Project

Change careers

You've been thinking about it for a long time. You have a rough idea of what you'd do, or you're still looking. Every time you consider the whole path, the training, the money, the time, the risk, you close the tab.

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The whole mountain at once

You picture the whole career change at once: leaving a job, training for months, earning less for a while, starting again at the bottom. Seen that way, nobody starts. Nobody has to see it that way.

There's also the fog: you know you want to leave, but not where to. Until you do, every step feels premature.

Split the two questions: where to, by talking to real people, then whether it's doable, with real numbers. The rest follows.

An example of the path

Here's what this project can look like once it's broken down. Yours starts from your answers, beginning with what you already have and what's holding you back. It will come out different, and that's on purpose.

  1. Milestone 1

    Know where to

    • Write the names of three people who do this job, and message the firstDone
    • Prepare five questions about their real day-to-day
    • Talk to those three people, and note what put me off or drew me in
    • Write in one sentence what I want to do, after those three conversations
  2. Milestone 2

    Check it's doable

    The possible training, its length, what it costs, what I can fund, how many months I can hold. Numbers, not fears.

    ≈ 6 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  3. Milestone 3

    Train

    The chosen training, at my pace, with checkpoints so I don't drop off.

    ≈ 8 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  4. Milestone 4

    Do one real thing

    A project, a gig, an internship, a day shadowing someone: something that proves I can, to me first.

    ≈ 5 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  5. Milestone 5

    Cross over

    The profile, the applications, the conversations, the first job or the first client.

    ≈ 7 steps planned, detailed when you get there

Your first step, tonight

Write the names of three people who do this job, and message the first

One conversation will teach you more than ten evenings of reading about it. The message takes fifteen minutes.

How the path adapts to you

You say all of this in the opening questions, and you can change it later.

  • Already know what job you want? The first milestone shrinks to checking it's the right one.
  • Keeping your job during the transition? With "A few times a week", due dates follow that pace.
  • Have a leaving date? Give it under "By when?": every step is dated to meet it, and you're warned if the plan runs past it.

Your project has waited long enough.
Name your goal. It starts here.

In a few minutes, you'll know exactly where to start. The first step takes less time than thinking about it again.

Start this project
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