My friend Yee Sing reminded me to add another update on how the career-change journey is going.  It’s been a strange week – a lot going on, but little going on.  Let me explain.

My hunt for jobs inside HP has basically run its course.  Yes, I check the job board every morning.  I even applied for a couple of HR-type jobs the other day.  But there’s only one job that I really have any chance of getting, and it’s not likely to come to the short-list state for another week yet.  As a result, the ability to spend time focusing on my future in HP has gradually declined.

I also gave a presentation to some HP leaders on Wednesday, thus completing the last of the formal commitments I’d made.  It went very well, but it’s sad to realize that it’s probably the last one I’ll be able to give.

If I do land that position I mentioned, it will be rather strange to RE-engage.  Not a concern, really, but just something much different than any experience I’ve ever had before.

So my time this week has started to shift to my future career outside the company.  But because I’m going to that Colloquium next week, it doesn’t feel like I can start any BIG efforts.  I also think that my time away for the next three weeks will help me to clear my head.  When I get back, my full intention is to work on three things:

• The final separation activities – health insurance, stock options, and so on.
• Contacting companies that are in the business of delivering coaching services, to see if they’d hire me as a coach.
• Defining my new coaching+consulting business, and learning from others who have successfully done that.

When I played in the orchestra for musicals in High School, I learned that there’s a piece of music which is played after the intermission, to start the second act – it’s called the Entr’Acte.  That’s where I feel that I am right now in my career – closing the first act, and getting ready for the second.  But since the second act hasn’t really started yet, it feels more like a preparation stage – a leaning-toward.

But since I continue to get so much support from friends around the world (thanks, Yee Sing!) it’s not a terrifying experience.  Just a leap into the unknown.

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