The 15-Year Career Pivot: Why Small Questions Beat Big Decisions
It took me 15 years to go from "I know engineering isn't right for me" to actually doing something else with my life.
Not 15 years of agonizing every day. Fifteen years of knowing, quietly, and not yet having the language for what to do about it. If you're feeling stuck or lost in your own career transition right now, this is for you.
I recently sat down with executive coach Amelia Noel — who took her own 15-year route from journalism to advertising to consulting to investment banking to coaching — and we talked about what we now call the messy middle: the long, undefined stretch between knowing something isn't working and actually doing something different about it.
If you're in that stretch right now, here's what we learned.
Why Overthinkers Get Stuck in a Career Pivot
Amelia put this more bluntly than I ever have: "Our pros and cons list and our internal conversations 100% reflect our past experiences, our pathways of thinking, our biases."
That list you keep rewriting isn't evidence. It's a mirror. And it's mostly reflecting what you're afraid of, not what's actually true. This is the core reason overthinkers get stuck in a career pivot — the analysis feels like progress, but it's actually just fear, repeating itself in a different font.
The fix isn't more analysis. It's talking to people who've actually made the career change you're considering — not to get permission, but to interrupt the loop. Their lived experience breaks you out of your own head in a way that more internal debate never will.
Your Brain Only Runs the Negative Career Change Scenario
"Our brain loves to focus on the negative what ifs — it never thinks about the positive what ifs."
What if you quit and it doesn't work out? You've run that scenario a hundred times. What if you quit and in a year you have your time back, you feel like yourself again, and the fear was the most expensive part of the whole transition? You've probably never let yourself finish that sentence.
Both are equally possible. Your brain just refuses to rehearse the second one — which is exactly why a career transition can feel so much riskier than it actually is.
How to Stop Overthinking a Career Decision: Ask a Smaller Question
This is the part of the conversation that actually changed how I think about my own story, and it's the most useful answer I've found for how to stop overthinking a career decision.
I didn't decide to leave engineering by sitting down and asking "what do I want to do with my life?" I asked something much smaller: do I enjoy being more creative? And I tested it by making greeting cards. No business plan, no spreadsheet. Just me, asking customers what they wanted the card to say, and noticing how alive that made me feel.
That 2% of my personality I let out into the world eventually became 100%. But it started as a craft project, not a five-year plan.
Amelia's version of this: "Taking bigger and making it smaller. Big questions like what do I want to do next, into smaller questions like — how would I feel if I infused more creativity into my life?"
You don't need the answer. You need the next small experiment. This is, structurally, how most successful career transitions actually happen — not as one big decision, but as a string of small, answerable questions.
Why Talking About a Career Change Feels Scarier Than It Is
I felt embarrassed even bringing up that I was unhappy in engineering. Like I was somehow disrespecting the degree, the years, the identity I'd built. Amelia named exactly why that fear is almost always wrong:
"99% of people, when you say 'I'm thinking of making a career change,' will be supportive. You will be so surprised at how many people want to help."
When she told her team she was leaving banking, the response wasn't judgment. It was: "I wish I could do what you're doing."
You're not bothering anyone by being honest about feeling stuck. You're often giving them permission to say something they've been sitting on too.
How Long Does a Career Transition Take? Longer Than You Think — and That's Normal
This is the line that's stayed with me the most:
"The decisions you made based on your values, your vision, your goals, what you want out of life today — those are aligned decisions. Trying to make a decision that 22-year-old you would have liked creates misalignment in your life and career today, because you're not that person anymore."
You're allowed to update. Choosing differently now doesn't mean your past decisions were wrong. It means you grew — which is the entire point, and which is also why a real career transition rarely happens fast.
If you're in your own messy middle right now — overthinking, overanalyzing, waiting to feel certain before you move — you're not behind, and you're not broken. You're in the middle of a process that almost always takes longer and feels messier than anyone tells you it will.
The way out isn't a better plan. It's a smaller question, answered through action.
If you're a mid or senior-level professional in a demanding corporate career and you recognize yourself in any of this — the overworking, the perfectionism, the inability to slow down long enough to ask what you actually want — Amelia's work might be exactly the next step.
A few ways to go deeper with her:
🎯 Take the free 3-minute BFG Mindset Quiz to find out which mindset is driving your stress, overwhelm, and overworking — and get customized tools to start shifting it today: Take the quiz
📞 Book a consult call to talk about enrolling in Breaking Free from the Grind, her 12-week 1:1 coaching program for accelerating your career without sacrificing your sanity: Book a call
🎧 Listen to her podcast, Breaking Free from the Grind, airing every Friday at 9am EST: Listen here
🌐 Learn more about her work: amelianoelcoaching.com
Want to hear the full conversation?
This post is based on my conversation with Amelia Noel on Your Life Unbounded — episode 2. Listen to the whole thing wherever you get your podcasts:
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Amelia Noel (00:00)
the pain and the discomfort and the confusion comes when we're stuck
analyzing our situation such as like, like, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know if this could work or what if x, y, things go wrong. And instead of staying stuck in that
place, the unlock is
Challenge that and ask yourself the opposite Challenge that thought and ask what if it works out swimmingly?
Gloria Julien (00:39)
I'm Gloria Julien life and career coach and your overthinking expert. And this is Your Life Unbounded, where we get into the mind of an overthinker who has learned to commit to a direction with evidence that they could trust and finally take the first step to making their new lives happen. My next guest is an executive coach, podcast host, and creator of Breaking Free from the Grind, a 12-week
one-on-one executive coaching program for the mid and senior level professional working in demanding corporate careers to help them accelerate in their careers without sacrificing their sanity. So she knows a thing or two about staying ambitious without burning out and helping high achievers move forward without losing themselves in the process. Together in this episode we get into why the messy middle of a career transition
can stretch on for years longer than it needs to, how small experiments beat big, overwhelming decisions, and what it actually takes to trust yourself enough to act. Please welcome Amelia Noelle.
Gloria (02:00)
Hi Amelia, I'm so happy that you're on this podcast and I appreciate your time. How are you?
Amelia Noel (02:07)
I'm doing well. It's so fun to be here, Gloria. I know we did an episode together, Breaking Free from the Grind, podcast a few months ago to kick off this year. I think it was the first one of 2026. And it's so nice to be on here supporting you and having a conversation about all things career related. So thank you for having me.
Gloria (02:17)
that.
Yeah,
I am so happy that you're here because you talk about people who are trying to break from the overworking and the mess of corporate life and how you're kind of striving for that sense of productivity as if it's going to give you some reward at some point in your career. And I just want to talk to you about, first ask you, how did you get into this space?
of coaching at all. Like, tell me what you're doing with.
Amelia Noel (02:55)
Ha ha.
Yeah, so
I feel from a career perspective, my journey has sort of been, I say all over the place, but in the very best way because now looking back on the changes I've made, the industries I've switched to, going from super crazy investment banking and consulting world to being a solopreneur and coach with no entrepreneurial experience, I can really see how every step in my career
your journey led me to the next place has served me and what I'm doing right now. And so I actually, you know, ironically, growing up, I was one of those kids, super high achieving straight A student top of the class, all the things felt and put a lot of pressure on myself to feel like I needed to figure everything out and have my life just be, you know, a complete 20 year roadmap with all the details figured
And with that, I also felt that I needed to choose one path and really stick with that path for 30 years of my career. My parents were both school teachers for 30 years, so that was sort of the career trajectory that was modeled to me is like you get in, you work your way up, you work really hard and you stick with this forever.
And interestingly, the way things panned out couldn't be further from that. I actually, so I studied journalism at the University of Missouri. Never once became a journalist. Went straight into global advertising at Crispin Porter-Bergusky at the time was one of the best ad agencies based in Colorado. Did crazy advertising life, making Microsoft's campaigns for a couple years before I transitioned into consulting.
did that for almost seven years, decided I wanted to move across the country to New York City and get my master's at Columbia, my MBA, and then coming out of that, entered the world of investment banking and did that for a couple years before deciding to be a coach. And so even in that, like starting from a journalism to advertising to consulting to business school to banking to being a coach, that might sound to some
like this crazy disconnected career trajectory, but it really has been the best thing and every decision I made along the way I truly made from a place of what feels most aligned for me right now.
So to go back to your question of transitioning to be a coach, how did I make that? Why did I make that decision? I really realized after about 15 years of operating in very high pressure, very demanding, very long hours, normally working 80 hours a week that...
I've always been interested in personal development. When I was in banking, I saw at this like really heightened level, the intensity and how we, the intensity of overworking that quite frankly didn't need to be that extreme and how much additional emotional pain when we are high achievers who are working in any kind of demanding role, the additional emotional and mental pain that we put on ourselves,
It's not even put on from us by our job. It's by the voice in our head telling us we need to be perfect. We can't make a mistake. We have to say yes. We can't push back. All of these things, right? And so I'd always been a lifelong fan of personal development. I've always really valued people and human connection.
Obviously, investment banking is not really I mean, there's like the piece where yes, you're bringing in business and you need to connect with clients. But you know, the human connection, the person to person connection is not the thing that's valued most.
And so I just realized that I saw this need in these types of positions, highly demanding, long work hours, pressure to be perfect. And that's beyond finance, consulting, engineering, big tech, corporate law, all the things.
And I saw that the personal development industry wasn't speaking to this type of high achieving, like highly demanding personality. And so I realized that I could really bridge that gap.
Gloria (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (07:03)
It was working with humans, which is what I loved. It was bridging two worlds I knew very well, personal development and like the crazy corporate rat race. And I really felt certain in myself that this was the aligned next step for me. Doesn't mean it wasn't scary making that position or making that transition, but I really, you know, when I would get quiet and when I would just reflect on what was the best next thing
for me, this idea, this thought of like, this is the way you're meant to go, kept coming up. And I just thank myself for having the courage and the self trust and the having of my own back to really trust that voice and follow it.
Gloria (07:45)
I love that. That sounded like a quick snapshot of where you came from, who you help, and why it really matters to you. The thing that stood out to me is actually that 15 years that you mentioned. So it took you about 15 years to actually go from journalism through this entire journey to coaching now.
Amelia Noel (07:52)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I think, you know, one of the biggest things, it's not like I was going through those 15 years with this voice in the back of my head saying, this is not what you're meant to do. And that's sort of as coaches, you know, what we want to help people avoid is the pain of being in this murky middle limbo.
undecided territory of like, I'm hearing and I don't want to be at the career I'm currently at like I can hear that in my head, I feel that. But yet I stay for another 15 years and just spend 15 years in this murky middle. That's a really painful
place to be in. think when it's come to my career, one thing that I've done well is I've always made quick decisions and listened to that voice. So for example, when from the time that I first had the thought of like, wow, coaching a high achieving person working in a demanding corporate career and helping them break free from the grind of over
Working
and stress and helping them figure out what's from the time I had that thought to the time I told
my bank I was leaving, it was like three months. And it really, in that three months, it wasn't even me like debating, should I do this, should I not? It was me getting really clear on how I would do this. So that's something I would really offer to everyone listening today is, you know, the pain and the discomfort and the confusion comes when we're stuck
analyzing our situation such as like, like, I don't know what I want to do. I don't know if this could work or what if x, y, things go wrong. And instead of staying stuck in that
place, the unlock is as quickly as you can getting yourself thinking and getting yourself to this world of how can this work for me? How could this work for me? How could this be possible for every what if your brain comes up with?
Challenge that and ask yourself the opposite if you're like, if it doesn't work out? Challenge that thought and ask what if it works out swimmingly? What if this this move I'm thinking about ends up being a huge success and I end up feeling Super fulfilled at work and I end up getting back 20 hours in my of my week every week to spend with friends family myself doing things I love
And then our brain, know, naturally will think about everything first as a problem. That's just how we're wired to think. Survival mechanism left over from the ice ages, right? But it's really about, it's okay. Know going into thinking through a transition that your brain is gonna think of everything first as a problem.
Gloria (10:47)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (11:01)
and it's going to identify all of the challenges and have thoughts on all the reasons why the thing isn't going to work. And the secret is not not having those doubts.
It's hearing those doubts, writing them out so you can just see them outside of yourself and saying, okay, how would I solve for this? How can I get around this? Okay, if this worst case terrible thing happened, you know, how would I get myself out of this? How would I figure this out? And the faster you can get from the murky middle, from the limbo, from the self doubt into problem solving mode,
of like, okay, I'm having these doubts, but I'm actively solving for them. That's really the unlock that gives you the confidence that helps you create piece by piece the clarity to of, okay, this is a viable option. This can be a viable option for me.
Gloria (11:41)
idea.
Yes.
Yes, absolutely. And the piece I'm hearing is we often get stuck in ruminating, in fantasizing, in dreaming. And there's always that part of you that's like, you know, when I left my job, people were jealous that I was doing entrepreneurship and taking a chance on myself. And yet,
Amelia Noel (12:01)
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes.
Gloria (12:15)
When we're thinking about that 15 year timeline of ruminating about taking this, you do get caught up in just thinking about it over and over and over and like, what can I do? And I really liked that you said you need to write it out because that's exactly what I did. stopped.
on the other hand, when you're writing it out with purpose. So like I said, I studied design thinking.
Amelia Noel (12:32)
Mm-hmm.
Gloria (12:38)
It's a process where it starts with empathizing with yourself, but you empathizing with a goal, a goal in mind to actually try to uncover some specific outcome or testing some kind of hypothesis some way. So when I have my, my clients, I have them write out everything. just have them brain dump, right? I don't even have them bring up. Like I don't say, I don't tell them, Hey, just take a week and just write everything down. No.
Amelia Noel (12:59)
Yes.
Gloria (13:05)
That's not helpful. That's continuing to ruminate about what you're thinking. What I have them do is I have them brain dump in two minutes, everything in two minutes. And that forces them to stop overthinking about what is happening in their life. And they're starting to realize, well, all these things have been top of mind and I've just been thinking about it over and over and over. And oftentimes they come out with 20 or 30 ideas in just two minutes. And it's incredible what your brain
just passively keeps thinking about and ruminating on without taking action. So once you're able to see all of that, like that reframe it positively, right? Because I guarantee every time you write it down, it's always things that you feel like are keeping you stuck. They're not things that are going to curate forward movement for yourself. And that's why writing down A helps it get.
Amelia Noel (13:35)
Yes. Yes.
Yes, exactly.
Gloria (13:58)
Get yourself out of your head and then onto a piece of paper. And my recent client said, wow, this, you know, this makes it feel real now. Transition feel really real and these problems feel real. And at that point you have to decide like, do you want to make it a reality or do you want to keep ruminating? Because that's the part where we come in as coaches to help them make it a reality, to help them with that forward movement.
Amelia Noel (14:09)
Yes.
Gloria (14:25)
So it's to help them reframe all those things that they have just written down in those two minutes and make it into a positive spin that helps them take the one next step forward.
Amelia Noel (14:37)
Yes, yeah, and I love what you said because especially for highly analytical people, over-thinkers, like ourselves even, right? It's, you need to have an end game for your thoughts.
Gloria (14:51)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (14:51)
So
it's exactly what you said. The worst thing a highly analytical overthinking person could do is think about all their doubts. Maybe they even do get to the step of doing a two minute brain dump to get them out and then just stopping there and reading them and rereading and like really like getting yourself even deeper into your fears and doubts. You have to have an end game with those thoughts.
So it becomes exactly what you said the most critical step we can take then if we're over thinkers, if we're highly analytical is, okay, let me at least come up with a strategy to solve for each of these doubts and fears. It doesn't have to be the strategy I end up moving forward with. It doesn't have to be the world's best strategy. I just need to show myself that there is another way that there is a viable path forward
Gloria (15:14)
Okay.
Amelia Noel (15:42)
Because it's just taking yourself from like step one to step two here not step one to step 10 got it all figured out Have an endgame with your thoughts. Just letting them sit as thoughts will only make you feel more afraid more confused more overwhelmed
Gloria (15:50)
Thank
Yeah, yeah, totally. And I remember back then, like, when I was going through, when I was in my first year of working full time as engineer, I was, I was like, I can't, I'm, my soul is dying right now. I know there's something else that I need to be doing. And I know it's creative. And I know that I just need to do something with that.
Amelia Noel (16:17)
Mm-hmm.
Gloria (16:19)
And so I remember one of my first steps was not to like tell people about all my doubts and everything like that. That came a little bit later. But the first thing I did was I leaned into one of the hobbies that I had back in college was creating greeting cards from scratch. Like I had all this crafting materials and everything.
Amelia Noel (16:36)
so cool.
Gloria (16:39)
And the end game that I was really looking for was, do I want to lean into this creativity? Is this something that really felt like part of my personality that for my 25 years ahead of that, that I never really tapped into? And over time,
Amelia Noel (16:44)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Gloria (16:57)
As I was doing greeting cards, started, I noticed I started to becoming more confident because like, I'm literally putting out my creative voice in the world. That's scary. And I, I'm sure a lot of artists can, can relate to that. It's like when you are putting your true personality out in the world. And for me, it felt like 2 % of my entire personality at that time, but that 2 % was super scary. But when I did that 2%, it started to feel, it started
Amelia Noel (17:07)
Yes.
Gloria (17:24)
to allow me to grow it to like 10 % and 15%. And over time, over this 15 year time, growing it little by little that now today, like I feel like I'm my full personality. And that has been able, given me the ability to say, I quit, I'm doing coaching full time and like not looking back on it.
Amelia Noel (17:35)
Yes.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Yes. I love what you said about it's this concept of, especially if we're prone to overthinking and over analyzing, start answering the small questions first. So there are big questions like, what do I want to do next?
And then there are small questions like the one that you answered, which is just like, how do I feel when I'm leaning in to my creative side more? Right? So it's like, that's a small question that you came up with a plan to answer by leaning in and bringing back this hobby you loved of making homemade greeting cards. And so that's another, that's something I would offer is rather than put pressure on yourself to answer the big question,
of what do I want to do next or what could be next, come up with these smaller questions. Do I think I'd enjoy being more creative? Do I want to work more directly or less directly with people? And then do activities or do things where you are kind of like mimicking the question you're asking. So start making greeting cards and just see how you feel being more creative and putting forth that 2 % more of your
Gloria (18:43)
I'm
Amelia Noel (18:53)
personality.
Because the more smaller questions we're able to answer through action, through doing experimenting, practicing a hobby, chatting with people more, the more smaller questions that we are able to answer, we start shifting this very
defeating and destructive mindset of what do I want to do next or I don't know. I don't know what I want to do next. The more small questions we answer suddenly we naturally shift from just thinking I don't know period to I'm figuring things out or I might not know what I want to do next but I do I am learning a lot about myself.
Gloria (19:31)
So.
Amelia Noel (19:31)
I do actually
know I'm getting to know myself. I'm getting to know my desires at this point in my life. And so it opens ourself up from this very like blocking mindset of I don't know period.
Gloria (19:43)
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely. So, which brings me to a question. When you were going through your whole journey, what would you say were some of the small steps that you took in order to finally make that jump and pivot over to coaching?
Amelia Noel (19:57)
Yes.
The the really the first and most important step for me and I have to say this actually came to me organically It's not something I actively sought out. So i'm lucky and grateful it came to me organically But what I would say is to anyone is you need to seek out examples positive examples Of what's possible for yourself? So for me I was listening to a podcast
which also came to me organically. I think someone's in my corner here of coaching practices that were viable. So I was listening to this podcast called the Life Coach School. came to me, I don't know, Spotify recommendations, something like that. And ironically, I actually started listening to it the very first day I hit the desk in investment banking. So essentially what I would do is I would like walk my 20 minute commute through Midtown. I called them two a days where I would listen to this podcast twice a
like as I was going to work and then as I was coming back at like 2 a.m. And the podcast was great for me for so many reasons because A of all it was giving me practical personal development tools that I could apply to my current job to feel less stressed, to feel more fulfilled, to feel more energized despite working 110 hour weeks on the norm.
But the other thing that podcast did for me is the host would bring on
coaches who had successful coaching businesses. Now, they were all different types of coaching businesses, weight loss coaching, parenting coaching, some career design and development and figuring things out coaching. Not even necessarily the type of coach I was, which ended up being specifically to help people feel less stressed in their day-to-day jobs, but just having positive examples of, wow, these coaches are incredibly successful.
Gloria (21:38)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (21:45)
running a very lean and simple business model. Like lot of them are solopreneurs, maybe a few of them have, you know, virtual assistants or vendors they partner with, but it's not like I need to do anything crazy to leave the career I'm in and start something that's helping people, that's making money, that's, you know, putting a service out into the world.
And so that's what I'd really say is start with looking for positive examples of what you might like to do next. Some of us have distinct thoughts on what we might like to do next. So go seek out positive examples of people who are in those professions, who are thriving, who are loving what they're doing, so you can learn from them. So you can hear about their stories. So you can hear about their job, their day to day, how it all works.
And if you don't have any ideas, then I would say just get curious and open yourself up to things that are outside of exactly what you're doing right now. And it can be at a smaller scale too, like with you and the cards, it can just be like, I wanna start to notice examples or activities in the world where people are using creativity more. And like, let me notice those, what's possible there.
Gloria (22:56)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (23:00)
Maybe I strike up a conversation with them and just say like tell me about tell me about your card making hobby Like what do you love about it? You know, how do you think about it? How do you feel when you're doing it? Just to start showing yourself positive examples of things you might want
Gloria (23:06)
you
Yes, yeah, exactly. And you know, when as you're talking about that, you know, the metaphor that's actually coming to mind for me is, you know how, when someone says, did you notice that there's a lot of white cars on the road right now? And all of a sudden, you see all these white cars and you're like, wait, they've always been there. You just never paid attention to it. That's exactly what you're saying.
Amelia Noel (23:28)
Exactly.
Gloria (23:36)
It's incredible.
Amelia Noel (23:36)
Yes, yes.
It's so and I yeah, I love exactly what you said about then if you buy a white car, you like see white cars everywhere. I mean, that's scientifically how our brain works, right is if we prime our brain in a certain way, it suddenly becomes super locked in to finding all the answers to support.
or finding all the data points that will be helpful in solving that challenge. So going back to first and foremost shifting from this place of, don't know what I want to do next.
because that instantly shuts us down and it primes our brain from not wanting to solve this problem, right? So we're not gonna, we might interact with 10 people who are doing things that could potentially be interesting to us, but it won't register as that, as like, these are potential sources of information and data to me. So what I'd offer is just shifting, if you're in this place, you're kind of like in the middle, it feels a little painful. You know what you're doing isn't it, but you don't want,
don't yet know what's gonna come next. Instead of reiterating to yourself daily, don't know what I want right now, just shift it to I am figuring out what I want right now. I am on the hunt.
for information about what I want right now. Because when we shift to that mindset that I'm figuring it out, I'm on the hunt, I'm open to taking in data points to help me figure this out, that's when we actually start seeing the people around us, the things around us, the activities around us as sources of potential information and data that will help us.
Gloria (25:11)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's, you know, those small shifts will accumulate over time. And before we started recording, you know, we were talking about how doubt eventually gets minimized over time. And that it also comes from past experiences, our history,
You know, how we have grown up in this particular society or your personal experiences and everything influences how you make decisions today. And one thing that I like to run with clients is changing that mindset of who's making the decisions today versus who were you making the decisions when you first started your job? Because.
I guarantee those two personalities are totally different people. You've already gone through, for you and I, like 15 years of experiences. That's a whole childhood. It's a lot, right? And yet we think that we have to pick one job, pick one career, and that's gonna be our path for the next 30 years.
Amelia Noel (26:08)
Yeah.
Yeah, seriously, seriously. Yeah.
Yeah, and they're
Gloria (26:22)
It doesn't happen.
Amelia Noel (26:22)
There are phases along the way, there are different steps that all, and that's life. Like life is a process, right? And so your career trajectory is also a process. It's not about having all the answers up front, because life also, life's, and so you can try to control every single aspect of your life, and then life's gonna throw you something that completely shatters that plan.
Gloria (26:31)
Mm-hmm.
Amelia Noel (26:50)
So, you know, really working with who you are now, like you said, the decisions you made at 22 entering the workforce, you're a completely different person than you are 15 years later. So really acknowledging too, it's not even to combat this idea of if I make a different decision suddenly, it means I made a mistake the first time. It means I made the wrong
decision the first time, it means like, I'm going to be starting over from zero. All these things are not true. You made the decision that was best for you at that time in your life with the brain of who you were at that time. Fast forward 15 years later, you're a completely different person. You have different priorities. You have different desires. You have different goals for yourself. And so it's so important that we update and we make decisions based on this updated version of ourselves, this updated identity.
because the decisions we make based on our values, our vision, our goals, what we want out of life today, those are going to be aligned decisions. Trying to like make a decision that 22 year old us would have liked, that's gonna create misalignment in our life and career today, because we're not that person.
Gloria (28:07)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The word that comes to me is just a large amount of compassion for yourself. Just noticing you're different and it's okay and you don't have to make the same types of decisions or even use the same decision model, if you will.
Amelia Noel (28:22)
Right, right.
And that's a beautiful thing. Like how wonderful that I'm not the same person I was at 22 years old. That would be weird. How wonderful that I have different desires and different desires and different goals now. And how wonderful that I can choose to think about things differently. Like you said, use different models. My pro-con list can look differently today. And like that's a beautiful thing. That's a positive thing.
Gloria (28:30)
Yeah.
Yeah, we talked about so much today, Amelia. I really appreciate it from everything from like taking small steps and how do we manage our doubts and our 15 year switches, career switches. Is there any last thing you want to share with our listeners about going through the journey of career transitioning, especially those who are stuck in that messy middle and
kind of figuring it out.
Amelia Noel (29:15)
Yeah, I mean, first and foremost, I just want to say I see you. I see them because I want to acknowledge how painful and scary and confusing and doubt filled and frustrating that messy middle process can be. But I think there are two main keys to navigating yourself through that process. The first is.
Believing in yourself and and I don't want that to sound cliche. I wanted to translate into something that's like very tangible and direct It's no matter what always coming back to the thought that I can figure anything out and That is the belief that is sort of the internal narrative that has gotten me through
all of my transitions that has gotten me out of the murky middle or at least like severely reduce the time that I spent there is I don't need to know all of the things what I do need is to believe in myself that I can figure anything out so like for me it was even when I was leaving banking of okay what if you leave this incredible salary and this incredible job what if you don't get clients for a year like what would you do and I could figure that out and I could come up with
a rough game plan if that happened, right? So that's one thing that gets you through and out of the murky middle is always coming back to I can figure things out no matter what, I have my own back. The second thing is what we said, taking bigger and making it smaller. So taking bigger questions like what do I want to do next? And making them smaller questions such as how would I feel if I infuse more creativity in my life? Do I want to do something more creative? Taking like
even big steps, quitting your job to smaller steps, who are three people I could talk to who are three people who have jobs that seem remotely interesting to me? And let me just like go to coffee with them. And I don't you don't even need to share at that point, you're thinking of leaving or you're super dissatisfied in your job. It can simply sound like, tell me about yourself, tell me about your career. What you do seems really interesting. I'd love to know more about how you got there what you like about your job.
You don't even have to share anything about how you're feeling or how you're thinking right now It's about taking the bigger and making it smaller because that's what gets us into action and out of rumination
Gloria (31:27)
and
Yes, absolutely. Thank you very much, Amelia. I appreciate that. It's been such a wonderful conversation.
Amelia Noel (31:40)
Yes!
So good to chat with you, Gloria. And your
work is so needed. Guiding people through the process of navigating what's next in their career, of navigating current life transitions, and especially through the very empathetic design thinking focused lens. It's exactly what we need in the world.
Gloria (32:04)
Thank you. And if somebody was in that mid-senior transition or looking for their next professional development, how might they reach you?
Amelia Noel (32:14)
Yeah, so they can definitely go to my website. I will send it to you so that you can put it in the show notes of the podcast. It's AmeliaNoelleCoaching.com.
And on there, there's a link where they can book a consult with me or I can even send you the link to put in the show notes that they can book a consult directly. And really what that is, is it's just a 15 minute conversation where we're talking about what's going on for them, what their biggest challenges are, their biggest fears, doubts. And I walk them through exactly step by step how we would coach on that. And I can share more information on my one-on-one coaching program with them then too.
Gloria (32:49)
Awesome. And okay, so everyone who's listening, take a look at the show notes so you can book a consult call with Amelia. She's a wonderful executive coach, helping these senior mid to senior women with their professional development and
breaking free from the grind.
Amelia Noel (33:07)
Yes, thank you so much for having
me on today, Gloria. It's so fun. Bye.
Gloria (33:11)
Thank you. Take care.
Gloria Julien (33:23)
This has been an episode of Your Life Unbounded, a podcast for overthinkers who want to bet on themselves. If you want to stay on top of new episodes, make sure to subscribe to the podcast and follow me on Instagram at Gloria Julien Coaching, where I share tools and insights as the overthinking expert. That's G-L-O-R-I-A-J-U-L-I-E-N coaching.
See you next time.
