Overcome Career Change Fear

Knowing you want to change your career and actually doing it are two very different things. What stops most people? Fear.

The prospect of pursuing a new path feels daunting and overwhelming. You end up in the same frustrating cycle – knowing you want to have a more fulfilling career, wanting to make a change, feeling scared, staying where you are, then feeling annoyed at yourself and embarrassed when your friend says, “you’ve been saying you want to change your career for ages”.

Understanding and addressing these fears is crucial to successfully navigating a career transition – let me explain how.

The Realities of Fear

Do you find yourself constantly rationalising why now isn’t the right time to switch careers? Perhaps you always have the same thoughts… “What if I fail?” “What are people going to think?” “What if I’m not good enough?” Or you get so busy helping others, there’s no time to focus on your own career? Maybe your logical brain kicks in to tell you why staying put is the best option, but is it really?

All of this can be fear. It doesn’t necessarily say, I hear you want to change your career but I’m scared. This is why it can often feel like an internal struggle, the uncomfortableness of knowing you want to change but resistance to do it.

Signs You’re Stuck in Fear

Being stuck in fear can show up in subtle ways, these are the most common I see time and again when beginning to work with clients:

• Overthinking: You spend hours researching new careers, but you never take any action. You fall into analysis paralysis, feeling totally overwhelmed. You might consider thinking as something that is helping you change your career, but you end up getting stuck in a cycle that never progresses.

• Perfectionism: You tell yourself that you’ll move forwards when it’s the perfect time, you have the perfect plan or the perfect expertise. You’re stuck in the trap of “when, when, when”, which never seems to come, leaving you feeling frustrated and disappointed.

• Avoidance: You’re always finding reasons to delay starting. Maybe it’s “I’ll start on Monday” or “After I’ve done another course”. This could also show up by you prioritising everything and everyone else over taking steps to change your career. Making a change feels further and further away as the timeline keeps extending. You feel fed up that your New Year’s resolution for 2022 was to change jobs and here you are in the same job years later.

As you read through these, you might start to notice which of them resonate with you. These behaviours keep you safe and away from the discomfort of uncertainty that comes with making a change in your career. But they keep you stuck, not able to progress to the career and ultimately life you want.

When you notice self-sabotaging behaviours or thought patterns, I want you to recognise how this is your unconscious mind’s attempts to protect you. This is often where the frustration can come from because my clients say to me “I want to change so badly, why am I constantly procrastinating!!” Instead of berating yourself, get compassionately curious. What could you be wanting to avoid? What are you worried about? What are you scared of?

Uncovering these, often unconscious, blocks is the key to helping you overcome them and start to make progress on a path forwards.

Recognising the Fear

Fear of change is a natural human response. Our primary aim is survival, so we want to stay safe, anything new and different doesn’t often feel safe. I’ve seen this fear manifest in many various ways and often it can be very specific to your lived experience. Some common fears I’ve worked through with my clients are:

• Fear of Failure: The fear of it not working out in a new role, industry or if you launch a business.

• Fear of Success: Fearing the additional responsibilities, expectations and changes that you believe will come when you achieve your career goals.

• Fear of the Unknown: The fear around being in unchartered territories, whether that is a new role, company, industry or going from a corporate position to being an entrepreneur.

• Fear of Judgment: Fearing that others will judge you, your new role or your decision to change careers.

The Cost of Staying Still

We often focus on the risk of change but what about the cost of staying still. The more you stay in a career that you no longer want to be in, the more resentment and stagnation builds. The more you ignore your inner voice telling you to make a change, the more disconnected you can feel from yourself and your sense of purpose. Consider encouraging a friend to take some time for self-care because all she does is tell you how stressed and burnt-out she is, but she never listens. That frustration you feel is how you can end up feeling when you ignore yourself.

Life can start to lack meaning, and that unfulfilled feeling can seep into other areas of your life, like your health and relationships. As the days, weeks and months (or even years) pass, the gap between where you are and where you want to be grows wider, making the leap feel even more impossible.

Your hesitation to change your career might feel like protection but consider how it might be costing you.

Take a moment to reflect:

1. What does staying in your current role cost you emotionally, mentally or physically?

2. How does your current job impact your personal life and relationships?

3. How do you feel when you imagine yourself in the same role five years from now?

4. What do you think you’re protecting yourself from by not making a change?

5. How does staying in your current role align, or not, with your values, purpose and life vision?

6. What advice would you give to a friend in your position?

Overcoming Fear: A Client Breakthrough

When I first started working with Charlotte, she was trapped by the belief that she wasn’t enough, but she wasn’t aware that was stopping her. Instead, she blamed her procrastination. She worried constantly about what her friends thought of her and often fell into the comparison trap. Deep down, she knew she needed to make a change but already felt like a failure and had no idea where to start.  

Together, we worked on shifting her mindset, exploring and challenging those limiting beliefs. Gradually, Charlotte began to see that her worth wasn’t tied to her job or what other people thought of her. She stepped outside her comfort zone, applied for roles aligned with her passions and ultimately changed careers entirely. Today, she’s thriving in a role that not only aligns with her values but also allows her to live authentically and confidently.

What Needs to Change?

To move forwards, you need to shift the focus from what you might lose to what you could gain. Imagine the life you truly want, not just your career but your life, and reflect on the following:

1. What does your dream life look like?

2. How does it feel to live that life?

3. Describe your ideal day.

4. What career are you in?

5. How does changing to this career positively impact your life?

6. How does it positively impact other people’s lives – those closest to you and the world in general?

You need to challenge the stories you’re telling yourself. The thoughts around what you should do, what’s possible, what you deserve, what others might think. They’re not facts. They’re narratives you’ve built over time and one of the keys to overcoming your fear is rewriting these.

Making this change means moving to something better, but what is better? Defining your version of success and understanding the values that drive you is needed to help you make decisions that align to who you are at your core.

A Common Career Change Mistake

The mistake I see so many people make is focusing solely on changing their behaviours and taking action but forgetting about their mindset. That’s like getting in a car, expecting it to drive, but there’s no petrol in it.

Working with clients, I always advocate a dual-focused approach which can be done simultaneously:

• Mindset Work: Creating a strong foundation that drives you forwards in making a change. It helps you stay motivated to make changes, resilient in the face of challenges and confident to take the leap.

• Practical Action: Building momentum and staying accountable to actually make the change. Utilising what we know about the mind and focusing on a plan that feels easy and enjoyable.

Changing your career is 100x easier when you’ve worked on your mindset.

My Experience Overcoming Career Change Fear

This was my absolute career rock bottom moment.

In 2019, everything was great on paper, but I knew I need to change my career. There had always been a niggling feeling but the lack of purpose, combined with never-ending workload was leading me to burnout, even though I didn’t realise it at the time.

I quit and after a lot of soul searching, I thought I wanted to change from Human Resources and Recruitment to Marketing, it’s what I had studied at University, and I thought if I could work at an agency which worked with charities then I would also be living my purpose of helping others.

I landed a dream opportunity and felt so proud of myself for making a complete shift in my career. Officially thinking I was now a marketing girl! Little did I know….

After the first day of the job, I came home and cried to my mum. I knew it wasn’t right for me and felt I had made the worst decision. I felt even more lost, confused and frustrated with where to go next.

I share this because despite it being my absolutely career rock bottom, it was actually the best thing to ever happen for my career. Doing the wrong thing gave me the greatest clarity around what I do want to do with my life. It led me to starting my coaching diploma, launching my business, helping hundreds of women change their careers. I truly believe if I had gone into an ok job, it wouldn’t have propelled me as much to go after my dream job.

So, as you navigate your career change, I want to encourage you to not be afraid of getting it “wrong”. Sometimes it’s more helpful than getting it “right”.

If you want to hear more about my journey, then listen to my solo podcast episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Encouragement to Face Your Fears

So, as you reflect on this piece I want to leave you with some encouragement.

It is completely normal to feel fear, you are not alone, and you don’t have to navigate this alone.

Although it can feel overwhelming, this is an exciting opportunity to step into a new version of yourself, one that aligns with your dreams, values and purpose.

Don’t let fear dictate your life and control your future. You are worth so much more and you truly deserve an exciting, fulfilling and rewarding career.

You’ve got this!

Want my support to face your career change fears? Find out more or book a free discovery call so we can chat.