A change in direction begins with a different choice. Photo by Matteo Massimi / Unsplash
Sometimes we find ourselves in a dead-end position, with little room for career growth. Let's just say, for the sake of this writing, that's true for you.
Why is it we keep expecting a different destination while traveling on the same track?
This is the part where you say that making a change is big and scary. Yet it doesn't have to be.
I worked with a leader recently who realized that the mindset he brought to work each day wasn't helping him move in a better direction.
He brought his old baggage, his old wounds, just in case he needed them. Even his previous responses were right at the ready, shaped by memories of frustration and pressure.
Without another way to handle new moments, he kept reaching back into those bags because it was familiar, comforting, and almost automatic.
But he began to recognize how much pressure he was carrying into situations before they even unfolded.
Why choose pressure when I could choose ease?
He made a commitment to himself to choose ease.
Not because the work would suddenly become easier, but because he didn't have to bring the same pressure into every new moment.
That was his way of laying new track.
Laying new track doesn't necessarily mean starting a new career.
Sometimes the track keeping us stuck isn't our career path. It's the familiar way we interpret and respond to what happens along it.
