Change your career path in weeks by creating Atomic Habits!
Last January, you might have been planning to change your career path. Another year has ended, and you are now still stuck in a job that you don’t enjoy.
Did self-doubt, the fear of starting over, or financial responsibilities get in your way?
I get it. I have been through all of these emotions when I decided to change my career path. In the past weeks, I have spoken to 57 people who want to change their career path.
The main thing that holds most people back is not the motivation, but not having a system to take action.
In this blog, I will break down step by step how I used the method from the book Atomic Habits to change my career path.
Let's dive in...
Step #1: Turn your goals into a system
To change your career path, you need to build a system.
The system will remove your doubts so you know exactly what steps you need to take.
Most people confuse motion with action and never make progress.
- Motion: Making a list of people to contact.
- Action: Sending emails and requesting to connect.
Motion is important; it prepares you to take action - but if you stop at motion, you will not progress.
Let's create a system for your goal so you can take action:
- Goal: Change my career path from Marketing to Project Management.
- System: Every Thursday at 5pm I will send 10 networking requests on LinkedIn.
Repeat this for 4 weeks. You will have a network that will give insights so you can take a chance and believe in yourself to make your big move.
Anything that’s important takes time to build.
Step #2: Reshape your identity to follow your system
Now, you have to become the kind of person who takes action.
The way you think about yourself makes a big difference in how much you will achieve in your life.
Spending time to find the best tool will not get you ahead if you don’t take action.
Instead, decide who you want to become and take action to validate that. Let’s take the example of a career change.
- Identity: I am a person who networks every week.
- System: Every Thursday at 5pm I will send 10 networking requests on LinkedIn.
Your ultimate goal is to take action. Build a system to achieve that goal, then create an identity that supports you to take the next step.
Step #3: Build a habit loop to follow your new identity
Finally the last step to make the career change happen is creating your own habit loop.
Even after having a goal, system and identity to achieve what you want, life can get in your way.
Apply this 4-step habit loop that will make you take action and stop procrastinating.
- Make it obvious: Block time in your diary - Thursday at 12pm for networking
- Make it attractive: Play Lofi beats in the background to enjoy the vibes
- Make it easy: First reach out to the person who you know already
- Make it satisfying: Reward yourself with a coffee
You can apply the same steps to create any good habit.
To make big changes, make small steps. Every big goal is achieved by starting small and stacking up in the process.
