 To your second half transition
Do you feel some dissatisfaction in what you are doing?
Whoever in middle age, attempts to realise the wishes and hopes of his early youth invariably deceives himself. Each ten years of a life has its own fortunes, its own hopes, it own desires. Goethe.
When you consider the pattern of your work life to date, did you notice the time when a job was perfect, fitting your dreams and aspirations? And then something changed and the job became boring or stopped being the same challenge or feeling or satisfaction? You may have tried to re-engage with the job, taking on more responsibility or finding variation in what you are doing. Yet, you continued to experience the lack of enduring satisfaction; there you were, in transition. As the quote above suggests, your development pattern is one of letting go of old dreams and work and embracing new ones.
This transition state may have come upon you slowly or unexpectedly, perhaps through a redundancy or job termination. Constant change to meet competitive situations, or acquisitions or mergers means that organisations may be in semi-permanent states of transition. For you as an employee this constant change may mean that your career is also in a semi-permanent state of transition. In a cultural environment that celebrates innovation and creativity our workplaces strive to respond where nothing is firm, nothing is the same.
How do these transitions appear?
Your career is developed through a series of stages. Perhaps you started in an apprenticeship or graduate position and progressively worked through the promotions and opportunities available to you. This career may have been at one work place; more likely while you have held onto the same career you have worked at a number of organisations and workplaces. How you moved up or out or across your workplaces may have been influenced by a transition.
For example, a medical practitioner or professional may be focussed on developing his or her expertise in their thirties and forties, and then reaches a stage where the technical challenges no longer have an attraction. This dissatisfaction may emerge over a period of time, but at some point you wrestle with what your current work means. Is that all there is, you may ask yourself.
What can you do to manage a transition successfully?
Ask yourself two questions:
1. What is it at this time that I need to let go of in my life?
In transition, the first step is to let go of what is holding you, of keeping you from thinking about or working on what will bring you meaning and purpose for your future. Usually people may think that transition is about planning something new, not letting things go. However, until you finish with what you have been doing, new ideas and focus may not succeed. Until you let go, you are holding on or doing what you have always done. Make space for the energy and enthusiasm that will support you working through this transition.
2. What is going on in my background that I want to focus on for my future work?
The trigger for this transition may be an external event or an internal drive for change. It may be a contact from a long lost friend about what they are doing that offers you an opportunity to look at what you are doing also. Whatever the trigger, notice what is happening and listen to the idea or dream that has emerged.
These two questions represent the approach to the transition you may find yourself in now. What is it that you need to let go (the ending) and what is being offered to you (new beginning)?
How do I know I am in transition?
Many life span researchers have suggested that there are multiple ‘crises’ or stages that we all experience throughout our lives. Bridges (2004) suggests that the number of periods of crisis does not matter. Rather you accept that adulthood offers alternate states of expansion and contraction, change (instability) and stability.
Consider, write down your thoughts and feelings and spend time answering these questions:
A. Are you dissatisfied with your current work?
B. Is this work coming to an end and what word or phrase could you use to describe this time?
C. Imagine you are 90 and looking at your life to date – what perspective from that time helps you look at the opportunities for career change or job prospects now?
Can you work through a transition on your own?
Are you ready to journey through your transition? Ready to face the ending of something that once had meaning? Ready to be a neutral zone while you work out what is next? What if help were available to work through the transition stages leading to a more purposeful career or job?
Contact us for a complimentary consultation to focus on your transition. We work with you to discover what you want for your life as you grow and develop. It will be the best 30 minutes you spend to get started on leading the life and doing the work you want.
References
Bridges, W, 2004, Transitions: making sense of life’s changes, 2nd edition, DaCapo Press, MA.
© 2009 Helene Strawbridge, All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Second Half Success material in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read: By Helene Strawbridge of Second Half Success. Please visit Helene’s web site at www.secondhalfsuccess.com.au for additional articles and resources. (Make sure the link is live if placed in an newsletter or in a web site.)
|
