The one constant to life is change. That can be said about a person's career and professional success, as well. Although the term "transition" has been largely associated with the military community, every successful professional experiences at least one major career transition.
In fact, some of the largest career transitions have nothing to do with changing industries. Instead, it has to do with changing your role in an industry. Transitioning from a customer-facing contributor to the corporate office is a massive change. Similarly, transitioning into a leadership role can be just as daunting. In fact, accepting a position performing the same role in a different company can also be a significant transition due to corporate culture.
Without embracing change and transitioning from one industry, position, role, or company, you are not only becoming stagnant in your personal growth but also your career and financial well-being, as well. Most people forego the opportunities to learn, grow, advance and earn more money to simply stay in that same comfortable seat due to their fear of transition.
In the military, I learned how to become comfortable transitioning from job to job, role to role, and command to command. In the military, it's easy. It's called Orders. :-) Every 18 months to 36 months, the US Navy completely changed my professional world. Usually, the only constant in a new set of orders were the uniforms.
The trick that I used to overcome the discomfort of transitioning was a mind-set. Every transition has what I call the "Three Weeks of Suck." The first three weeks of any major change will be challenging. Even POSITIVE change requires at least a three week transition period! I remember moving into a much nicer corporate office and disliking it for the first three weeks because it was unfamiliar.
Knowing and accepting that my life would be turned upside down for three weeks put finite bounds around my transitions. Instead for thinking "this change is going to be awful," I could mentally put bounds to the amount of awful by thinking "this change is going to be awful for three weeks." I would then consider previous "awful" periods of my life that I transitioned and it gave me confidence. "I made it through (FILL IN THE BLANK), the next three weeks will be nothing." As a Navy veteran, I had a stack of things to "fill in the bIank!" :-)
For entrepreneurs, transition must be a way of life! Stepping away from a "job" to the great unknown of entrepreneurship or pivoting your company in a new direction...again and again...can be tough! However, it can also provide a lifetime of exhilaration, profession growth, tremendous personal satisfaction, and financial success! So what's three weeks of suck when compared to that!
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