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All Your Friends Are Doing It
If you had a one-time offer to become a vampire would you take it?
Got your attention?
That’s how a recent podcast I listened to started.
It was a recounting of a question posed by a Yale philosopher to a large audience at a conference in Ireland where Hal Hershfield, a UCLA professor, behavioral psychologist and author, was in attendance.
Hal says the speaker told the audience that all you know ahead of deciding to accept (or not) the offer to become a vampire is:
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All your friends are doing it.
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Your friends think you’ll like it.
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Do don’t know what it’s like until you do it.
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You can’t undo it once you do it.
This was an analogy for becoming a parent… Pretty good, right?
It’s also an analogy for transformational change in your life, according to Hal.
Making Pivotal Career Changes - An Example
Then the second guest on the podcast, Julia Carreon, gave a real-life example of the transformational career change she is currently going through – at the age of 54.
Julia is someone I’ve admired from afar as a standout leader and visionary in the financial services industry. She recently left a high-profile executive job at a major financial institution to pursue a menopause start-up. After 2 months into that journey, she realized it wasn’t for her.
She talks about it on the podcast. But here’s a quote from the interview that really stuck with me:
"When I was 44, I was managing 500 people in 13 states, and I thought that I would forever want to be a big executive who traveled around on a plane and got more and more and more power. If only I'd be able to tell my current 54-year-old self that I couldn't have cared less about any of that s*** at 54."
The host of the show, Matt Zeigler (an avid reader of mine), summed up Julia’s experience in 3 parts:
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The Big Quit
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The Big Commit (her committing to the start-up)
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The Big Pivot
Julia and Hal talked through the concept of walking away from a traditional job and the safety net it provides, only to throw yourself into the deep end of the pool. How making missteps is part of the process to finding your real end goal.
That’s relatable stuff, no?
Hal questioned the importance of financial position in these decisions.
That’s where Matt’s genius for summing things up came in. He tied a pretty bow on why people dive into the deep end, financially secure or not.
In Matt’s words, “Safety is found on the mission. Knowing you are on the mission means knowing the misstep can be self-corrected.”
And by the way, your career “mission” -- or whatever you want to call it – a goal, purpose, focus, etc. -- doesn’t have to be a world changing (as Julia’s is - listen to the episode to find out what she’s pursuing now).
Finding Your Future Self
So much of this episode talked about transformational change and career pivots, I felt the need share because I know so many of you are thoughtfully trying to navigate your career right now.
Julia’s unapologetic approach to her major changes is inspiring.
Hal’s approach to finding your future self (which he wrote a book on) makes you realize you aren’t alone.
There are many more gems in the episode, please consider taking a listen.
The show is called Just Press Record by Matt Zeigler (on YouTube).
My $0.02 on the overall show (and why you should subscribe):
Matt has two guests on each episode of Just Press Record and his match-ups are next level.
He’s so good at pairing people that you can actually feel the energy of the conversation coming through the video. I swear! What’s crazy is that 9 times out of 10 the guests have never met before but leave as besties.
If the podcast and Matt’s full-time gig don’t work out, I kinda think he could have a wildly successful match making business for single mid-career professionals. (may be his future self)
If nothing else, you gotta listen to this show for Matt’s insanely witty introductions of his guests…
And full disclosure, I was a guest on his show earlier this year.
Related: The Well-Trodden Path Rarely Leads to Your Desired Destination