When people consider making a major career change, they usually focus on the problems and obstacles in front of them. How will I support myself and my family? How can I justify abandoning my progress in my current line of work? What if I make the switch, and it doesn’t work out?

This focus on obstacles doesn’t help people transition. It only paralyzes them and keeps them stuck. But pretty much everyone has to deal with this phase.

 In truth everyone who makes a career move has to deal with obstacles. The specifics are different for everyone, but the general patterns are extremely similar: attachment to the old career and its perks, concern about the uncertainties ahead, social and family resistance, lack of money to navigate the transition period, having to take a pay cut, cascading changes like moving to a new city, etc. If you’re considering a career transition yourself, it’s unlikely your obstacles are unique.

If you really want to switch careers, step one is to go to your current boss and say, “I quit.” Pretty complicated, eh? But for some people merely imagining this scene creates an adrenaline surge. Once you’ve taken that step though, you’ll figure out step two soon enough. This is a direct, guaranteed route to a career change. People do it all the time. And believe it or not, it actually works.

I know your problems seem big to you, but lots of people have already solved essentially the same ones. You can go to any library and find books explaining how they did it too. The physical step-by-step solutions are easy to come by, but the downside is that virtually all of them require a certain degree of inner strength, courage, and discipline. Sorry, but there’s no getting around that. If you don’t have the strength to say, “I quit” to something you clearly don’t want, then consider building that strength sometime before you die. ~  Steve Pavlina