.
I was able to see: Staying at my job is hard. Looking for a job is also hard. Which hard do I want to sign up for? Because being here in limbo is not productive.
I was also able to rewrite the story of what had happened at my current job in a way that gave me more confidence and started to untangle some of the emotional turmoil I had with that.
And then I recruited for and got my next job and got comfortable moving forward with that as my next step.”
—Client | Early-Stage Tech Startup Director turned Design Consultant
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