If you’re a regular reader here, you’ll most likely recognise my analogies for managing the challenges of changing careers.

• Figuring out what to do is a lot like piecing together a giant jigsaw

• Wondering if you’ve got the strength to move on is like reliving a sweaty-palmed monkey bar moment

• Mustering patience and persistence can resemble the drama of realising a grand design

Besides sharpening your figuring, wondering, and mustering skills, changing careers can teach you loads about handling the stress of not knowing what’s next. As a career changer, you’re perfectly positioned to skill up in staying composed when fear of the unknown threatens to bring you undone.

Changing careers is a masterclass in managing uncertainty

Make the most of this masterclass and graduate with a more flexible ’get better’ mindset, and you’ll be equipped to ‘handle change’ long after you’ve settled into your next career.

If you’re navigating career change’s uncharted waters, these nine tips may help you stay afloat.

Watch, Smile, Act – light touch video tips for coping with uncertainty

This smiley, sensible four-minute video ‘Coping with uncertainty’ uses a light touch to remind us of six well-known coping strategies we often forget when things get hairy. They include:

• Swapping abstract, terror-inducing, ’what if?’ for a more powerful practical ‘what will I do if?

  Add extra oomph with Susan Jeffers’ famous line ‘whatever happens; I’ll handle it.’

• Covering the contingencies with some serious planning. Fear of an uncertain financial future tops most career changers’ worry list. If you’re fretting about funding your career change, try these four fear-busting tips.

• Taking care of yourself. Self-care is often the first thing we drop when life gets disrupted or turbulent. If you’re too anxious to face your favourite fitness regime or your hectic head’s making it hard to meditate. Treat yourself to a little soft fascination.

ACE your anxiety

FACECOVID is a five-and-a-half-minute animation by Dr. Russ Harris, author of The Happiness Trap.

He assigns a coping strategy to each letter in FACECOVID.

Designed to help you deal with pandemic- fuelled anxiety, FACECOVID’s straightforward advice can help in any stressful, uncertain circumstance.

The following three strategies, which just happen to spell ACE, are my top picks:

A - Acknowledge your feelings – in a curious, gentle way, ‘hmm, I’m freaking over my finances’ or more simply ‘I’m feeling super scared.’ Stepping back and naming your thoughts and feelings can clear your head and calm you down.

C -Come back into your body – stomp, wave, tap, even small physical moves can stop you spiralling into panic.

E -Engage in what you’re doing – focus fully on a task to hand, search for contacts in five places you’d love to work so you can email them when you’re feeling braver. Or maybe just empty the dishwasher.

Focus on the things you can control

Try this exercise in ‘figuring out and facing up.’ It might help you think and feel differently about what you can control and what you can’t.

1. Draw a circle. Write all the career change things you can control inside it. Write all the things you can’t control outside.

Note that this is a moveable feast. As your career change unfolds, you’re

bound to need a bigger circle.

2. Ask yourself, ‘How much time do I spend acting on the things I can control vs. worrying about the things I can’t?

For example:

• You can control how many people you reach out to today, but you can’t control if they will respond to your message.

• You can control endless hours of scrolling through job sites or social media, but you can’t control how long your career change will take.

What does your diagram show you about where you should be spending your time and energy?

3. Stop. Breathe. Act. Pick something from inside your circle and take a tiny or a sizable step towards making it happen.

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Stop waiting for a light bulb moment and start spotting sparks

Humans are hardwired to want to know what’s next. Moreover, we prefer to know everything NOW. Changing careers can test the limits of your tolerance for not knowing.

If you’re waiting for and wishing hard for that magical moment when your fab new career materialises before your very eyes, do something while you wait.

Share your scary thoughts

Find a genuinely supportive human who’s prepared to lend their ear. If you’re an outgoing extrovert accustomed to ‘speaking your thinking,’ maybe you’ll assemble an entire cheer squad. If you’re a more reflective introvert who prefers quieter conversations, choose a trusted friend or colleague.

Either way, get those ‘what ifs?’ or ‘what will I do ifs?’ out of your head and into career change conversations with astute, empathetic others. Chances are you’ll get reassurance, fresh perspectives, and some likely leads for exploring.

Once you’ve picked your person or people, here are seven ways you can ask them to support your career change.

Wondering or worrying about how to handle your career change?

Get in touch.

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.

Drop me a note to organise a free 20 minute consultation to chat about your career change and how coaching could help.