“People don’t like to hear it, but it’s a choice”

By my late 20s, I was managing a team of nine people at the Barcelona branchNiederlassungbranch of Autodesk, a US software development company, where I was working as a global data analytics manager. I had experienced very rapid career growth, but I was feeling burned out and depressed.​

My aim was to get a director's rolePosition in der Geschäftsführungdirector’s role as quickly as possible, as that was my definition of career success. But one morning, feeling anxiousunruhiganxious and worried about the day ahead, I realized I hadn’t thought about what success really meant to me. I’d just to internalize sth.etw. verinnerlicheninternalized what others understood it to be.​

Something wasn’t right, but if you just change jobs without understanding what you truly want to do, then you’ll end up in the same situation again. So, I did some deep inner work with a coach. To increase my confidence and deal with my impostor syndromeetwa: Hochstapler-Syndromimpostor syndrome, I also did a coaching certification to learn some tools and strategies to help myself.​

During this journey, I realized that I wanted to start my own coaching business to help people who were feeling exhaustedentkräftet, erschöpftexhausted and depressed by their careers. The people themselves weren’t the problem. They just weren’t in the right environmenthier: Umfeldenvironments.​

I to lay the foundationdie Grundlage schaffenlaid the foundation for my coaching business first. So often, we want instant results, but then, we just to set oneself upsich niederlassen; hier: die Voraussetzungen schaffenset ourselves up to feel miserable. Instead, I set myself a goal. By January 2022, I wanted to have started my business. I made sure my student loanDarlehenloans were paid off and that I had savings in the bank. Before leaving my job, I got the certifications I needed, set up my website and started building my LinkedIn presence.​

Social media is so important because people come into your world. It’s a living résumé (US)Lebenslauf, Vitarésumé of who you are, your background and what you believe in. People connect with that. I also reached out to people in my network because there was already a level of trust there. Then, once I had a number of positive testimonialReferenz, Empfehlung(sschreiben)testimonials, the growth outside of my network to become organichier: sich von selbst entwickelnbecame more organic.​

It comes down to releasing fears

I’ve learned that it’s important to to take ownership of sth.die Verantwortung für etw. übernehmentake ownership of your decisions. Before starting my own business, I’d always had someone in a position of authority — my parents, a professor or a manager. It to come down to sth.auf etw. hinauslaufencomes down to to release sth.etw. freisetzen; hier: loslassenreleasing  fears and to take the authority backhier: wieder Eigenverantwortung übernehmentaking the authority back.​

For anyone thinking of making a career change, I’d recommend the book mindsetDenkweiseMindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. It explores the difference between a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset”. Someone with a fixed mindset looks at life as a linear, static constant, whereas someone with a growth mindset looks at life as a cycle, with phases and constant opportunities to learn. Courage, resilienceResilienz, Belastbarkeitresilience and confidence can be acquired over time.​

All too often, self-imposedsich selbst auferlegtself-imposed limiting beliefs and excusehier: Ausredeexcuses, like “I’m too old to change jobs”, stop people from making changes in their lives. People don’t like to hear it, but it’s a choice. It’s to be up to sb.an jmdm. liegenup to you whether you take full responsibility for how your life turns out.​