Gretchen Rubin's 4 tendencies. Career change tips for your type
What's your approach to career change? Are you systematic and logical or curious and sceptical? Are you determined to go your own way? Perhaps you need someone to hold you accountable to get stuff done. While most successful career changes involve some measure of all of the above, most of us tend to favour one of these approaches over the others.
Find your tendency by taking Gretchen Rubin's 4 Tendencies quiz and check out the four tendencies in her nutshell guide. Are you an Obliger, a Questioner, an Upholder, or a Rebel? Perhaps you have aspects of two or more tendencies.
According to Rubin, your tendency defines how you habitually respond to your own and other's expectations. Like all personality profiling quizzes, this one won't tell you everything about complex, multifaceted you. But it may give you an insight into how you get stuff done and how you might do things differently and better.
As a career changer, you need to structure how you explore new options, get support, and stay accountable to your goals. These 'tendency based' tips may help you do that.
Obligers
While you're ace at meeting external expectations, you can struggle to stick to the ones you set for yourself. You spend lots of time and energy doing things for others. You tend to skimp on self-care and lose sight of your own aims and direction. These three tips may help you keep your career change on track.
Be accountable
Set up a career change cheer squad or a reciprocal deal with a friend who's keen to stick to a goal. Alternatively, ask a friend you can rely on to be a tough taskmaster to help you stay accountable. Most of us need an occasional nudge, but for Obligers, regular check-ins are essential.
Bookend your week with text messages – a Monday 'to do' list and a Friday review to make sure it's done. Schedule a 'signed in blood' weekly coffee catch up to review what's working and what isn't and brainstorm what's next.
Keep yourself and your accountability partner honest. Find your equivalent of Rubin's 'swapped gym shoe' strategy - exchanging a shoe at the end of every session to ensure both of you turn up next time.
Be wary of letting others set your path
Back yourself to know what's right for you. This advice from one of my clients highlights a sizable challenge for Obligers hardwired to rise to others' expectations.
While support and advice from your professional network and friends and family are vital, be wary of letting it set your direction. Don't be deterred from following up intriguing leads because some else thinks they look bonkers.
Protect against burn out
As an Obliger, you're keen to help. You say' yes' easily and often when people ask you to do something. Setting and sticking to boundaries can be tricky.
As a career changer, volunteering your time and skills is an excellent way to test a potential career. But don't automatically say 'yes' to everything. Before you accept a volunteer role or offer to work on a project, ask yourself, 'will this work help me move forward by testing out a career area?'.
Of course, you won't have a definitive answer until you've given it a go but trust your gut here. If the thought of spending all day doing the core tasks in the role feels 'wrong,' dig a bit deeper before committing to something that doesn't inform or energise you.
Finally, stay focused and avoid overextending yourself. Review what's already on your plate before you agree to do something new.
Questioners
You query everything and value reason, research, and data as crucial decision-making tools. You're unlikely to act on anything until you're 100% convinced it aligns with your' why.' Your quest for ultimate answers can bog you down.
These tips could up your career change momentum.
Remember your 'why'
Remind yourself why you're changing careers. This helps you focus on the big picture and avoid drowning in details.
Stick a post-it on the bathroom mirror and eyeball your 'why' every day. Apply the 'why' test to each and every career change activity. Set up a meeting with a new contact? Review the things you're expecting to learn there. Caught yourself disappearing down a cyber rabbit hole? Remind yourself why meeting real people matters.
Be wary of analysis paralysis
Analysis paralysis - the art of overthinking everything, stops lots of career changers in their tracks. And your Questioner's passion for data gathering makes you especially susceptible.
Researching a career change option? Set a deadline, when it's up, get off Google and into the real world. Before you do, read the next tip.
Ask, don't interrogate
Asking heaps of questions is a core career change activity. It's an unbeatable way to build relationships and open doors.
You need answers, fair enough. Sometimes though, persistent questioning can feel like interrogating. To you, it's a genuine attempt to gather and digest the facts. To others, it's an inquisition.
Practice asking for information without making people feel threatened. Replace bald 'whys' with something like 'Can you help me understand why you do things this way?' or 'I'm keen to be thorough and across all of the things that matter most in this role?' or 'I'm curious about how that works?'.
Balance thinking with feeling
Balance your passion for collecting ‘hard’ data’ by listening to your heart and your gut. As a Questioner accustomed to thinking your way towards the right decision, it can be tough to trust your instincts. This meditative five-minute head, heart, gut check-in’ may help you add valuable ‘feeling data’ to your decision-making process. Sceptical Questioners may also like to read this review of a ‘mbraining: Using your multiple brains to do cool stuff.’ This book looks at the emerging science around the wisdom of consulting our ‘heart brain’ and our ‘gut brain.’
Rebels
You need to go your own way. You feel constrained by all expectations, so you tend to resist them on principle.
Park your natural 'yeah but nah' response and give these three things a go. The results may surprise you.
Own your decision
No one is making you change careers. You decided to move, and it's your job to make it happen. Nobody is imposing anything on you. You're free to make different choices and do this your way.
Remind yourself about this regularly.
Batch the boring stuff
Do your least interesting career change jobs in a block. Set a time limit for doing online searches, applications, etc., then smash it.
As a rebel, you thrive on exceeding your own expectations and outperforming others. Do routine tasks speedily and well. Now you free to work on the exciting bits, following up offbeat leads, or developing your side project.
Be wary of kneejerk refusals
In the split second before your urge to resist ideas or advice kicks in, check your gut reaction. Is there anything there that accords with who you are or where you're headed?
Could a proposed course teach you something you're keen to learn? Would that part-time role enhance your reputation or open a door you're curious to go through?
In short, if someone else's idea complements your freewheeling way of doing career change instead of derailing it, consider taking it for a spin. It may be someone else's 'questionable' suggestion, but it's still your decision to run with it!
Upholders
You excel at meeting expectations. You're self-motivated and thorough, and you play by the rules. You thrive on order and routine. But career change's ups and downs can rattle you.
These three tips may help you navigate career change's unpredictable waters.
Pace yourself
Like Obligers, Upholders are prone to taking on too much. As an Upholder, you want to do the job well, whatever it is. You can also find it tough to trust others to do things to your own high standards.
Be wary of being too rigid
Check your mindset for flexibility and resilience when things go awry. Upholders can struggle to step back or switch directions when things don't work out as planned. You can get grumpy and defensive when someone suggests you've made a mistake.
Most career changes take unpredictable turns that call for rethinks and resets. Accepting and learning from setbacks and skilfully moving on are integral to handling the' change' in career change.
Tolerate lesser mortals
You could meet lots of them during your career change. People may not reply to your enquiry, fail to follow through with a lead, or cancel an appointment. Not everyone has your Upholder's gift for getting things done. Follow up and forgive.
My career change clients can choose to discover and work with their tendency. If you'd like more information on this or any other aspect of how I work, book a chat.
By Jo Green, Career Change Coach
I know that when you find what you love, heart and soul, your life changes. I work every day with people who are reshaping their current careers, starting new enterprises or searching for a new direction. Basically I help people who don’t like their job to figure out what to do instead!
As a Careershifters and Firework Advanced Certified Coach and experienced career changer myself, I can help you figure out what fulfilling work looks like for you.
