Avoid the 3 most common career change mistakes…

Career change can seem like the scariest thing since cliff diving. But if you’re sitting at your desk and you’re disgusted with your job you might be tempted to accept the first job offer.

As many people leave their jobs to pursue work they love, there are still many who wander around, cheating themselves out of the opportunity to have a great life by repeating these mistakes over and over again.

If you hate the direction of your career and you feel just plain stuck avoid these costly mistakes. I’m going to show you how to avoid these mistakes and make your career change as painless as possible.

These are 3 of the most common (and avoidable) career change mistakes and the solutions to make your transition as easy as possible.

Mistake #1 – Not Researching Your Ideas for the Career change.  I’m sure most people get more than 15 ideas in their adult lives. What do you do when you get an idea? For most people stuck in jobs they hate, they dismiss the ideas they have as impractical, unrealistic or too costly. So what do you do with those ideas?

Solution – Start an idea journal. It could be as simple as making brief reminders on your mobile phone or as complicated as an actual notebook. But every time you get an idea make a note of it. Then, dedicate part of your day, say 30 minutes every day to do the research to determine the viability of your career change based on the ideas you collect.

Mistake #2 – Not paying attention to what you really want. If you’re going to change careers, pay attention to what you want your life to look like in the future. It seems rather silly to change careers and end up in the same predicament that led you to change careers in the first place.

Solution: Make sure your career choice respects your values and the activities you enjoy. Make a list of the activities you currently enjoy in your present career, the activities you enjoy outside of “work” and then what you want your future work day to look like. Whatever you describe in those lists will definitely point you in the right direction.

Mistake #3 – Being impatient. Discovering which career path is the right one takes time, energy and effort. After all you just spent over a decade in a career you hate, are you really going to know what you want to do for the rest of your life in one day?

Solution: Make a commitment to yourself to make the career change. That’s it. Self imposed time limits sabotage your chances of success. You’ll say “I’ll give this 6 months and if it doesn’t work, I’ll go back.” What you’re really saying is “I’m not totally committed to this so I’ll just dip my toe in the water”.

This kind of thinking opens the trap door for quitting before you reap the full benefits of your time, energy and other investments. It also reveals your impatience. Just say you’ll do it. This language is more confident and inspires you to persevere until you have the career that supports the life you dream of.