Thank you for writing this! The concept of identity work being the real work has certainly been my experience. I took a career break mainly due to burnout awhile ago, which I now kindly look back and could see that was just to get me through the front door of a what became a complete home renovation! Repairing and renovating myself from the inside out!
Thank you, Fiona, for letting me know and I’m glad it was helpful. Seems like we had a very similar experience from what you’re describing to be honest 🙂
I hear a lot of people ask “what is a career portfolio,” as it becomes more mainstream. The real questions they are trying to get to are how do I live through the transition, the identity shift, the emotions that will come up.
The transition almost seems like you’re riding on a train at full speed, the train suddenly stops, and you’re expected to get on another train going a different direction at full speed. I think this post helps with the reset
Thank you, David! I’m really glad you found the post helpful. I’m trying to think and write my way through the psychological part of the transition with my five pillars, in the hope of creating more awareness for others and sharing my own learnings as I navigate it.
This article really resonated with me. It put into words how I feel working on navigating towards a life path that provides more purpose and alignment. I used to think changing external factors would allow me to feel more accomplished but once I started to pursue what I wanted the uncertainty seemed to overshadow the joy more than while being on the "traditional" path. Therefore, I really like the pillars you broke it down to, I will include it in my journaling sessions. Thank you for sharing your experience! 😊
Thanks, Nila, for sharing your thoughts and letting me know! I'm glad the pillars are helpful - for me it was a great way to visualise a bit better what we should pay attention to when walking the pathless path! 🙂
This was so incredibly good. Thank you for taking the time and effort to write this. What a blessing it is to see your own journey laid out and read it back to yourself. I can so relate. Identity shift is a daily intentional thing it doesn’t happen overnight and it needs the many layers you mentioned to be sustained identity change. Thank you!
"many of these scripts may have helped you do well being employed (and served your employer especially well)" - this reminded me of a concept from my early professional life. The joke went that the ideal hire, and employee, was an 'insecure overachiever'. The culture was like a drug to an insecure addict in need of validation - "You want to work here because we are the best" marketing, highly competitive interviews and hiring process, and a comparative performance review process regularly via 'laddering'. I later mused what might happen if someone moved from being an "insecure overachiever" to a more balanced "secure achiever". Intuitively the conclusion was "probably leave..."
Someone once told me that starting your own business is the greatest mirror you’ll have. If you’re stuck it’s likely because of a limiting belief you have, and once you’re able to move past that, flow returns. Its always reflecting back at you.
Identity is so important, and it’s perhaps what I’ve spent the most time on as a business owner. Conditioned scripts still shows up though, especially around pricing.. but as you say, you expand by pushing your comfort zone!
Thanks, Astrid, it was a great reflection for me too to write this up! 🙂 🙂 “The greatest mirror you’ll have” - that really resonates. I feel like I’ve grown so much over the past two years through all of this.
Thanks for sharing! In what way? Is it more about creating structure, or about how the scripts show up there, like struggling with boundaries, filling up the calendar, and so on?
Thanks. I have ideas of what I want to do, so I struggle with scheduling and boundaries. I have a day in front of me and I get paralyzed by the emptiness it has and not knowing where to start..
Hey! If you’re struggling with the lack of structure and the emptiness of your week, it might help to create a bit of artificial structure, especially in the beginning. You can design your “perfect week” for your calendar.
For example, on Mondays you could start with a planning block: decide what the most important things for the week are and how you want to approach them. Then block time for those tasks across the rest of the week. Maybe every day, you reserve a few hours just for writing.
You can also schedule social interactions and calls. If you have a friend on a similar journey, you could do a short daily check-in where you both quickly share your plans, challenges, or blocks. Apart from that, you can reach out to people on Substack or LinkedIn who inspire you or do what you’d like to do, and ask for virtual coffees.
You can also plan learning sessions in your calendar, where you dive deeper into specific topics. And don’t forget to block out other things too - like sports, walks, or hobbies. Even boundaries can go into the calendar, e.g. “I stop working at 18:00.”
These are just a few ideas as I don't know what you're working on and everyone is different, but you get what I mean: you can design a structure first, and then over the weeks adjust it based on what actually works for you. 🙂
Beautifully shared, very much on a similar journey and so helpful to see it with clarity not just a big old jumbled mess!!
Thank you, Amy! I’m so glad that it’s helpful on your journey too 🙂
Thank you for writing this! The concept of identity work being the real work has certainly been my experience. I took a career break mainly due to burnout awhile ago, which I now kindly look back and could see that was just to get me through the front door of a what became a complete home renovation! Repairing and renovating myself from the inside out!
Thank you, Fiona, for letting me know and I’m glad it was helpful. Seems like we had a very similar experience from what you’re describing to be honest 🙂
Really thoughtful post, Iwana.
I hear a lot of people ask “what is a career portfolio,” as it becomes more mainstream. The real questions they are trying to get to are how do I live through the transition, the identity shift, the emotions that will come up.
The transition almost seems like you’re riding on a train at full speed, the train suddenly stops, and you’re expected to get on another train going a different direction at full speed. I think this post helps with the reset
Thank you, David! I’m really glad you found the post helpful. I’m trying to think and write my way through the psychological part of the transition with my five pillars, in the hope of creating more awareness for others and sharing my own learnings as I navigate it.
This article really resonated with me. It put into words how I feel working on navigating towards a life path that provides more purpose and alignment. I used to think changing external factors would allow me to feel more accomplished but once I started to pursue what I wanted the uncertainty seemed to overshadow the joy more than while being on the "traditional" path. Therefore, I really like the pillars you broke it down to, I will include it in my journaling sessions. Thank you for sharing your experience! 😊
Thanks, Nila, for sharing your thoughts and letting me know! I'm glad the pillars are helpful - for me it was a great way to visualise a bit better what we should pay attention to when walking the pathless path! 🙂
This was so incredibly good. Thank you for taking the time and effort to write this. What a blessing it is to see your own journey laid out and read it back to yourself. I can so relate. Identity shift is a daily intentional thing it doesn’t happen overnight and it needs the many layers you mentioned to be sustained identity change. Thank you!
Thank you, Kreasha! I love reading stuff that describes what I’ve been feeling myself 🙂 Happy you can relate and thank you for letting me know.
Really well said
Thank you, Joshua, for reading and letting me know!
"many of these scripts may have helped you do well being employed (and served your employer especially well)" - this reminded me of a concept from my early professional life. The joke went that the ideal hire, and employee, was an 'insecure overachiever'. The culture was like a drug to an insecure addict in need of validation - "You want to work here because we are the best" marketing, highly competitive interviews and hiring process, and a comparative performance review process regularly via 'laddering'. I later mused what might happen if someone moved from being an "insecure overachiever" to a more balanced "secure achiever". Intuitively the conclusion was "probably leave..."
Yeah, sadly it’s very true, David. I’ve also reflected so much about all of this the past two years after quitting!
Loved reading this!
Thanks, Sophie! Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for letting me know! 🙂
Someone once told me that starting your own business is the greatest mirror you’ll have. If you’re stuck it’s likely because of a limiting belief you have, and once you’re able to move past that, flow returns. Its always reflecting back at you.
Identity is so important, and it’s perhaps what I’ve spent the most time on as a business owner. Conditioned scripts still shows up though, especially around pricing.. but as you say, you expand by pushing your comfort zone!
Thank you for talking the time to write this 🙏
Thanks, Astrid, it was a great reflection for me too to write this up! 🙂 🙂 “The greatest mirror you’ll have” - that really resonates. I feel like I’ve grown so much over the past two years through all of this.
Yes me too. So much!
I’m sure it was a good reflection exercise, yes ☺️
Structure is a big one for me.
Thanks for sharing! In what way? Is it more about creating structure, or about how the scripts show up there, like struggling with boundaries, filling up the calendar, and so on?
Thanks. I have ideas of what I want to do, so I struggle with scheduling and boundaries. I have a day in front of me and I get paralyzed by the emptiness it has and not knowing where to start..
Hey! If you’re struggling with the lack of structure and the emptiness of your week, it might help to create a bit of artificial structure, especially in the beginning. You can design your “perfect week” for your calendar.
For example, on Mondays you could start with a planning block: decide what the most important things for the week are and how you want to approach them. Then block time for those tasks across the rest of the week. Maybe every day, you reserve a few hours just for writing.
You can also schedule social interactions and calls. If you have a friend on a similar journey, you could do a short daily check-in where you both quickly share your plans, challenges, or blocks. Apart from that, you can reach out to people on Substack or LinkedIn who inspire you or do what you’d like to do, and ask for virtual coffees.
You can also plan learning sessions in your calendar, where you dive deeper into specific topics. And don’t forget to block out other things too - like sports, walks, or hobbies. Even boundaries can go into the calendar, e.g. “I stop working at 18:00.”
These are just a few ideas as I don't know what you're working on and everyone is different, but you get what I mean: you can design a structure first, and then over the weeks adjust it based on what actually works for you. 🙂
Appreciate this explanation. I definitely love the idea, and there are a bunch of worthwhile tips here. It’s really something I need.
I’m definitely gone work on some of them. Thanks
I feel this. Thank you for writing this!
Thank you, David! Very much feeling it too. 😉