Brian Tracy walks through six steps to switch careers: figure out what you hate about your current job, test the new one before committing, build a concrete plan, manage your finances during the switch, gain skills through practice and networking, and leave on good terms.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about how to change careers, one of the most important subjects you ever learn in your whole life. Be open and warm and welcoming to advice and help and anything that can help you to catch up, grow and find happiness as quickly as possible. The average person will have between five and 10 different full time, multi year careers over the course of their lifetime and you have to be very skillful at choosing those careers and maximizing them. Now, whether you feel like you are lacking purpose at your current job or find yourself in the same job you thought you'd only be in temporarily, People change. We spend a lot of time in our life working, so it's important to enjoy the work that you do. If you're looking to change careers to better align with your personal goals, lifestyle mindset or work preferences, here's how to do it. First, identify what you do and do not like about your current career. When looking to change careers, it's important that you don't move to a new job that has the same qualities as the old one that is making you unhappy or dissatisfied. To help avoid this, be clear about why you're looking for a change both to yourself and future employers in order to make sure you're not going to find yourself in the same position soon after you take a new job. In this process. Also outline what you do like about your current career and keep that in mind when looking for a shift. Remember that no job is perfect. Everything has its ups and downs, but you want to make sure that the ups outweigh the downs when looking for your next opportunity. Second, be 100% sure about the career that you do want. The grass always seems greener on the other side, but it's important that you actually get down in the weeds and make sure that you really want the new career that you're chasing after. Ask friends and family and your network of colleagues who are in that career about their feedback to hear personal experiences and gut check any impulses. Try working on mock tasks your ideal career would have you do to make sure you enjoy the work and that you're not just theorizing everything in your head. Many people I know have actually gone to work in a new career for free for a few days or even a few weeks to see if that's where they really want to spend the next few years. Many people have found that after a few days in a new career or new job that this is not for them and the time to figure that out is before you get into it, not afterwards. Third, create an action plan to follow through on your goals. You can spend hours and days dreaming about your next big move, or you can actually go after and accomplish your goal of changing careers to something that makes you truly happy. To do this, create a step by step action plan to help hold you accountable. My 14 step goal setting guide is a great example of a tool that can help you to create your plan and it's at my website and it's completely free. The fourth step of how to change careers is to create a budget in addition to your action plan. Remember that at the end of the day, we work in order to provide for ourselves and those we care for. So one of the scariest things about changing careers is making sure that you can financially support yourself and anyone else you care for. Help make sure that you live within your means by adjusting your budgets as needed. Identify activities, monthly memberships and other expenses you can put on hold for now if budgets are tight. Try to stay in your current career until a new one comes up or until your income is safe enough that you can take a break to focus full time on career changing. My fifth tip for how to effectively change careers is to get as much experience in your ideal new career path as possible. Practice makes perfect if you're switching careers, it's likely that you don't have as much experience in your new chosen path as in your previous one. So in order to be successful and enjoy your career change in the most ways possible. Use your free time to hone in on skills, certifications, education and other things needed for your new career path. Again, network with others currently in that career and get their feedback on anything you should know. Sometimes just asking one or two questions of someone who is in the new job you're looking at will change your thinking completely, either positive or negative way. Finally, make a graceful and humble transition. Just because you're moving on, it doesn't mean that you need to burn bridges. You never know where you're going to be in the future or what connections you'll need. So when it comes time to make the big switch, do so with enough time and a polite attitude. Offer to help transition your role within a reasonable capacity so that you don't leave your existing employer in the lurch. Then, when it comes time to start your new career, be open and warm and welcoming to advice and help and anything that can help you to catch up, grow and find happiness as quickly as possible now. I love to hear from you. So my question today is what are the top five things you want from a new career, from an ideal career, from the perfect job for you. What are the Big five? Write them down. Think about the traits from your current career that you want to keep and which ones you want to leave behind. Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future, take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about how to change careers, subscribe to my channel. Like this video and share this video with your friends. 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