Although I haven’t had time to write original posts on career change and meaningful work in quite a while, I’ve been fortunate to be regularly interviewed for meaty, thought-provoking articles by other writers. I’ll be sharing these articles weekly, with some highlights extracted from each.

This week I’d like to shine a light on Karen Tietjen’s article “How To Transition Into a New Career, According to Experts,” recently published in The Zoe Report.

Here’s some of the advice I shared with Tietjien’s readers:

"About 80 percent of the people who contact me to consider career coaching say that they feel like they've wasted years spinning in their own heads about whether to make a change or not, being miserable in the meantime.”
"Might as well make the change now — thoughtfully, not rashly — and feel more contented and settled by the time the next decade milestone in your life rolls around.”
"A change should be intentional and thoughtful, with a good deal of time (weeks or months) spent identifying your own strengths, interests, values, and personality type; exploring and actively trying out a variety of paths through informational interviewing, volunteerism, job shadowing, and other means; and a balanced consideration of how your finances and lifestyle will be impacted by any possible change."

Read the whole article here to learn about the steps to career change, in sequence. The take-home message: if you’re feeling the itch for “the next thing” there’s truly never a better time to start exploring than right now! You won’t regret getting started, but you likely will regret delaying.