On a recent flight, I downloaded a few videos to watch as I traveled to Costa Rica on business. One video featured a Mongolian-born singer who was going to appear on Britain’s Got Talent show.
This young man was interviewed prior to his performance and was asked if he thought he would be liked by the judges and audience, and his reply was quick and genuine …
“Definitely! Definitely!”
I have a frozen image of the singer on my iPad as I write this article, and he has a beautiful smile on his face. His time on stage is just a few minutes away, and he is obviously nervous.
However, singing has been his life since age 12, and he is now in mid-20’s. He goes on to say that he knows exactly what he wants in life.
He wants to sing.
Knowing What You Want
After graduating from St. Mary’s University with a degree in Finance, I knew that it was time to find employment. I was fortunate to perform well in an interview with Shell Oil Company, which was conducted at the university.
Before long, I made the move from San Antonio to Houston. I worked at Shell for a little short of a year before finding employment as a clinic administrator. The opportunity to manage a thriving medical practice was great, but I was unfulfilled.
I was doing what was normal. That is, you graduate from college, find a job, work hard, and keep doing it until it’s time to find another job. We are engrained with this line of thinking. It’s the traditional approach.
Mind Change
I realized 10 years after working in corporate, including work at Shell, Prudential, and USAA, that I needed to do something else.
By this time, I had earned an MBA and was teaching courses at Houston Community College. I quickly learned that I was most confident and happy when in the classroom.
However, I lacked the foresight and confidence to making the jump into the teaching world. Instead, I wanted to follow a plan that others thought was best for me.
In 2000, I decided it was time to leave the day-to-day corporate world. I was fortunate that online learning was taking off, which provided many teaching opportunities.
In 2008, I expanded my teaching work to include corporate training, leading to more work.
The Point
I’m obviously not sharing this story with you to elaborate on my career progression.
The point I want to share is that it took me 10 years to gain the right level of confidence needed to make a career change. In fact, this move was sort of forced upon me because I was given the pink slip by my current employer.
Without a full-time job, I pondered my next move. After discussing it with my wife, she made it clear that I had her full support.
I encountered many obstacles as I made the transition to full-time educator, and later to a businessowner.
However, my wife backed me, and I also knew that the Lord would provide me with the right level of confidence I needed along the way.