Amid burnout and boredom, a whole load of us are pondering a pivot. We’re keen to find work that we actually enjoy, whether that means rejigging our work/life balance, switching jobs, or packing it all in and starting on an entirely new career path. All that change can be exciting, sure, but it’s also scary… and that’s why our latest Stylist Network event, in partnership with Google, focused on the art of making a change. 

We heard from three fantastic speakers about their experiences and expertise in how to make a career pivot, and came away feeling inspired and ready to dive right in. There was so much great wisdom shared that we could ramble for ages about our favourite bits, but to save you from feeling too much FOMO, we’ve summed it up in five key lessons we took away from the evening.  

For many of us, change is bloody terrifying. Any change can unsettle you (it took me days to get over the change to the carton design of my preferred oat milk recently), but it’s even more intimidating when that change is in the realm of work, meaning it carries risks around everything from finances to feeling content for such a large portion of your waking hours. It’s tempting to look at everyone else’s highlight reel and marvel at how brave they are, but here’s a reminder: everyone is going to be nervous about taking a new path. That’s OK. 

“Pivoting is not easy for any of us to do because it requires us to change,” Russell Amerasekera, a coach and the founder of Pearls and Poison, told the crowd. “We’re creatures of pattern, because typically around 60-70% of our psychological makeup is designed to keep us safe. We’re wired for safety.”

Staying put in your comfort zone, in a work situation that’s not exactly what you want to be doing but at least pays the bills, is the safe option. Stepping outside what you know and doing something new is the risky option. Of course it’s scary. 

But it’s so worth it. Russell continued: “Change is so crucial to us as human beings. It helps us learn, it helps us grow, it helps us expand. While it’s not easy, I would encourage all of you to be open and challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, because out of discomfort comes discovery.”

Amerasekera encouraged us to get deep and ask ourselves some big questions to figure out what we really want to do with our lives: “What is it you live for? What brings you joy? Real joy in life? What makes you sad? What do you want from your life in the next three to five years?  Does my work really matter to me? Do I get up in the morning and I go, I really care about this? Does my work truly align to my values? What am I best at? Does my work play to my strengths? Am I truly valued at work? Do I feel validated? Do I make a difference? And what do I want from my work and career?”

If those aren’t enough thoughts to get you started, worry not, because career coach and author Selina Barker recommends asking yourself five more questions at the start of your pivot journey: 

1. In an ideal world, what pivot would you make? 
2. What ingredients do you need to feel happy and fulfilled in the work that you do?
3. What doubts and fears do you (secretly) have about making this pivot? 
4. Who are your cheerleaders?
5. What is the next step you can take to move you forward in your career pivot journey?

One message that kept coming up at the event is that it’s entirely OK if your pivot isn’t sudden, big, and dramatic: you can take your time.

“This is a slow journey,” shared Nadia Shireen, whose journey from sub-editing at Smash Hits to writing and illustrating hugely popular children’s books took multiple years of gradual steps. “We can sometimes look at people who’ve done pivots and think they just overnight did it. That’s not the reality. I had to tell myself it was OK to take my time. Even if you do one thing a day towards a goal, it’s worth doing. It builds up.” 

A major barrier to making a successful pivot? It’s not a lack of skills or experience, but our own self-doubt. Our inner critics – or, as Barker calls them, the inner shitty committee – can be so loud they overwhelm us. How do we turn down their volume?

Barker and Shireen agree: it’s about adding other voices to the mix. 

“What I do that really helps is I imagine my future self, who’s got there,” Barker shared. “She’s my cheerleader, going ‘we did it’, ‘thank you’, and ‘well done’.”

For Shireen, the positive voice takes the form of David Bowie. “It can be easier to externalise an encouraging voice,” she explained. “So I’m a huge David Bowie fan, and I hear the voice of him daily. It works because David Bowie made some great music, but he also made some stinky albums. He kept changing and moving. He made mistakes and he didn’t care.”

Finally, when times get tough, hold on to your inner donkey – that dogged determination to keep going. 

“I went through lots of rejection, years of it,” Shireen shared. “Sometimes the noise would be overwhelming, the rejection would be overwhelming, but there would just be a tiny, very stubborn donkey, going uphill in a blizzard. You have to cling on to that and have faith in the bigger picture.”

Want more advice on how to work better? Sign up for the How To Work email below.

Images: Farheenxo