Why a Career Change Doesn’t Mean Starting From Scratch

Episode 7: In this episode, I break down two of the most common myths that stop people from pursuing the career change they truly want.

First, I’ll unpack the misconception that changing careers means starting from scratch and explain why you’re actually building on a foundation of valuable experience, transferable skills, and personal growth.

Then, I’ll tackle the sunk cost fallacy: the belief that walking away from your current path means you’ve wasted all the time, energy, and money you’ve invested. You’ll learn why this thought error is not only untrue, but also counterproductive  and how reframing it can make the difference to being open to new opportunities. 

If you’ve ever felt stuck between your current career and the one you really want, this episode will help you see your past not as wasted effort, but as the launchpad for your next chapter.

Connect with Dana:

Website: https://www.danastevens.com/workwithme
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dana_stevens_coach/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danastevens1/
Free Coaching Consultation: https://calendly.com/danastevens/initial-coaching-chat

If this episode resonated, follow The Career Change Studio and share it with someone who’s feeling stuck in their career.

And if you’re ready to design a working life that truly fits your needs and lifestyle, book a free clarity call at https://calendly.com/danastevens/initial-coaching-chat

Special thanks to @Lou_Greenaway_Music for the piano composition and performance.

Transcript

Hello, I'm continuing  a mini series here on the podcast where I bust some common myths about changing careers - I am actually tackling two today. 

One is this idea that I’ve invested so much in this industry, job, career or company already that moving would be a waste of all that time, effort or training.

I’m going to address why that isn’t actually true - its sometimes called the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ -  so we’ll explore that in relation to changing careers.

And the other one is this idea that when you move sideways or change your career - you are going to have to start from scratch. This is a really pervasive idea and it  holds lots of people back. So we’ll start with that one.

For most people, when they get to midlife and they decide that the job they are doing now is no longer working for them… even just the idea of having to start again can seem exhausting and overwhelming and a reason to not even pursue a change. 

So let’s talk about that today - because the thing is you really won’t be starting from scratch - even if you do something completely different. 

I’m going to explain.

When we think about starting from scratch, or starting again in our careers - for most people our brain goes back to this younger version of ourselves - you could have been just 18 or 21 -  when you first started in the workplace. We didn’t know how things worked - most of us were learning things about our industries at the same time as technology was evolving rapidly - so we were learning about sending business emails, - even how the internet  - workplace tech systems - as well as whatever technical knowledge we needed for our roles.

We also had to navigate the politics of a workplace - understanding hierarchies and the social or cultural norms of our industry, 

And We were working on our own emotional intelligence - how to develop relationships in the workplace, how to deal with being managed or managing others, how to handle praise, criticism… or even the lack of feedback. 

So if you think about everything you had to learn at such a young age, you can probably connect back quite easily to that feeling of feeling overwhelmed, clueless… maybe even scared because you didn’t know things

At this is what our brain likes to suggest might happen to us if we make a change - we’ll go right back to feeling as lost as we did when we first started in the world of work - as if we’d be facing this huge hill to climb with all these new things to learn in front of us.

But the reality is that when you change careers in midlife - you are not going right back to starting from scratch, and not knowing - you are STARTING FROM A PLACE OF EXPERIENCE.

You’ve already learned how most of the basics of technology works - even if you still have more to learn, you’ve got an awareness of workplace politics and you’ve developed emotional intelligence and resilience that is going to help you whatever you go on to do next.

So it will be different changing careers at this point in your life because YOU are different. You are no longer the same person you were in your early twenties. You have so much more experience, strengths and skills that you will be bringing with you! You will be bringing it with you - more on that in a moment when we talk about the sunk cost fallacy.

And this is true whether you are side-stepping into another job where your skills really will translate across to another industry and it’s also true even if you retrain and do something completely different.

As an example, when I re-trained to be a coach after leading a strategy team in advertising I was moving into a completely different industry. Not only that but I was setting up my own business - something I had never done before.

But I wasn’t starting from scratch, I was starting from experience.

So many of the skills that make me a great coach have been forged in my previous careers - listening skills that have come from years of working with others, communication skills developed by working with people across so many industries and at different levels of seniority, presentation skills I developed when pitching or selling ideas to clients….

I’ve just been developing skill sets I already had and finessing how I use them within the coaching environment

Many of the things I’ve needed to make it as an entrepreneur are about me building on personal qualities and strengths I have developed throughout my corporate career - emotional resilience, tenacity, getting stuff wrong and going again…..

So while I was starting my business from scratch - in terms of my capabilities I was starting from experience. I really do want you to think about what this means for you as you will already have so much experience, so many personal qualities and so many strengths that you will be bringing with you to whatever you do next.

And this will give you a headstart even if you are starting something new.

Lets say you are going to completely retrain - like one of my clients who has moved from an account management role in Marketing to retraining as a carpenter - they had to learn the basics of carpentry. And alongside some college learning, they secured an apprenticeship…and this doesn’t have to be starting from scratch either.

If you think about an 18 year old doing their first apprenticeship in carpentry and how much they have to learn alongside the technical aspects - they have to learn about communication, workplace etiquette, building relationships, talking to clients in a professional way etc

………. And then you think about my client, making that change in midlife - they have already got excellent communication skills. They are already really comfortable talking to a client directly about what they want or they have the skills to handle client requests for changes or even a difficult conversation or conflict. They know how to build relationships with colleagues, they understand about progression and hard work.

In mid life you are also typically coming into a new job with the knowledge that you are someone who has had some level of success in the workplace, you are building on your self-concept of someone who can achieve things in the workplace.

I would like to offer you this, that thinking about the fact that you are going to be starting from a place of experience can be transformative.

This is because of how much what you think affects what you feel and ultimately do.

If you think “I’m going to have to start from scratch’ - typically this can make you feel unmotivated, despondent, heavy, overwhelmed and this might mean that you procrastinate and don’t take any action at all  - because you can’t see the point -  or you limit your thinking to only options that are really close to what you are doing now so you never see the potential of what is possible.

Whereas if you think “I’m starting from a place of experience” you are much more likely to really build belief in the value that you will be bringing with you to another role. And by focusing on what those skills and personal qualities are you are more likely to keep your options open and explore a wider range of ideas.

It will also give you more confidence to try something new, knowing that you already have some skills that are the foundations you are building upon.

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And this leads me on to the other myth I want to bust, and that’s this idea that “If I change careers now, everything I’ve already worked for will be wasted”

This comes up a lot from people - especially if you have spent years or even decades training in something - becoming an expert. I’ve worked with nurses and teachers who talk about spending years increasing their knowledge in their chosen field and it feels like a waste to walk away. But you could be feeling like this in any industry - you could have done lots of professional development or have invested lots of time or money keeping up to date about your industry.

You might find the idea of leaving that behind difficult - even if that job or industry is no longer working for you, or is no longer a fit… or worse, it is making you stressed or ill,

As I mentioned at the beginning, there’s even a name for this - it’s called the Sunk Cost Fallacy.

The definition of this is “a phenomenon where a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be beneficial”

This applies to small things - like carrying on reading a book that you are finding really boring or watching a terrible film, because you think you’ve already invested time or money it it… but scales all the way up to life decisions, like if you’ve made a bad financial investment…essentially throwing good money after bad

It’s a thought error, our brain thinking that it is doing the right thing and trying to protect us when ultimately it is actually misinterpreting the information.

So firstly, we wnat to be aware of it. Is this is what my brain is doing? Trying to tell me that it will all be a ‘waste’ - in inverted commas - even though if I carry on things may get worse for me

Typically the term ‘a sunk cost’ relates to something that is gone, thatyou’re not getting back - but we want to shift our thinking here and not just keep looking backwards at our past and instead really stay future focused. 

Ask ourselves - does this continued investment of time, money or effort help me create the future I want?

If I’ve redefined my goals, or if I want to set new ones, does this help me achieve them?

What are the actual outcomes if I stay on this work path that isn’t really working out for me?

Also when we’re thinking about careers, it is strictly true to think of time, effort or money that you invested in yourself as ‘sunk’ i.e. something that you’re not getting back. Because the good news about what you do next is that you take you with you! You will have learnt things about yourself, have developed life skills, communication skills, cognitive functions, emotional advancement because of what you’ve done that will be translatable into a new role. 

All of the things you have learned have changed you or helped you grow in some way and you get to take that better, stronger, more experienced version of you into your next role.

You take your value with you from one role to another. Also you never know when those skills, knowledge or even specialist technical skills will be valuable again. Here’s an example - when I left my first career in radio - I was sad that I wouldn't get to edit audio again. It was a part of the role I really enjoyed - and I spent a long time learning how to use editing software.

And I had no way of knowing that so many years later I’d be using those exact same skills to edit my own podcast! 

But even without a direct technical use of your skills, it can be helpful to think about what you’ve learnt about yourself in previous roles.

My  ability to learn new skills in my previous careers helped me to think “I’m good at learning new things” so when I was thinking of retraining to be a coach or setting up my own business - I thought, yes I can do that. I have evidence that I’ve learnt new things in the past, that I enjoy it and I like to master things.

So this is what you can think about this week, if you’ve been stuck in a loop thinking about how much you will be leaving behind, how much you have already invested in terms of time or money in your current or previous career - instead I want you to reframe that in your mind and ask yourself these questions

• What have I learnt about myself from doing this career?
• What did I spend lots of time learning about? What else can I take from that learning experience that could be useful in my future?
• If I don’t make changes, would I be continuing to invest time, effort or money in something that isn’t really working for me? Does that make rational sense.
• What personal qualities do I have now that I didn’t have at the beginning of my career?
• What strengths do I have now that I will bring with me into whatever I do next?

That’s all for this week, continue to think about the place of experience that you would be starting anything new from.

Bye for now