May 7, 2010

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At 39, married and with kids aged 9 and 12, Stephen Laufer went to law school eventually becoming a crown attorney, and left behind his first career as a successful chiropractor. How did he manage this significant change? In addition to family support especially from his wife, he decided and assessed “one step at a time,” he said. “I’ll go between September and December and see how it goes.”  And that’s how it went, one term, one year, at a time, and then re-evaluate at each step.

Judy Marshak has enjoyed a long and celebrated career in theatre, television, film and music. How did it start? Judy told us about how her friend dragged her, at 19, to an audition for the play HAIR. She succeeded in the audition, but because she didn’t want to disrobe on stage, she didn’t appear in that show, yet because of that connection with the director, her theatrical career was launched. How did she persevere in the years afterward? “I stopped taking rejection personally.”

CareerCycles asks: If you considering a change in career or life, wouldn’t it be easier to take it one small decision at a time? So it might not be a four year degree, it’s just choosing to do the first term. It might not be about whether or not to go to medical school, it’s just choosing to write the MCAT. It might not be about making a career change, it’s just choosing to identify a few promising possibilities and exploring them.

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