First, the idea of risk is usually what holds us back from making any changes at all. In fact, one of the important concepts in change management is that you have to shift the balance so that people perceive the risk of changing to be less than the risk of NOT changing. That’s tough to do, even tougher to maintain over time.

When you apply this to your own career decisions, recognize that you have the tendency to think that staying the same is less risky than changing. It’s important to realize that you have the ability to shift the balance within yourself:
* Identify what’s attractive about changing. How is that compelling to you in some deep way?
* Investigate and explore. Many times you’ll find that changing direction isn’t as scary as you might have thought. But even if that’s not true, you’ll find information that helps you make a more informed choice.
* Give yourself permission to try and fail, to play. When you can explore an area without giving up much security, you’re more able to handle the consequences. In other words, start investigating your next career step before you give up your current job.

Risk is real, but you don’t have to let it immobilize you!

But hey, if it was easy to foretell the future, this would be a much different world!

Perhaps a silver-lining to our perception of time “flying by” would be that we become more and more selective of just how we spend our time. We become more action-oriented, take risks that allow us to grow and, as a result, help the world grow in new ways too. And the best part is that we do all of this practically subconsciously…no New Year’s resolution required : )

One result of this is that I don’t have clear lines of demarcation between my “work self,” my “family self,” and my “social self.” It’s not necessary to adopt radically different personalities, because I’m more confident of my deeper Authentic Self and True Purpose.

I mean, how refreshing to get to a point like this where you can be your authentic self in each of the variety of contexts that life throws at us? I like to think of the authentic self as being in layers where everyone gets to see the outer layers, while we get more and more selective about who sees the deeper layers. Nonetheless, they’re all the same authentic person.

Here’s the deal: The idea of the Authentic Self is mostly valuable for YOU, in order to understand yourself, your motivations, your goals, your actions. You get to choose how much of that you display in any particular context. Hopefully there will be a few people in your life with whom you can open up in true authenticity once in awhile – that’s one of the things that’s great about the relationship with a coach.

But, realistically, you choose to display various forms of that authenticity to various audiences, as appropriate. I have a particular passion around Sacred Music. Do I choose to share that with potential employers? No, at least not initially, because it’s probably irrelevant to them and may even get in the way of the more important conversation we need to have.

You will find that the further your displayed behavior is from your Authentic Self, the more internal conflict will be generated. That’s one reason why it’s important to understand the difference: To reduce stress. But you’ll also find that this exploration will help steer your choices about your career, potential employers, partners, and so on. The more you understand who you are at a deep level, the more you’ll be making CONSCIOUS choices, rather than feeling hemmed in by circumstances.