One of the best decisions I’ve ever made

A few years ago, I made the decision to make a career transition.  Now if you are reading this and are like most people, including me.  This can be a scary proposition.  Let me tell you, it doesn’t happen over night. However, once you make a decision and have thoroughly mapped it out, including deadlines, then it is up to you to make it happen.

The first leg of this career transition started four years ago. This first leg required me to spend a lot of time doing free shit.  I am just going to call it what it is.  The free stuff I did required me to spend my time and my money, because time is money. Doing stuff that I didn’t get paid to do.  I did that for about a year, before I was then allowed to get paid for what I was doing.

Lesson #1: Be willing to do some free stuff for a while until you get good enough to actually get paid for it.

Keep in mind, I had been doing the same thing for the same company for about twelve years. The first first two years of the career transition I spent a lot of my free time trying to learn the new skill that I was trying to develop.   This required nights and weekends and it also required me to do things that were really uncomfortable.

Lesson #2: If you really want to get out of your comfort zone, do something you have never done before. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Now I am up to the third year in that career transition.  This was the year of really getting myself way out of my comfort zone. The first two years was really all preparation.  In this third year, I was now implementing what I learned, getting paid for it, but again, knowing in the back of my mind that this was all preparation for something that was to come still.

Lesson #3: If you truly are looking for a new result, you are going to have to do something totally different.

This fourth year, I made the decision to pull the band-aid off.  I made the jump over into this new position, this new career.  The career transition was finished, but really it was just beginning. I am now doing what I wanted to do full-time at this time.  I was no longer doing anything on the side of my full-time job.  This new career was now my full-time job.

In this fourth year, I learned a lot that I didn’t really know about this new career.  It was more than just a learning experience, it was a total game changer on so many levels. I was out of my comfort zone hourly.  I was learning now at a much faster pace, and it was fun and scary at the same time.

I am now at year five from that decision; year two, full-time in this new career and I am learning more now than I did in my first year.

Let me ask you, what have you been thinking about doing for a long time.  Or let me ask it another way.  How long have you hated what you are currently doing?  Or how long have you been tolerating what you are currently doing?  Because of the money?  Or because you don’t know what the next step is?

Hey, I am only five years removed from one of the best decisions I ever made. And like you, I had a lot of money on the line.  A lot of my ego and pride associated with what I had always done.  None of that matters though.

What matters most is being excited about what you are doing. Working for something bigger and I would go as far as saying for me; working for myself.

You are just one decision from making one of your best decisions. Will you do it?  And see it through?

To your success and your future.