Mastering the Art of Your Career Transition – Timing and Strategy

The Teton Range – 2013

Grand Teton National Park, WY

 How to Make Solid Progress on Your Path

Your career transition is one of the most significant events of your lifetime that marks the beginning of the next phase of your life.

It’s common to experience joy of anticipation, some apprehension and frequently, a blend of both. Whether you are looking forward to it or not, the creation and execution of plans is essential to your success. Regardless of your outlook, the  reality is that the planning and execution of those plans is time consuming and challenging for you and your staff. Here is an orderly approach to manage it successfully.

An early, critical decision on you part, is to commit to and lead your staff through the process. Become aware and manage challenges effectively through proactive, timely planning. This goes a long way to banish the stress of the unknown and help make the process a much more positive experience.

What are these challenges and related questions?

What Seems First Should Not Always Be

The first thing that most physicians and other professionals naturally try to determine is their projected end date. This seems to be a fairly straightforward question but the answer is usually not.

The reason is the emerging recognition that there are a lot of unknowns about this unfamiliar process. There are personal and professional questions that must be answered as well as practice or business matters that are your responsibility to deal with. 

It becomes very evident that without a fairly clear picture of what needs to be done over what period of time, it’s very difficult to determine your transition date.

The key to resolve this matter is to recognize that your career transition is a process, not an event. This begins with you developing clarity about your desired future lifestyle as you keep in mind that your spouse and family are also experiencing a transition. To shed light on this, you can embrace a methodology that includes creating customized plans and implementing them. This provides a method that is executed in a logical, sequential manner that will lead you to achieve your goals.

If Not First, Then What?

The absence of a clear vision and plan can be a serious impediment to ending your career. In that instance, the experience if often marked by false starts, detours, hesitation and delayed decisions. All this may be accompanied by increased stress and frustration. It does not have to be so.

It has been said that “The time you want the map, is before you enter the woods.”

The “map” is a triad of plans represents a methodology designed to be created and executed in a certain sequence in order to best guide you to success.

The first of these is your Post Career Lifestyle Plan. 

Post Career Lifestyle Plan - Personal Perspectives 

This is basically about what to do or not do after your career.  It’s about how you want to live your life and much more.

It’s very important to begin with a very private introspection. The clarity of your conclusions will facilitate subsequent questions and decisions you will encounter. Conversely, ambiguity will predispose you to hesitancy, indecision and inaction. The consequence of these is unnecessary delays, limiting your opportunities as well as  a diminished ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances 

A natural preoccupation early on is concerns about your future identity and relevance. These are profoundly personal considerations that should not be deferred or ignored. Resolving the preoccupations you may have early in this process will pave the way to make a myriad of subsequent decisions that involve personal, family, professional and business matters…to name a few important ones.

How to Start

Begin by reaffirming the core of Who you are as a person, your character… and how this relates specifically to your career transition. Consider that Who you are and your professional role are really two different things. It’s also important to keep in mind that while your career will end, your purpose in life will endure. 

As you progress, consider your ongoing needs to fulfill your life’s purpose as well as your desires for fun that are important to nourish your fulfillment. 

Think about those professional activities that fulfilled you and remember that it’s a profound, positive feeling that you will probably want to continue to experience. It will benefit you to recognize this and find various ways to continue to feel it.

Desires for fun and relaxation may be found in activities or hobbies that you may not have been able to enjoy much during your career, primarily due to time limitations. The pursuit of these add enjoyment and balance to your new lifestyle.

This Post Career Lifestyle Plan is best created prior to your Post Career Financial Plan.

Post Career Financial Plan

This plan is different from your retirement plan. It’s designed to determine whether your financial resources support your Post Career Lifestyle Plan.

If it does, you will have increased confidence to proceed. If it doesn’t, you can make adjustments to your lifestyle, financial plan or both.

Either scenario will have a direct, beneficial impact by adding clarity of your circumstances and facilitate determining your projected transition date with confidence.

End of Career Transition Plan

This is the third component of the methodology. It’s the actual roadmap to bring your career to a close by focusing on practical matters that include professional, practice or business matters. 

In a previous article, these plans are described in more detail.

Expectations

The end of your career is a major life event for which it’s possible to prepare proactively in a timely manner. 

Deliberate, customized planning and execution will usher your new lifestyle as you have dreamt it to be.

Plan. Prepare. Prosper. _TM   

PS: Would you like to learn more about how to transition successfully from your career? I provide services to physicians, non-medical professionals, corporate executives, businessmen and entrepreneurs that are tailored to their specific needs. Click here to request an introductory conversation.

If you would like to learn about another way that I can guide you, check out this brief video that describes my unique online course: 

 The Practice Transition Course for Physicians. _TM     

Cottonwoods Triad – 2010

Bridger Teton National Forest, WY