A lifelong project for me has been “reframing” challenging life events that had negative personal consequences. As a young person, it included things like losing a class election or not getting a desired college admission — reframing 101.
As I grew older, reframing became more challenging. My mother’s breast cancer. The Flight 427 crash in Pittsburgh that took the lives of colleagues. I recall working hard to trust these tragic events brought us closer together as a family and as a community, and to process why bad things happened to good people. Reframing 201.
I’ve come to believe that transitioning careers and finding fulfillment is Reframing 301 (and if you are not in control of the timing, Reframing 401). Making the shift in how we define ourselves and in what we do every day — adjusting who we are and what we are — is hard, and requires a lot of reframing and modifications. Career transitions test decades of well-honed patterns of behavior that taught us to define ourselves in a certain way — and all of a sudden that shifts.
When we reach the other side, there is tremendous joy and fulfillment, but it doesn’t just happen automatically. Reframing is both important and necessary.
Here’s my top five strategies for getting there:
1. Focus on going toward versus leaving from. Moving forward requires having something you are excited about doing — something pulling you forward. Find purpose in doing something you love and care about in your phase.
2. Repurpose your skinned knees, well-honed professional muscles and incredible career. Take what you have learned and bring value to new organizations or other professionals so they can learn, grow and benefit from your wealth of experience.
3. Get younger. Your health and mobility are the rate limiters for how you live your life. With this transition comes the opportunity to focus (or refocus) on your personal health/wellness, halting unhealthy patterns of shortened sleep, missed workouts, meals on the run, too many flights … you know your list.
4. Give back. With this transition comes the opportunity to move from getting to giving. There is nothing more personally rewarding than making a difference in your family, community and/or world in ways that matter to you and contribute to how you want to be remembered.
5. Deepen relationships. Having close relationships not only delays mental and physical decline, but is the single greatest contributor to lifelong happiness, according to the longest-running study on Happiness by Harvard University. The loss of community is one of the hardest parts of leaving your workplace. Stay connected with work friends you care about — and invest in the creation of new friendships that can become important to you.
The transition away from your main career or company is significant and requires intention, in order to realize a joyful, healthy and fulfilling next season. Employing these five strategies will get you there — and that’s not just reframing.
Leslie W. Braksick, Ph.D., is the co-founder and senior partner of My Next Season, a company dedicated to supporting companies and individuals with career transitions. Find Braksick’s book, “Your Next Season: Advice for Executives Transitioning from Intense Careers to Fulfilling Next Seasons,” on Amazon.
