The career-change spreadsheet nobody tells you to make

When people come to me wanting a career change, they usually arrive with one of two problems. Either they have no idea what they want to do instead, or they have twelve ideas and can’t choose between them. Both lead to the same place: months of thinking, very little doing, and a growing sense that it might be too late.

The way out isn’t more reflection. It’s a simple spreadsheet and a rule that every idea has to earn its place with evidence.

One row per idea

Open a blank sheet and give every possible direction its own row, however unlikely it seems. UX research, teaching, starting a bakery, moving into operations at your current company: all of them go in.

Then add columns for the things that actually matter to you. Most people end up with some version of these:

• How much would I earn in year one, and in year five?

• What would a normal Tuesday look like?

• Which of my existing skills transfer directly?

• What would I need to learn, and how long would it take?

• Who do I know who does this, or knows someone who does?

Fill it with facts, not guesses

Here’s the important part: you’re not allowed to fill in a cell from imagination. Every answer has to come from a real source, ideally a conversation with someone doing the job. Job adverts, salary surveys and online courses help, but nothing beats twenty minutes with a person who did the move you’re considering.

The goal isn’t to find the perfect career on paper. It’s to make each option real enough that you can feel the difference between them.

Most people find that within a month, half the rows have quietly died. The bakery needs savings you don’t have. The research role turns out to be mostly spreadsheets. That’s not failure; it’s the system working.

Run small experiments

For the ideas that survive, design a test that costs a weekend rather than a year. Shadow someone for a day. Take on a small freelance project. Volunteer for a cross-team piece of work at your current job that looks like the new role. Each experiment should answer one question you couldn’t answer before.

Write down what you expected and what actually happened. Your energy after the experiment is data too: did you leave wanting more, or relieved it was over?

Narrow to two, then decide

Once you’re down to two options, stop collecting information and compare them honestly. Talk them through with someone who doesn’t have a stake in your choice. Then pick one and commit to it for six months, with a clear point at which you’ll review.

A career change rarely feels certain from the inside. But it can feel considered, and that’s enough to take the first step without betting everything on it.

A note on starting again

The fear that holds most people back is starting at the bottom. In reality, very few career changers do. Your experience translates more than you think, especially if you can explain it in the language of the new field. That translation is often the most valuable thing a coach helps with.