Ready for Career Transformation? It's Time to Cross the Gap

“When shifts and transitions in life shake you to the core,
see that as a sign of greatness that’s about to occur.”—Anonymous

In the course of making a career shift to a new career role there is a gap. This place of transition is referred to by William Bridges, author of “The Way of Transition,” as the neutral zone.  Seth Godin, author of “The Dip,” calls it the dip.  I call it the gap. Whatever it is called, it is the space where all sorts of ups and downs transpire during the quest of transformation. 

In this space, reactions range from celebrations to you being disappointed.  It’s a combination of mixed emotions that can have you feeling jubilant one moment and the next asking yourself, “What the heck am I doing?” “What was I thinking?” and then wanting do an about face to what’s familiar.  And it is all good, even the breakdowns.  Breakdowns can become breakthroughs.  They are building blocks to the magic of being on your right career track.

There are times in the gap where resistance to change and/or learning can seem insurmountable.  That’s natural.  

Moving into unfamiliar territory, where the gap resides, offers you the opportunity to test your commitment and perseverance to your career quest.  For example, it is important as you take on something new, you will be making decisions as to what to let go of that is no longer working or in the way of your career transition. It could be a habit or even a past career identity that’s keeping you stuck.  Letting go makes room for new possibilities and opportunities.

The gap over and again will challenge your grit.  Transformation doesn’t happen overnight.  It requires your desire, commitment, planning, action and mastery of growth in self-leadership through the journey.  But if your quest is worth it in the long-term, then the short-term growth within the gap is worth going through.

The gap is the space where you may quit a dozen times, but if you quit due to resistance to what’s being asked of you, you will continue experiencing the same pattern of quitting.  You are meant to evolve.  It is your nature to be the extraordinary person you are being called to be and do.  

Arnold Bennett, said to be the J. K. Rowling of his day, as well as an influencer in politics and culture, admitted that: “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”  

In his career transition he was scheduled to go to London to become a solicitor’s clerk.  However, it is not unusual while in the gap that concurrently there is more than one career possibility that will occur, as it did for Arnold Bennett. 

One of those possibilities was a career as a writer.  As synchronicity would have it, there was a literary competition being held at the time of his career search.  He won and never looked back!  He found what he was meant to do.  

If you are going through a career reinvention and find yourself meandering through the gap, keep the course to being true to your heart’s desire.  Once you do life becomes less stressful and you look forward to getting to work either as an employee or entrepreneur.

The point of a transition is to transform from what is to creating opportunities from possibilities that may have seen unlikely to happen.  By following through on the challenges and not giving power to the doubt and fear that transition can bring, your true power and potential will guide you to your next career.

My wish for you is:

“Be all you can be
Doing what you love while
Living an extraordinary life"

 

Theresa Maria Napa, CPCC, LOACC
Career Transition & Leadership Coach - Speaker

Copyright Theresa Maria Napa 2018

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