Remember all the goals you made in January?  How long did you stay with them, this year?  At the start of the year, there’s always a renewed sense of discipline to change in all the ways we ‘know’ we need to.

• lose weight
• spend more time with family
• exercise more, eat better
• get passed old resentments
• figure out what to do with your life

A list like that is always such a tall order. No wonder we are pretty much back to the same old same old by April!

Fire your New Year’s resolutions

Figuring out ‘what to do with your life’ seems to be high on the list. What if we fired this New Year’s resolution?  We declare, “NO MORE!”  No more making meaningless gestures on change that we may not be ready for. No more setting ourselves up for too much change all at once.  No more regrets about not being able to choose only one career path. What if we just let go?

Our high-tech culture loves achievable, fast-paced, and income-driven business. We love to be busy and on our phones and making progress. We are obsessed with doing something and making things happen.  Plus, we want it now!  There is good that comes from accomplishing great goals – nothing wrong with good-ole American hard work!  It’s just when the hard work (or dare I say overwork) replaces depth and direction, we are left feeling disappointed rather than satisfied.

Does production alone contribute in a way that helps us sleep better at night?
Does our contribution every day at work add value to the things we value?
If the answer is no, we may want to change our direction. So, instead of making our grand claims for change and then posting it on Facebook, only to embarrassingly never reach our ambitious goals… lets just go straight to change, one step at a time.

Start with what you want to do

Start with something you want to do instead of things you loathe. For example, start researching articles, studies, or organizations that you value instead of updating your resume.  Or have dinner and drinks (if you do that) with a close friend to talk about what they have always thought you’d be good at. Let the new ideas soak in awhile before you jump into EVERYTHING-MUST-CHANGE-NOW mode. My vote is to slow down before you speed up to make sure where you are headed is where you want to go.  How awful to reach your destination only to find out it wasn’t worth the race. Here are 5 ideas of fun, achievable, non-humiliating, you-can-do career goals to replace the ones you haven’t yet started:

1. Give up on trying to ‘stay ahead’
2. Have dinner with a friend to dream about a new career
3. Research organizations you’ve always wanted to work for
4. Journal or write down what you liked to do as a kid
5. Say yes to something new

Then, after you’ve had the fun, call a career coach so we can help keep you motivated to do the rest… like updating your resume and creating your master networking plan. There’s no doubt that changing careers is hard and challenging in many ways. So start the new year over, by doing what you want – and make sure ‘fun’ is on your to-do list.

Think.Inspire.Change.Grow