With great serendipity, “John”, one of my closest friends from law school had a business trip to Los Angeles at the same time as my family trip. John has been unhappy in his legal career for many years. He is one of the most creative, interesting, and entertaining people I’ve ever met. My wife thinks he missed his calling as a professional comedian. But, John drifted into his career and has never had any impetus to leave. He’s smart and talented enough at legal writing that his law firm treats him well.
Since John and I are contemporaries and since I never want to make him feel badly for his lack of action, I’ve always been subtle in suggesting that he consider different career fields.
Trish Sie, an old mutual friend who we knew before she was a big time movie director and famed choreographer, hosted both John and my family for dinner.
She listened to John describe his unhappy work life and responded:
“This is your life. What are you waiting for? Why would you spend your time miserable in a career when there are so many other things that you could do that would you happy?” She then provided excellent suggestions on how creative types can forge their career. Among her nuggets of career wisdom: “find your unique point to jump into a field – how would you contribute in a unique way?”
As I have been saying to Career Counseling Connecticut’s clients for a long time, pre-pandemic, “nothing will change until you decide to make the change.”