It's called Tuesday...

It’s called Tuesday…

I was working with a client recently who was trying to navigate the transition from a traditional 9-5 job to a life she had been dreaming of. She wanted to go out on her own and apply her talents in an environment she created, one she gave life to and nourished on her own terms. She wanted a life where she was in control and worked for herself. One that allowed her to live her passion, feel joy, and find balance.

One of her fears involved not having paid holidays anymore. With options swirling around her and a major life change on the horizon, she was concerned about how she would fill out a time card that wouldn’t exist anymore.

I heard her. I heard her not just because I’m a coach-I heard her because I understood where she was coming from. I, too, had made the transition from the traditional to the road less traveled. I leapt from a 9-5 to a business owner and I remember the stage she was articulating. The fear of the unknown. The clutching to the world you know and the one are comfortable in. Her known world was paid holidays, mine at that stage was direct deposit. I couldn’t understand a world where money didn’t magically get deposited in your account by a brick and mortar institution every other week.

My client’s paradigm was about to shift. A paradigm shift is defined as a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions. This kind of shift often accompanies a life change. We reviewed the reasons she wanted to change paths. Reasons that included a need for flexibility, having control over her schedule, and achieving balance.  

We managed her fear by normalizing it. My answer to her was-you can still have that-it’s just called Tuesday. What if-what if you got to choose when you took a paid holiday? What if the holiday lived when you wrote it on your appointment book instead of when it fell on an institutional calendar? Then, the holiday is called Tuesday. That simple-it’s just Tuesday.

5 Ways to Embrace Change

1.       Understand that Change is a Process. Most people who are unable to successfully change simply just don’t know how to change. They don’t see change a psychological and behavioral process. Learning about change as a process can help you be successful.  

2.       Acknowledge a Paradigm Shift. Approach change with the assumption your paradigm may shift. Take time to think about the ways this may happen. Talk to others that have made a similar change, get a coach, or find a trusted person to process with. A sounding board can help normalize and challenge some of the  current assumptions you have.

3.       Prepare Those Around You. Change isn’t just scary for you, it can be scary for those around you. Take some time to prepare those around you while you are preparing yourself.

4.       Don’t Let Fear Take Charge. It’s ok to be scared. Change is scary, one of the scariest. Be scared, but be in control. Remember how amazing-and brave-you are for tackling change in the first place. #walkhard

5.       Visualize Your Success. Instead of focusing on all of the little details between you and your dream-imagine yourself as successful in the dream. It’s the little details that can stop you up. Look beyond them-deal with them, but look beyond them as well.