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JANIENE CHAND
Making Aligned and Empowering Choices
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ou’ve made the decision to transition your career, now what…
First up, ask yourself these two powerful questions:
1. Do you know what it is about the current career that does not work for you? 2. Do you know what career will work for you and why? When you make the choice to transition your career, you are choosing to make a change. A change that comes with many mixed emotions. A change that feels exciting but scary at the same time. A change you know you need without potentially knowing what you need or how you will meet your needs. Career transitions are often made by individuals when feelings of fulfillment and satisfaction are missing from their current career. This is why self-awareness and self-discovery are so important. Without knowing yourself and what you need or want, it is difficult to make changes that will be fulfilling and meaningful. You need to understand what it is about your current career that does not align with you so that you can make empowering choices and take actions that are in alignment. So how do you achieve alignment? To have alignment, you need to know and understand your personal core values. Identifying your personal core values is the first step.
Once you know them you are able to explore what values you prioritize. And from there you can identify how you can take actions and make choices that are in alignment with your values. This includes asking yourself if any of the values you believe to be yours are actually internalized through others around you, such as your parents, and what each of your values mean to you. For instance, work-life balance can be an important value but what it looks like to you may differ from what it looks like for someone else. Let’s bring empowerment into this mix. In order to feel empowered, you need to identify and work through your limiting beliefs. Ask yourself if you have any beliefs that are not necessarily true, beliefs that are limiting. For instance, do you believe that things always go wrong in your life? Is this actually true, or are you just telling yourself this story? It is not until you realize that you are telling yourself these stories, that you can actually begin reframing your mindset and building confidence in yourself. Additionally, you must know and understand your boundaries so that
you can hold them firmly and recognize when they are being crossed. Ask yourself what your boundaries are in relation to your career, and whether or not they are healthy boundaries. For instance, being unable to decline work due to the thinking that it will leave a negative impression on your colleagues, even if it requires you to work overtime which is misaligned with your values, means you have unhealthy boundaries. Knowing and understanding your boundaries helps build confidence. Once you go through this process of self-discovery, you will have more self-awareness. You will have clarity around your desired vision for your career. A vision that makes you feel empowered and aligns with your authentic self. It is important to take the time for a deep dive, to reflect on your wants and needs. To ensure that your career transition is a step toward the desired vision you have for your career. By having clarity and awareness around yourself and your vision, you can confidently make the change you desire. You can proceed with confidence as you go through a career transition. So instead of wondering whether or not you have made the right decision(s), you are confidently making choices that feel aligned and empowering.
Janiene Chand is a former lawyer, certified professional coach, and founder of Janiene Chand Coaching, a life and career coaching business. linkedin.com/ in/janiene-chand-43b52b164 JUNE 2022 / BARTALK 25
