When you’re thinking of making a big change or shift, where does your mind go? Do you meticulously plot a safety netted back up plan or do you focus all your energy into the potential newness? Does your mind focus on the question...
“But what if it doesn’t work out?”
When I set up to become a self employed coach, I had to go through those same thought processes. Would it be better if I reduced my employed hours to part time and try and build my coaching practice on the side? Or should I just jump right in, commit and go for it?
This is something that crops up intermittently in coaching conversations with people I work with who have decided to do something momentous; perhaps thinking about retirement, change jobs or perhaps go self employed. Clients or colleagues may ask my advice but my advice isn’t important. What worked for me and the choices I made would not necessarily work for them. As with all conversations in the coaching space, I’m not the important one in the conversation. I’m not in their situation at that time with all their competing priorities, questions and resources. What’s important is giving someone the space to think through what’s going to work for them.
Spread a safety net or make that leap?
Testing out ideas before you fully commit might feel sensible, responsible and safe. That might look like reducing your hours at work before you decide to stop altogether retirement or to dip your toe into the water if you’re looking at setting up by yourself. That has many benefits, the most obvious being financial as you will still have income whilst you decide whether this is something that works for you. It can also potentially keep you a bit stuck as you’re unable to give as much the time as you would like to one or both options.
Some high profile figures talk about this being the ‘half commitment’ option that gives the illusion of safety but which can actually hold you back. Business Leader Marshall Goldsmith) quotes David Lloyd George when he says,
“You cannot cross a chasm in two small jumps.”
He suggests that what we often call caution is really hesitation which isn’t safe but instead can be seen as gravity pulling us back to where we already are. His opinion is that half-commitment keeps us comfortable, but is unlikely to take us anywhere new. Instead it can drain us of energy, create inner conflict, feelings of guilt and leave us negotiating with ourselves instead of moving forward. A half commitment can leave us in limbo.
“At some point, progress requires a clear choice - either take the leap or choose not to jump.
Both are honest decisions. Only one creates momentum”. Marshall Goldsmith
Similarly, Stephen Bartlett, in ‘Diary of a CEO’ includes the following as one of his ten lessons.
“Go all in on Plan A.”
He suggests that having a solid Plan B can sometimes dilute your commitment to achieving Plan A. If you fully commit to your Plan A you are more likely to unlock a level of resourcefulness that you wouldn’t otherwise.
I can see the logic of this as I certainly know people that have made that ‘half commitment’ and found themselves feeling stuck, unable to fully commit to making either option work as well as they would like. But I don’t often work with people like Marshall or Stephen who arguably have wider networks and access to alternative forms of income. I work with people like me (the reason for my business name!) who are juggling multiple commitments, worried about the state of the world, financial instability, supporting others whilst trying to navigate challenging relationships and roles. In short, people trying to keep their s*** together.
So, the only school of thought that matters is yours
So what did I do when I decided to become self employed? I made my decision by thinking through:
What I know about myself, my personality, my preferred ways of working, what I wanted and what I would miss about my current situation. Could I recreate the things I would miss in my new venture?
Who else would be impacted by the decisions I would be making? What weight did I want or need to give to those thoughts?
My previous experience; I had worked in two concurrent part time jobs before and ended up exhausted as they both exceeded their hours. I didn’t feel I was doing either role justice. This was likely to be the case if I stayed in my role and set up by myself at the same time.
My practical needs; particularly financial (what income I needed and what outgoings either option would cover). Over the months before I left employment, I saved up enough to cover me for six months of setting up my business.
How sure I was about the direction I was planning to take – a healthy combination of excitement and trepidation.
I asked myself the question: what if it didn’t work? After I’d worked through all my inner objections, interestingly, my inner voice switched to ‘but what if it does work?’
I went all in. BUT, I had a psychological safety net. When I handed my notice in, two senior leaders in the organisation I was working with gave me a huge amount of encouragement but also told me to approach them if it didn’t work out the way I hoped further down the line. Also, at that time, I was still a Registered Nurse. I knew I would always be able to find employment if I needed to pay the bills. Knowing that was more than a practical reassurance. It actually gave me the confidence to say ‘no’ to pieces of work that came my way that weren’t really the direction I wanted to take allowing me to leave the space for work to come in that was.
And this is where Stephen and Marshall had a point. Because I’d made that leap, I was super focused on making this work. I spent the first three months with the job task of ‘setting up People Like Me’. I was at my desk at 8am every day with themed areas to work on during that time; marketing, networking, finances, business administration, product design etc. I was ready to launch before my self imposed deadline and started making it work earlier than I could have hoped. Would I have done this if I had stayed employed part time? Maybe, maybe not.
Now, five years on, I’m about to do it again. I’m starting something new next year and I’ve gone through those same thought processes. This time I was prepared for some of the answers to be different but they’re not! So, once again, I’m going all in. I know what it takes to make something work. I know myself. I know what the constraints and enablers will be. I’ve been preparing a psychological safety net with practical options if things don’t go the way I hope.
I wonder what would work for you?
Stepping your toe in the water or getting ready to fly?
If you want support to think through your own potential shift, then you know where I am. At least until April!