# Planning and Gathering Data for a Career Transition - **Episode:** [117](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/117.md) (2024-07-23) - **Type:** interview - **Tags:** career-transition, planning, data-gathering - **Time:** 29:13–35:09 (start 1753s) - **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/117?t=1753](https://truthliesandwork.com/117?t=1753) --- [29:13] Leanne Elliott: So, if I've identified I need some kind of career transition, I need to make a change, I'm comfortable that I'm not chasing the happiness. This is something I'll find more, more fulfilling, more, more well-rounded in, in bringing me joy and bringing me energy. How important is it that I have a clear plan? And if I do need to have a plan, what do I need to think about? What do I need to include in that plan? [29:35] Louise Kershaw: There's a quote— gosh, I can't remember the name of it. It's something like, there's nothing like a concrete life plan to weigh you down. And so this is about Yes, you can think about the next few years of your life. Think of it as a sprint, but I wouldn't plan beyond that. The world we live in is just far too changeable, and the pace of speed of change is just far too great to have any sort of really firm plan for the next, you know, 10 years of your life. That's not how we're going to operate. But having a sense of, this is what I'm curious about exploring now [30:09] Leanne Elliott: Yeah [30:10] Louise Kershaw: can be really valuable. So, as my clients move through my program, which is Career Clarity Success, we then start to explore, okay, we've gone into your values and what really matters to you, what you're looking for. What is the sum of the big ideas you've ever had about what roles would light you up? What are you curious about? And then we formulate a plan for them to find out the truth about those roles. Their goal is to be an assumption busting machine and to be happily mistaken about what they find out. I want them to talk to somebody who's in that role and hates it, and who's in that role and loves it. It's reaching out and having quick, low-stakes informational interviews and finding out the truth. And so the plan is gathering data, gathering information that will help you understand if this is the right fit for you. That's a kind of critical activity. And then, you know, slowly upping that and saying, okay, I've found out what I think is enough information, enough research. How can I now get some actual experience? That might be some volunteering time. That might be seeing if there's an internship. What is the next step you can take to actually shift into this space and get that real-world data and experience in it? So, the plan is iterative. It's Giving yourself grace. It's realizing that there's complexity and nuance, and there's going to be a lot of dead ends and frustrations, and that's okay. If you have a really rigid plan of, well, I'm an investment banker and I just want to be a landscape gardener, and that's exactly what I'm going to do, you've jumped the gun a bit. It's get curious, get a bit relaxed, explore, see, get data back, get that feedback, and then Move on. Don't get just one side of the coin. If you aim to speak to, say, 5 or 10 people who are doing that job now in an informational interview, coffee chat, hopefully you're finding someone who is wanting to move out of it, who it hasn't worked for, who they've really struggled in that role. And just ask them why. What's happened? Where's the disconnect for you? What are the challenges on your most frustrating day, what is it that's literally happening that causes that discomfort? And it might be something that's for them personally. Maybe they are just not the right fit for that role. Or it might be they say something that's really revealing about the reality of that role and saying, well, the truth is, to do this job, you just simply have to be incredibly comfortable doing public speaking every day. And someone goes, oh. Didn't realize that was the case. I thought it was every once in a while. No, you're going to be doing public speaking all the time. Okay, helpful. And I'm exhausted by it. I can't do it anymore. Okay. So it's just getting that sense of why do they hate it? That's just interesting information [32:58] Al Elliott: Listen, just quick one. If you've got this far and you want to ask Louise any questions yourself, then you can for absolutely free. We're bringing Louise back for a live workshop in a few weeks' time. If you want a totally free ticket then head over to truthliesandwork.com/workshop, pop your email in, and we'll let you know with the dates when they're finalized. Now, after this very, very short break, we're gonna talk more about what makes millennials different to other generations and hear the heartbreaking story of Louise's own transition. See you in a second [33:58] Leanne Elliott: The audio destination for business professionals [34:24] Louise Kershaw: It is [34:39] Al Elliott: It can [34:42] Louise Kershaw: I am [34:47] Leanne Elliott: But come back [34:48] Al Elliott: Yeah, come back. Definitely come back because Nudge isn't as good as this. So come back. I'll cut that out. Keep that in. Welcome back. We've learned more about why so many millennials are considering switching careers. Before we get into Louise's own story, let's just dig a bit more into what makes millennials different and a little bit on how they like to be managed