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Stay “Miserable” or Change Your Career Already!

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CareerDiva

Welcome to CareerDiva, a blog maintained by Eve Tahmincioglu, journalist, author, and columnist.

As a career and workplace expert, Eve is also the author of From the Sandbox to the Corner Office: Lessons Learned on the Journey to the Top, and the Your Career columnist for MSNBC.com.

Eve further writes Your Biz, a small business and entrepreneurship blog for MSNBC.com.

More articles from this author:

• Gas Gouged? Try Telecommuting
• How a Boss Feeds the Circle of Yelling
• Aggressive Job Hunting Skills for the Thick Skinned

“I was not going to stay at a job and be miserable. Everyone around me would have been miserable too.”

That statement came from Lorna Francis, a former colleague and good friend. Many moons ago we worked together in Manhattan at a fashion publication called Footwear News. (Yes, we all had to pay our dues folks.)

I recently asked her about her decision to get the hell out of journalism and pursue her passions — food and entertaining. I wanted to know how she was able to leave a long-time career and embark on something totally new with no guarantees she’d be able to ever make a living.

So many readers tell me about what their dream jobs would be, but few have the guts to go for it.

Lorna’s “miserable” comment goes to the very heart of this.

I believe she would have made her co-workers and bosses miserable if she stayed in a gig she didn’t love. Lorna has always worn her heart on her sleeve. She’s brutally honest and will tell you to your face what’s wrong with you. That’s what I love about her.

Maybe this attitude is what gave her the strength to make a major change mid career.

Is there a personality type of someone that can successfully shift career gears?

There are two top types, says Marci Alboher, author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. There are the “I-do-what-I want” career changer and the “I-have-no-other-choice” career changer, she explains.

Alboher, who also writes the Shifting Careers blog at the New York Times, says Lorna sounds like the kind of person who doesn’t care what other people think, and that makes her a prime candidate for someone who can shift careers easily. Most people are worried what their spouses, parents, friends will think and have difficulty following their work bliss.

The other big category of career changers, she says, are those who are pushed into making a change.

“It doesn’t feel like a choice,” she adds, “but these people make a change because they are laid off, scared or just tired and they’re pushed to a place where they say, ‘what do I have to lose?’”