The New Year can Spark a Career Reinvention

By LEAH EICHLER via The Globe and Mail
Dec. 14 2012

Last week, a New York cab driver looked at me in his rear-view mirror and asked me if he should leave his wife. Travelling from mid-town Manhattan to downtown during rush hour gave us plenty of time to discuss his relationships issues and the merits of staying versus leaving. My parting advice to him came down to this: Life is short, so be happy.

I wasn’t surprised by his question, or that he put it to a stranger. There is something about having a new year in sight that makes people want to explore life’s possibilities, both personally and professionally. I also realized this new year’s effect – in which we crave reinventing ourselves into something better – influenced my own career decisions. For example, last year I made the leap from the corporate world to the life of an entrepreneur. I set the stage for that transition two years ago at this time.

“The New Year gives us permission to have a fresh start,” said Lesley Parrott, of Lesley Parrot Consulting, in Durham, Ont., which focuses on executive consulting and corporate training. She recounted that in her native Scotland, everyone cleans their houses for the new year, and it’s a symbolic time to clean other parts of your life as well. Some turn to gyms while others focus on their professional lives.

Unfortunately, embarking on a major career change remains more complicated than cutting out high-calorie muffins. The impact on your financial security and relationships can be paralyzing.

Susan Ziebarth, an Ottawa-based business and career coach, said many women of the women she works with place a lot of emphasis on how their career change will impact their loved ones, including their spouse and children, their parents – even their family pets. This leads the women to wait until they hit a breaking point in their work life that feels unbearable. Read full article>>