Navigating Career Transitions: From the Inside Out

Leaving a career and changing course brings a rush of feelings—heartbreak mixed with disorientation, possibility intertwined with risk. As the familiar rhythms and routines of work come undone and you let go of the future you imagined inhabiting, it can feel profoundly unsettling. It can cut to the core of your sense of yourself, your place in the world.

Yet, the uncertainty opens up a liminal space. It creates a juncture to return to core questions about yourself and your work in the world. If you embrace the liminality and turn towards these questions, you could reorient your life to a way of working you hadn’t conceived of before. I want to share a process I use in coaching to help you build a new pathway for work, from the inside out.

A Method that Flips the Script

Many people begin transitioning out of a career by asking: “What else is out there that I can fit into?” This often brings a wave of self-doubt and overwhelm. The process I use begins with a different question:

‘What is within me that I want to tap into and place at the center of my working life?’

Artwork: Dilshanie Perera, PhD

When I ask my clients this, sometimes they find it hard to articulate. It is here that the process of discovery begins. If you run into this, you could begin with what doesn’t work, asking: What feels draining and alienating at work? The things that deplete you provide valuable clues. If you listen for why, it contains the seeds of what needs to be altered to create a different experience. Alongside this, I suggest a parallel exploration of a second set of questions:

When do you come alive at work? What are your skills and what comes effortlessly to you?

What gets you into a state of flow? When are you propelled by excitement and curiosity?

What gets in the way of feeling this flow at work?

With this last question, my clients describe a range of external barriers, institutional and systemic, which get in the way of working in alignment with their values. We also uncover internal ones: inner landscapes contoured by individual and collective histories that inform how they see themselves, that shape the possibilities they hold for themselves.

Here, we do our deepest and most tender work. We listen to the competing voices inside and parse their true desires from social scripts they follow in search of recognition and belonging. We find that unless these stories are reworked, they can change jobs, earn more money and promotions, and still carry the feeling of inadequacy, the sense of being an imposter. If you experience this, gently ask yourself: to rewrite these narratives, what do you value in yourself and your life that you need to prioritize and honor?

A Life that is Yours

This inquiry paves a path to a different working life. I want to share what I have seen. As my clients lean into their own uniqueness and prioritize their interests, they experience a steady movement from alienation to its opposite–congruence. They act in ways that are grounded in this sense. They say no to things that do not serve and can articulate to others why. They assess what is in alignment and draw boundaries. They see the surprising power of doing so. As they choose to honor what they value, a quiet confidence builds. Suddenly, there is more time, less overwhelm. New collaborations form and they cultivate communities where belonging requires no compromise in congruence.

I have been amazed by what I have seen. The working life that results is one in which they feel at home in themselves. The work is not only meaningful, it is expansive–it shows them possibilities they hadn't anticipated. It is not static, but dynamic. It moves them forward. Often, the lives they make don't follow a script. They set up creative, quirky structures that work for them. When we look back, we realize they made something unforeseen, as it was created through an ongoing discovery of their inner desires and an infrastructure they built in collaboration with others to realize these desires. My own experiences from creating work that returned me to myself after leaving the academy have been mirrored in my clients journeys.

Artwork: Dilshanie Perera, PhD

The changes this brings are powerful and extend far beyond work. As my clients move towards work that suits the lives they want, they meet obstacles, encounter their limits, and find a host of new skills to cultivate. In working through these limits, they transform. Their horizons of possibility expand. This journey, of course, takes time. It is messy and unpredictable. Like any creative process, it is a process—one that brings deep healing.

If you are on a path to change your career, I invite you to approach the transition with this simple question:

If you are on a path to change your career, I invite you to approach the transition with this simple question:

What is within me that I want to lean into?

It opens a different door to finding your way to work you truly love–from the inside out.

*This article was originally published as a series of posts in the World of Work blog by the Career Readiness Commission