Curate the Future

Feeling frustrated that you're not coming up with any answers to the big career change questions? When it feels like trying to squeeze water from a stone, here's the antidote.

Career change clarity often feels like two steps forward, one step back. When you're excited about an idea and then you find out it will take more than you expected to get there, it can feel like sliding way backwards. But you're actually still going forward.

When Kaitlyn Casso worked in marketing, she found a passion for photography when she took that on as part of her role. Later, after spending a year looking for a new marketing job to no avail, she felt she was trying to force a career to work that she no longer wanted. She decided to take a chance on her new passion and now she's an independent brand photographer (and much happier!). The dots in her story connect in a way she couldn't have predicted, but she says sometimes we have to be patient with letting the answers come to us over time - they aren't instant.

Have you ever set arbitrarily ambitious goals for yourself, then felt like a failure when you didn't meet them? High achievers tend to make things really hard for themselves, and be tough on themselves for not measuring up to their own standards. Why is that?! We've become suspicious of things feeling too easy, but sometimes the answer isn't doing more, it's doing less. 

In her 30s, Vanessa Awong decided she'd had enough in her finance career and decided to become a doctor while also starting a family. "Let's just say yes and figure out the rest as we go," she told herself, and that started her new path. With four years of commuting out of town, it wasn't an easy road. She's an M.D. now and has thrown some creative projects and consulting into the mix, because why not? 

"How do I get from here to there?" is the million dollar career change question. Sometimes you can get there in one big leap, but lots of career changes happen by strategically hopping between a series of lily pads. Here's how to know if you can make a shift in 1 move or if you need to lily pad hop, and real life examples of what hopping looks like.

Alejandra Molina is co-founding a language learning app, currently focusing on medical Spanish during the pandemic. She doesn't have a tech background, but believes in figuring things out with a willingness to learn, to find inspiring mentors, to see value in all of your previous experience, to put imperfect ideas out there and get feedback. "Take everything calmly," she says, noting a venture capitalist's advice that each VC would give different feedback based on their own backgrounds. It's a good reminder that when everybody and their uncle has an opinion on our professional goals, we have to be careful about who we listen to because everyone's opinion is based on their own backgrounds.

Overthinking is a thing, but so is underthinking. We dwell on some career change questions to the point of overthinking, and we skip over the useful questions by underthinking. If you find yourself drawing a blank, here's how to know which it is and what to do instead.

Claire Simeone is a marine veterinarian and 2018 TED Fellow who started her own conservation-focused company, Sea Change Health. She has carved her own way through her field by following subtle clues. In our chat she describes how she learned to listen to those sparks: by separating her self worth from her career, and by separating fear-based anxiety from anxiety provoked by deep misalignment between our careers and who we really are. 

As a coach I tend to hear similar themes in the fears and objections potential career changers have. We can take those thoughts as signals that we are weak and inferior, but they're often actually just behavioral economics at play. Here are 5 ways the difficulties of career change can be explained by behavioral economics. It's not you, it's your brain.

Thalia Patrinos found that being a teacher just wasn't for her. She knew she loved writing, and after a chunk of time feeling frustrated and confused about what was next, she pursued a science writing degree and today works at NASA. Thalia's message as a career changer and creative writer is that rejection is an inevitable part of the process and not something to be discouraged by, and that a "sort-of-but-not-quite-right" role can turn out to be the right move. (It's also possible that her fire dancing hobby may have helped land that NASA gig, so you never know where your hobbies can lead.)

Career change prompts a lot of lofty questions about what to do with our lives. As a coach, I find people are more blocked than helped with questions like that because they have no "right" answer and they make us freeze with existential angst (enter: indecision, inaction, general freaking out). Here are 3 examples of common questions career changers ask themselves, why they don't get us anywhere, and what to ask yourself instead.

Teresa Carey was a sea captain for years, and while she still owns a related business, she decided eventually to make a shift. She talked to other people about their careers and became a science journalist. One of the most frustrating challenges for career changers is getting new employers to value their previous experience, and that's what Teresa faced. It took a creative thinking company to value her previous experience, which has been invaluable in her new field. Still, it's a work in progress, and as a multi-passionate person Teresa is confident she'll change careers again in future because there isn't always one all-fulfilling path.

How do you know if you're ready to take the plunge and pursue a career change when there is, in fact, no such thing as being 100% ready? Those who pull it off have a few things in common in how they approach it. If these resonate with you, you might be more ready than you think. And if you're not there yet, it's ok  - you'll see what might need to shift first.

Natalie Wong quit her job as a software engineer when her health started to suffer. After being a stay at home mother for many years, she thought, "Let's see if I can start my own business." And so she did. At Pepsoap she makes natural soap by hand. She created the business out of a drive to just see what she can do and for the personal fulfillment of the growth that comes along with learning how to make it happen. Natalie talks about finding her own definition of success, giving herself permission to change careers - including again in the future, and how focusing on ease and simplicity helped her DIY her way to figuring out how to start the business.

Sometimes, there's nothing left to think about, talk about, or analyze. When we're stuck, it can come down to this one question.

When she got out of the Air Force, La Toya States went through a divorce and period of homelessness while she tried to find her way. She's a writer and a poet at heart, and today she's a writer and editor at the Marine Corps with creative endeavors on the side while she pursues her doctorate. La Toya is open and honest about how difficult the climb was to get there, and that it was her belief in herself and her belief in a better future that kept her going, one step at a time, until she got to a happier place. 

As people start to demand more from their careers, a lot of us are searching for passion and purpose which are, for most people, frustratingly elusive. I don't think they're bad things to want, but we sometimes need to shift how we think of them. If you're struggling to find passion and purpose, here's a perspective to help you see it from a different angle and start getting some answers that can lead you in the right direction.

Georgia Barnett pursued her plan to become a biotech researcher, only to find she didn't like it. During her time off to figure things out, she mostly went in circles, trying to find a new path in science so that her previous efforts wouldn't be wasted. She says it all felt so hard because she was forcing something that wasn't right, and instead she decided to go for something that made her happy even though she didn't know what it was. So she launched a new direction without much of a plan (read: scary), and through following one step that led to another, she found herself in an unexpected career that she loves.

Our thoughts, emotions, actions, and results are more closely connected than we often realize. When we see how they fit together, it's clear how much of life starts in our minds and how much can change if we take charge of our thoughts. This episode follows the recent one on cognitive distortions to show how those distortions fit into this pattern, for better or worse. If there's one thing that can help you pursue a big goal and change your life, it's understanding this cycle and learning to take charge of your mind.

Jing Jin was a computer scientist at Apple who had the itch to explore the world of startups. She started - and let go of - her own company, and is now at another startup. She talks about the identify shifts that come with pushing ourselves to try new things, dropping the "shoulds" that keep so many of us playing it safe, how ideas that don't work are simply part of the process for a creative person, and she's learned to endure - and welcome - failures. 

Career change or starting a business are not easy, but the human mind makes things harder by filling our thoughts with cognitive distortions. Just because we think something doesn't make it true, and we don't question enough what we're thinking. So today I'm showing how common thoughts most anyone has about career change are actually 10 kinds of cognitive distortions. If you know what steps you could take to pursue a business or career change, but you're not doing them, there's a good chance that cognitive distortions are at play.

Engineering is not usually a field thought of as a second career chapter, right? Mel Butcher went back to school to become an engineer after earning her first degree in language and working in government. Imposter syndrome and misogynistic views of women in STEM were some of the hurdles she encountered. But Mel focused on her belief that she could just learn what she needed to learn, and she wants to share that message with other women who want to take on a big career change challenge.

The new year - especially this one - is a time of reflection and looking back at where we've come from and where we're going. Here are some thoughts on being mindful of where you put your attention, and focusing on your excitement about future possibilities.

Sometimes the path unfolds through a series of saying "yes" without always knowing where it will lead. Nicole Papaioannou Lugara was working as an adjunct English instructor when she took a new job as an instructional designer. Now she's a freelancer - something she thought she'd never do - with a career she couldn't have imagined years ago. She shares her story of how she got established, including how she went from doubtful about the idea to being fully committed, and how making that commitment was the turning point for things to take off.

Rachel Kois is the founder of SimpleSwitch.org, an online store selling products from companies making a positive social or environmental impact.  In our chat Rachel shares the ups and downs of getting a social impact business going in 2020, suggestions for getting a mentor, and a reminder that periods of doubt or low motivation do not mean you're not good enough. 

If you feel like you're on the cusp of making a decision about your next professional direction, but still not...quite...there...you might be in the group of people who actually do know what they want but have a hard time admitting it. Three sneaky things might be going on. This is the third part of the mini series on stages of clarity. 

How would it feel to work your tail off, only to find that in the end...it still wasn't enough? As a political fundraiser for female candidates, Zee Cohen-Sanchez has worked on headline-big congressional wins. She has also redefined failure - even when the outcome isn't what we'd hoped for, success can be found in the doing, not just the done. Shifting perspectives on failure isn't easy, but it might be the key to finally going for what you want.

Being a multipassionate person feels like a blessing and a curse, right!? It's great to see lots of possibilities for yourself, but it can also be frustrating to make a decision when you're spinning in circles, wanting to do everything and finding it hard to choose. Everything seems like an option, yet nothing really stands out. Here are 5 things that can keep multipassionates stuck and what to look out for to finally get some career change clarity.

For Virginia Mendez, what started as a side project to write a children's book, while working in corporate, led to starting TheFeministShop.com, an e-comm business based on her passion for feminism. She shares how the idea has grown into something bigger than she would have predicted at the start. Hear her advice for those who are thinking of starting their own business, especially if you're concerned that there are so many other people already doing what you want to do.

For many people, career changes start in a place where you know you want something different, but you have no idea what it is. It's a hard place to be (been there!) and we want to get out of there quickly. But resisting it makes it worse, so here are some ideas for how to approach it without pressuring yourself to come up with the perfect idea right away (hint: pressuring yourself also makes it worse).

Wendy Leung went from graphic designer to project manager to now acupuncturist and holistic health practitioner. She shares how following her intuition helped her recognize the right path when she was searching for something new, and guidance for how to reconnect with our intuition when we feel blocked and the "shoulds" have taken over.

So often, we're waiting until we feel more "ready" to pursue our career change goals. Sometimes that does make sense, but very often it's a sneaky way of protecting ourselves from moving forward in spite of fear and uncertainty. Life hardly ever hands us a "right time." You've just got to do the thing anyway. Here are 3 ways to move forward when you don't feel ready.

We tend to think of self-care as separate from the steps we need to take to start a business or change careers. Wellness entrepreneur Amanda Lee shows us how self-care is actually an integral part of it. On this episode we chat about how the two fit together, and how to get started without our high-achieving, perfectionistic selves getting overwhelmed with feeling like it's another thing we "should" be doing!

On the one hand, we feel excited about starting a new chapter. On the other hand, we're scared witless to go after it. Fear and excitement are two sides of the same coin, and one of them is going to win. But the good news is that you don't need to be fearless.

Kaylie Simmone knows how to reinvent. She closed her first business to start her second, and even though that second one was wildly successful she reinvented again. She describes how this new chapter was like coming home to herself, but only after a long time of feeling "in between" and not knowing what was next.

We all know that feeling of being stuck, but sometimes find it hard to articulate what's really going on. Here's one way of looking at what it can mean to be stuck and how to sort through it.

Jackelyn Dacanay is a digital marketing and branding consultant and the founder of The Art of Fate. She has carved her path every step of the way. She shares how her freelance career came about through creating opportunities, as well as how she iterated her way to finding the right business model for The Art of Fate.

Knowing what drives you and having a clear "why" for what you're pursuing will help you get started and persevere.

Nagina Abdullah is a powerhouse who started her business on the side. She chats about her early days, including the steps she took, ways she needed to push herself, how she approached learning how to start a business, changes she had to make, and what kept her going.

We want a change, we want to quit, but we also feel overwhelmed or scared by them at the same time. Let's chat about how to look at these in a new light and how to manage the conflicting feelings we have about them that make us hesitate to leave a situation that isn't working and pursue what we want instead.

Janine Wirth shares how she came to the decision to change paths after a successful sales career. She talks about how to identify what we want and how to know who we are when the little everyday traumas we all experience have blocked us from clarity.

Most of us are trying to find clarity about what business or path to pursue by thinking it over endlessly (which is normal!) but it usually lands us in analysis paralysis. Here's a quick intro to using a Design Thinking approach to getting clarity. 

Rachael McBay and her family were on track to live the life they had been striving for, when unexpected events took her on a new path and eventually to starting her own web design business. Rachael shares about the major identity shift that came with transitioning from her corporate career to striking out on her own.

We all want to know what are passions and purpose are, but it can all feel pretty elusive for many people. It might be that we need to think about it differently. In this episode I cover the 4 myths I see most often that keep us stuck, and the truths about it that will take the pressure off.

On this episode we’re chatting with Sarah Yasukochi, who went from a marketing career in big corporate to starting two businesses. She shares about letting go of control to discover her next chapter at 40, and the roles of self-trust and trusting in the process. 

As more of us seek meaning and fulfillment in our work lives, we are trying to "find" our passion, our purpose, our callings. But what if the "finding" approach is tying us into existential knots because we're treating our purpose like a needle in a haystack? It's time for a new paradigm. It's time to create your path and purpose, not find them. This concept is the foundation of the podcast. It reflects real life and will show you that you don't need to find anything - you'll create it all as you go.

Welcome to Curate the Future! In this quick intro, Sumayya shares the 3 things that helped her go from stuck to professionally happy, and how that has all become the basis of her coaching work today and for this podcast. After years of trying to "find" her passion and purpose, like so many others, she came to believe that these are created, not found, and that there are beliefs and patterns keeping us from going for what we really want: new careers and businesses with success on our terms. It's time for a new paradigm, and she's on a mission to help as many multi-passionates as possible forge their own path with passion and purpose.