Turning Life Transitions into Great Success
Not long ago I came across this photo of my sweet horse, Diamond. He’s been gone for a few years but is never far from my heart. Seeing his picture was like hitting the rewind button and I was face to face with a former iteration of myself.
Have you ever looked back on something you did early in your career and wondered, “What in the world was I thinking???”
20 years ago, after completing my doctoral coursework at Columbia University, I “threw my hat over the fence”, quit my job as a director of learning development at Fidelity Investments, and moved 2600 miles from Boston to Arizona. Then, in rapid succession, I found Diamond – my dream horse, bought a house, and started my consulting practice in leadership & organizational development.That’s the curated story I share with others, and all of it is true.
What is equally true is that this transition was also terrifying, lonely, and challenging in ways I never imagined. Within the first year, Diamond had a severe colic episode that required a life saving, several thousand dollar surgery. My primary client cancelled a major project. I was under pressure to complete my doctoral research and write a dissertation. Single, at the time, and navigating a new state on my own, I deeply missed the support of my tight-knit community back East.
Lessons on Transition Success
I admire my younger self’s bravery and optimism, but I really wish she had the tools and resources to have made this transition both easier and successful sooner. Here’s what I would tell her today:
- Accept help from others sooner and see this as part of your success.
- Learn from and with others instead of comparing yourself to others.
- Trust your intuition on your vision for the work, and have the right people around you to make it happen.
- Hold direct, clear conversations you know will help you and others, and do so faster and with care and kindness.
- Be more flexible on the “how” things should look, work, and unfold.
These tools and resources stem from what I’ve learned through my personal experience, my doctoral research on how people learn to make successful work/life transitions (yes, the irony is not lost on me), and working with thousands of leaders navigating changes in organizations. What came next has both surprised and inspired me.
The Evolution of a Side Hustle
Over the years, people have approached me for coaching support for personal transitions outside their organizations. I treated this work as a side hustle and enjoyed helping people through a range of work/life transitions; shifting domain areas, becoming entrepreneurs, taking an “explore and define” approach to what their next work/life phase could look like.
Listening to so many brilliant humans ask and answer the question “what’s next for me?” has been some of my best and most enjoyable work. This year, inspired by the encouragement from trusted clients, colleagues, and partners, I’m moving “transitions coaching” from a side hustle to a core part of my consulting practice. I suppose you could say my transition work has transitioned!
Transitions coaching started as a “passion project” for me, but the more I dig into this work the more I realize how necessary it is. There are a lot of highly qualified individuals who have a vision for “the next thing” in their mind but can’t quite figure out how to get from here to there. I say this to assure you that if you are one of these people, you are in very good company. The bullet points at the beginning of this blog are yours for the taking – use them as motivation, a starting point, a roadmap for your journey. Great things are waiting for you on the other side of the leap!