I’ve often wondered what keeps some people persevering with their plans, whilst other people give up.  I know 'give up' sounds harsh, as people quite often have  very reasonable excuses for not completing their goals:

• A change in priorities because they’ve started a family
• A dramatic change in their financial position because they’ve lost a job
• They’ve started going out with someone!
• Another opportunity has come along that looks more interesting
• They’ve realised that deep down they didn’t want to do it!  It was something somebody else told them to do.

There are a whole range of reasons why people might not reach their initial target goal.  And I’ve been thinking about this specifically in relation to career change.

Changing career normally takes quite a while.  To move from one line of work to something completely different will realistically take more a few weeks.  You’re looking at months, if not years, of learning the new skills in your new career and gaining the experience to show that you are competent at what you now do.  The initial enthusiasm can dim after a few weeks when people realise the time it will take, how long they will have to live on lower pay, how they are starting off in a new field and have to prove themselves all over again etc.

But there are some people who make it through and flourish in their new careers.  Reaching levels of success and fulfilment that they would have had no chance of attaining had they stayed in their previous work.  What separates these from the others?

I personally believe it comes not so much from their outside circumstances, but from what happens on the inside.  That inner determination that they will make the career change work, no matter what.

On a basic level people have 2 different kinds of motivation:

1. Moving towards something.  So in this context it would be moving towards a career that is more fulfilling, maybe more financially rewarding or has a better work/life balance, than the one you have currently got.
2. Moving away from something.  So this might be moving away from a really stressful job, moving away from a career you find tedious, or looking to do work that you are truly passionate about.

This leads me to the title of this post – Passion over Positivity.  Being a coach I have done a lot of reading and studying about positivity.  Overcoming your negative beliefs by having a positive mental attitude can definitely help you change your behaviour.  Limiting beliefs can really hold you back.  But I just wonder sometimes.  If you’re continually having to be positive and be optimistic about having a successful career change, then is that really going to help you persevere in the long term?

I personally believe that when you follow your passions you’re much more likely to follow through with a career change.  It’s not about being positive and trying to overcome your low mood.  It’s about following something deeper within you that will always be there, no matter what side of the bed you got out of.

When you’re true to yourself and know deep down that this is the ideal career change for you, then despite your external circumstances, you won’t spend time wrestling with negative thoughts trying to turn them into positive ones.  You’ll just follow your inner compass.  Your internal passion will remain undimmed and you will deal with the external facts as they present themselves.

Recently I’ve been going to the new Meet Up “Introverts Do It Differently” (www.meetup.com/introvertprofessionalnetworking/) hosted by Sonia Assfalg.  Being introverted myself, I was immediately drawn to the title of the meet up group.  And I also noticed that quite a few members quickly joined in the first few days.  It had obviously struck a nerve not just with me but with others as well.

My first thoughts were centred around exactly what an introvert is.  Sonia directed me to an excellent article by Beth Buelow at http://bethbuelow.com/2011/07/12/can-being-an-introvert-help-you-overcome-shyness/ which explores the differences between Introversion and Shyness.  Beth describes shyness as cases where people are holding themselves back from joining in with other people because of fear.  But once this fear is tackled, then they will integrate themselves much more freely.  Whereas an introvert wants to spend time on their own, not because they’re afraid to join in, but because they need a break.  They need some solitude to recharge their batteries.  Constant noise and excitement can be exhausting to an introvert and they run the risk of being extremely drained if exposed to it all day long. 

I think Beth’s distinctions hit the nail on the head quite succinctly.  I also believe that society does generally favour the extrovert.  People who are quieter can often be portrayed in less flattering lights, e.g. they are timid, or wallflowers, or indecisive.  The extravert doesn’t have any of these failings because they are go getters and make the world dance to their tune.  They say it how it is and are fearless.  I do think that any issues and fears that may be causing someone to hold themselves back and give their all in certain situations should be examined and hopefully overcome.  It’s no fun having a life ruled by fear.  But if someone is introverted and merely has a natural preference for some solitude every now and then, then I don’t see this as a problem that needs to be ‘fixed’.

One thing I noticed at the meet up’s is that as introverts we didn’t necessarily fit the stereotype – we’re not all quiet like mice.  We can actually talk!  And we do have opinions. In fact, without any declared extraverts around, I think we quite enjoyed having the space to open up a little bit.  As one attendee noted, without an extrovert hogging the conversation, we were all able to network really well and work in an extremely focussed manner.  I’m not arguing that introverts are better than extraverts.  Merely that it is a different way of behaving and shouldn’t necessarily be classed as the ‘wrong’ way.

Whether you’re introvert or extravert is something to be considered when examining your career.  Which work and environments would you be more suited to?  A point I raised, which a couple of others agreed with, is that as an introvert I really don’t like working in noisy open plan offices.   I work best when I have a bit more solitude.  That’s just my natural preference, what I’m more naturally suited to.  And that should be an important consideration in any career choices I make.  So when you’re thinking about the work you’d love to do, don’t just think about the actual work itself.  What workplaces and work cultures are you going to naturally get along with?

I came across a new term the other day – “Weisure”.  This is the term used to describe time that used to be considered non-working time, e.g. catching the train to work in the morning.  More and more people are using that time to do work related activities.  It’s not officially work time, but these days a lot of people spend it looking at emails on their Blackberrys, or doing work on their laptops.  It’s not classified as work hours, but it’s no longer just leisure.  It’s a cross between the two - Weisure.

The technological developments we have seen over recent years have helped blur some of the boundaries between work and non-work time.  In the days before mobile phones, or pagers, you simply weren’t contactable when travelling to work.  You wouldn’t have been able to check your emails, let alone respond to them.  That would have waited until you got to the office.

Reading about this raised a couple of points for me.  The first one is.....how have technological developments affected your industry?  What implications could they have for your job role?  The work I used to do in legal admin (in Intellectual Property), used to be work that you could only do in the office.  You had to have physical files of correspondence, have your post handed to you, get people to sign off forms so they could be faxed off etc.  But working online has changed so much of that.  Forms can be submitted online, not requiring that someone physically be present to sign them.  Your post can be scanned onto the system and emailed to you, rather than physically be handed to you.

This had implications for my employability.  As the work could be done by people online, then they didn’t have to be situated in England to process the work.  An office abroad could do the majority of my role, but at a much cheaper rate.  Look at the number of call centres that are now based in India.  The work doesn’t need to be based in the UK, so for the business concerned it makes more sense to take their call centres to somewhere cheaper.

So, looking at the technology advances and requirements in your line of work, what effects is this having on your long term employability?  This is a question worth considering when making your long term career plans.

Another point which arose from the whole weisure talk was quite simple.  If people are spending more and more time working and less time at leisure, then doesn’t it make sense to do work that you are energised by?  With the state age of retirement rising and people needing to work longer to fund their retirement years, then it’s more important than ever to make the right career choices.  Do you want to be in your 60’s doing work the same work that you have done since your 20’s, which you find exhausting?  If your leisure time is increasingly reduced by your work time, then how long can you perform properly when the work you are doing is draining you?