Page 110 - Free Yourself From

Making the Break 93

through all the things you can do to prevent things from going wrong
or to recover if they do, you begin to feel much more in control of
the situation and you begin to feel more confident about being able
to manage the unknowns. My advice is, consider the worst case,
maybe the job doesn’t work out, but maybe you get closer to where
you want to be.
Talking to someone—anyone—about your concerns and the
opportunity will also help you to put things in perspective. Listening
to yourself talk about the job to that other person will probably tell
you how you really feel about it. Are you excited more than anything
else when it comes down to it, or is there a lingering concern that
tells you that this opportunity isn’t the right one? At the very least,
you’ll probably learn that everyone feels afraid when they face change,
and knowing that fear is normal will also make it less intimidating and
more within your control.

Don’t Wait for It to Happen: Have a Plan, or

Someone Will Have One for You

In addition to covering up for fear, complacency is also a good cover
for procrastination and inaction. It’s easier to be happy where you are
than to even think about developing a plan for where you could be.
With all the things most people have to do in a day, who even has
time to sketch out a life plan and start strategizing about it? Some call
this ambition, but really it gets down to knowing what you want and
just going for it. Waiting for some vague future opportunity to come
to you works much better with most people’s schedules. The most
successful men and women executives were strategic in terms of their
careers. They were proactive—meaning they had a goal to get from
point A to point B to point C. For some of us, this is difficult because
it is not our nature to be aggressive or competitive, but rather more
collaborative. For example, we sometimes prefer to have someone