Taking a Leap of Faith: Changing Careers

I recently connected with someone who has made a very big life change in order to chase her dreams and become something, someone, she has always wanted to be.

In one of her emails, she described her change as a "Leap of Faith", and it occurred to me that making changes such as hers are not just about faith, but about the commitment behind the leap itself.

If we are to truly succeed we must know what it is we really want from life, and to give to life, in order to know when we have succeeded. Goals must be defined and focused upon; we must know what steps need to be taken, on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis in order to reach the end result. We must allow ourselves the ability to adapt and make changes when even our most well thought out plans fail to serve our goal, our direction changes and we continue forward.

There is so much happening today that is positive and more importantly, the proof that anything is possible. Today, a new president took the oath of office, and a new era of hope, change and inspiration has begun. As I listened to the new Presidents inaugural speech, I was inspired by his words. His speech spelled out the values of a country, set forth to us centuries ago, that still hold true today. The fact that his was standing where he was is the proof that the founders of this country did in fact, get it right.

Something else happened in my life today that has made me realize that when opportunity presents itself, we must first recognize it and then seize it for all that it is worth. My oldest son is struggling with his job, unhappy with what he is doing and unsure of what it is that he wants to do. At this moment his opportunity is that he can make a change.

For Christmas I gave him the book, "What Color is Your Parachute?" When I bought it for him, I bought myself one and have been reading it. I am up to the part about creating a "Flower Chart", which is an exercise of putting onto paper your values, your talents, your idea of what a dream job would be, a dream life would be, and then figuring out how all those things could tie to together and give you a starting point, direction to take in order to reach your goals.

As we talked about this, I could hear the skepticism in his voice, even the rolling of his eyes because he doesn't quite understand how important it is to know what it is that he really wants before he sets out looking for another job. If he just goes out and gets another job, he'll be in the same boat as he is in right now. Maybe not immediately as learning something new and meeting new people can be exciting, but eventually as he realizes that this new job is not fulfilling a desire, a goal or creating his dream life, he will become unhappy and start searching the help wanted ads again.

All I asked of him was to just take a day or two and write down on paper what his current skills are and what kind of job or career he thinks he would like. I asked him to write out specific tasks that he would like his dream job to entail, what would he like to be in charge of or responsible for on a day to day basis? Would he like to travel, be outdoors or in an office? Does he want his job description set in stone or one that presents new challenges and changes as situations arise? Does he want to be the one solving the problem or taking directions?

About two weeks ago my husband sent me an email, an essay of sorts written by Zig Ziglar, titled "Set Your Goals, Change Your Life & Celebrate!" In it, Mr. Ziglar says to Dream! Let your imagination run wild with everything you want to be, do or have. This is what the new President spoke of today; this is the conversation I had with my son.

What are your dreams? Take out a sheet of blank paper and write or draw them out. These are your dreams, there are no wrong answers. Spend the next two days, or more if you need adding to this list or page in written form or drawing it out. If you feel the need to add details, then by all means, do it.

You are preparing yourself to take a leap of faith. By knowing exactly what it is that you want, you are creating the commitment to the jump and with it, the success of reaching your goals.