Fear is at the Heart of Our Problems in Making a Change - Career Pivot

Fear is at the Heart of Our Problems in Making a Change - Career Pivot Fear of Making a Change I have had numerous conversations over the last several weeks and the common theme has been fear. It is the fear of making a mistake, fear of not knowing what to do, fear of getting stuck or just the fear of making a change. Fear has everyone paralyzed. Fear is the new 4 letter “F” word. I wrote last week about being bold, overcoming your fears and just get moving in some direction. Multipotentialites and Fear Multipotentialites have a lot of interests. They tend to get really interested in one topic, go deep, become an expert and then get bored. They then want to move on to the next thing. I wrote a very popular post on Multipotentialism called Are you a Multipotentialite? When multipotentialitesreach the 2nd half of life and they have not been able to attain career success, fear sets in. Self-doubt sets in around whether they will ever be as successful as they had planned or hoped. I was speaking with a gentleman last week who had attained so many diverse credentials from being a certified project manager to being a certified health nutritionist. He had spent most of his career trying to fit into roles that just did not fit him. He left his last job exhausted after playing a role that he just could nolonger maintain. Most of us become actors at work. Check out my post Are You Your Authentic Self or an Actor at Work? [Updated]. He could no longer continue playing many of the roles that had brought him some financial success. Fear was setting in. He was not sure what direction to take and therefore, he just froze. He quit his job and was taking some time off. The problem was he needed to be free to explore. He needed to understand this will not be a sprint but a marathon and he may head down a dead end. He mayneed to turn around and try something different. Listen to the most recent episode It was the fear of making yet another change. Fear of Failure I grew up with the mantra,Failure is not an Option, which we now know is total and complete BS. Failure is a natural part of life. We learn when we fail but that was not an acceptable option for many of us. I have been working with another gentleman who went to college and studied economics. Why may you ask? He thought he could get a job when he graduated which he did. It landed him in the finance and banking industries. Did he enjoy it? Heck, no. In the last ten years, what joy he got from working directly with customers has gone away to be almost a robot in processing loan applications. The pressure to make decisions rapidly without enough information is driving him nuts. He does not want to change because he fears that he will make less money if he makes a pivot. More importantly… what if he fails? Money has become a straight jacket. He feels he needs to pay for his child’s college education. If he can just hold on for another 5-10 years then he can do something different. That fear of failure and money are freezing him right in place. Change is Inevitable We are experiencing creative destruction at an explosive rate. New technologies are destroying entire industries and job categories every year and at the same time creating new opportunities. Change is not slowing down but accelerating. If you fear the change, then you will be left in the dust. If you embrace the change and look for opportunities to explore new interests you may find lots of new opportunities to shed the actor’s clothes that you have been wearing. You may need to simplify your life. I have written multiple articles and produced multiple podcast episodes on our plans to move to Mexico.Check out the following pageHow to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Serieswhere I am chronicling our experiences. We are now working on getting rid of most of everything, scaling back our lives so that we can live on a third of what we used to live on and at the same time be happier and healthier. I know, I know, you are probably saying that is crazy. You are saying to yourself, “You can do that but I cannot.” I will make a wager that is fear talking. If fear of making a change is freezing you then if you wait long enough you will become the victim of change. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...