The Paralyzing Fear Of Being Stuck And What I learned From Changing Careers
Feeling stuck in your career can be paralyzing. Let’s be honest though. Feeling stuck in any situation is terrible. For me it was in my career. You might be thinking, “Big deal. You changed jobs! Lot’s of people change jobs.” I didn’t just change jobs. I completely changed worlds or so it seemed.
I was a church planting pastor and had been full-time in ministry after graduating from college in 2006. I went to college and went on to earn a master’s degree all for the purpose of full-time vocational ministry. Then I decided to transition into the business world. So how did I make the jump from one career to another?
-I Had Responsibilities
I couldn’t just make the leap without thinking through my responsibilities. I had a wife, three kids (ages 6, 4, and 2), mortgage, car payment, insurance, and of course a dog. All of these responsibilities meant I needed to have an income to support them. Just because I was frustrated where I was in my career didn’t mean I could just jump ship without thinking about all of the responsibilities I had. So I had to take some small steps.
-Take Small Steps
The first thing I did was begin talking to people I knew. I started with my network. I emailed, called, texted. You name it and I was trying it. I was putting feelers out with any person I knew. I did all of this while still keeping my same job. This gave me the freedom to explore my options one small step at a time. At some point though I had to go all in. I couldn’t just keep taking small steps. The steps had to get bigger leading me to go all in.
- Go All In
I took the plunge and informed all the people around me I was shutting down the church plant in one month. This is when it became real. What would I do? Where would I work? How would I support my family? All of these questions plagued me over and over again.
It was during this time I began talking with a startup scientific research and development company about coming in and helping run the daily operations. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for me. It was also the perfect timing. If I would have inquired about the opportunity earlier it would not have been available. If I would have inquired later the opportunity might have been gone. About two weeks after we shut the church plant down I started full-time with the startup scientific research and development company.
So what did I learn through this whole transition? Even though I felt paralyzed by the fear of the unknown — I did something!. I didn’t wait.
What about you? Just start with these examples:
- Talk to people.
- Ask people for advice.
- Reach out to your network.
In my experience most people were willing to help in some way. They might have sent an email for me, made a phone call, sent a text, but they did something. Don’t wait until you have a limited amount of time to make something happen. Start with one small thing and move on to the next.