“I know it seems lame that I care so much about what my mom thinks.”  Lindsay said as she evaluated leaving her administrative job at a certain well known university in Connecticut.  
Unlike many of our career counseling clients, Lindsay knew what she wanted to do and even better had a distinct path for how to get there. 
I should clarify: Lindsay actually came to see me for graduate school counseling and GRE help from my company The Learning Consultants. After I listened to her interests and desires, I told her that she did not need me to help her with her graduate school applications and she did not need to take the GRE. Instead, she should head towards her dream career.
I need to stay away from the details so that I do not give away too much about Lindsay’s real identity but, suffice to say, she not only dislikes her current job a great deal, but also knows that she will like the new career path.
The impediment: her mom will be against the move.  Again, I’ll stay away from the details but basically the money and prestige of her current job – even though Lindsay is 100% certain that she will not continue on this career path – is higher than the new desired path.
Parents are often the largest psychological block for such thinking. I am very clear that I don’t view my role as helping to create more starving artists.  I am highly practical and give advice about career paths that will pay the bills (and with hope more).  In Lindsay’s case, the drop in pay was not too much and the field is so different that it would be hard to compare the prestige (i.e. – what’s more prestigious – working at Harvard or at Versace? – Harvard might sound better but if you want to be in the fashion industry then Versace)
When Lindsay left, she realized that she was not only shifting her career but finally stepping up to her overbearing mom.  She left feeling very empowered.