5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Changed Careers
Why today’s work culture is making even the best performers feel lost + insights from my 2 year anniversary as a business owner(!!). If you’re ready for a career change, read this first.
Welcome to Reframed! I'm Ashley Rudolph and I write this newsletter for high-performers ready for the next level in their careers. Reframed readers describe the experience best:
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If you noticed you didn’t receive a newsletter last week, let me tell you a little story. The Friday before last was my birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!) and I was off in Mexico celebrating. That Sunday, I carved out time to polish up my posts for the week. I whipped out my laptop, got situated in a comfy spot, and my computer just. wouldn’t. turn. on.
I spiraled into a quiet panic.
After asking Daniel to talk me off a ledge, my next steps were clear. I decided to do nothing and instead focus on enjoying Mexico and not obsess over something I had no control over. It would be dishonest of me not to share that I also had a non-trivial amount of anxiety over not releasing anything new last week. I’m not perfect! ButI let my vacation distract me from the discomfort.
Now I’m back (and so is my laptop)!
In recent years, July has become increasingly special to me, not just because of my birthday. It also marks another very special anniversary for me: I started my business in July 2023. This year makes TWO YEARS of coaching, consulting, writing, and speaking full-time.
This is my fourth career change. I’ve gone from media buyer → digital marketer → operations executive → business owner. Some of those career identities fit better than others, but they all led me to where I’m at right now. If you want to do a deep dive, my thoughts on navigating transitions have been featured in Inc., Teen Vogue (here and here), Apartment Therapy, and the NY Post.
Before this current chapter, I was clawing my way out of what can only be described as a career crisis.
I had always been sure of my next step…until suddenly, I wasn’t. My sense of identity, direction, and even confidence were shot. I was struggling to identify my next steps professionally, until Daniel presented me with an idea: let’s go to Mexico City for a few weeks. So off we went. Looking back at that time, I was moving through the city like a zombie the first few days. Over the course of the next three weeks, I read a third of The Artist’s Way then abandoned it (also did some morning pages), visited more museums, took lots of walks, went on a hot air balloon ride, and visited ancient ruins. Somewhere along the way, clarity hit me like a ton of bricks.
My next adventure would be coaching and consulting.
I put up a website, sent it to a few friends, and my first client (a referral) came through the very next day.
CONTEXT: WHAT CULTURAL SIGNALS ARE TELLING US ABOUT WORK
Why Things Feel Messy At Work Right Now
Career change is never just personal, it’s also shaped by market realities. And right now, the culture of work is shifting fast. If something feels off, it’s not just you. Here’s some of the things making work feel so different right now:
AI reshaping roles across industries: From an uptick in AI use in corporate settings and corporate executives urging teams to replace roles/functions with AI, people are being asked to deliver more with less.
DEI blowback under the current administration: Programs once seen as standard are now under scrutiny, leaving early- and mid-career professionals in underestimated groups with a lack of support at work.
Entertainment, media, agency, and tech contraction: Some industries that were flush with funding and on the forefront of innovation have now contracted after being impacted by sweeping layoffs and economic uncertainty.
Cultural undercurrents pulling focus: Scam culture, tradwifery, anti-work sentiments, and the loneliness epidemic are all shaping how we view ambition and success.
Scam culture + anti-work era: There’s a growing sentiment that career success is rigged. Corporate-nihilism is a coping mechanism for a generation that sees little long-term payoff in playing by the rules. This Vogue Business piece by
breaks it down brilliantly. also talks about the rise of scam culture in this letter. There is a bright spot though - we might be re-entering the try hard era (via too).Loneliness + social disconnection: With fewer close friendships, thinner networks, and less face time at work due to hybrid and remote work, people have fewer career allies and mentors. And if you’re under-resourced in this area, promotions and pivots are harder to navigate.
Tradwives: The glamorization of homemaking and the “soft life” isn’t just about throwback femininity—when it comes to work, this trend signals a reaction to burnout and the broken promises of the modern workplace.
We also see the impact here: Gen X in creative fields feeling iced out of the job market altogether, the power pause trend where executive millennial women are opting out of corporate and into consulting ditching the girl boss movement from the 2010s altogether, and 58% of new grads (within the past year) are still looking for a job (according to this Fortune article).
All of this has resulted in a larger trend: Career Gridlock. The Hill cited research that 60% of workers feel stuck in their careers because of the perceived (and real) difficulties of making transitions. Last year, the WSJ reported that not only are workers feeling stuck, managers are noticing—with some taking on the burden of experimenting with non-traditional ways to “grow” their employees despite budget constraints and limited growth opportunities. This same article also cited rates of regrettable and non-regrettable turnover decreasing, with both high and low-performers opting to stay put due to a cooling job market.
The vibe is stuck.
Even with the job market and the culture of work shifting, I’m seeing a different story take place behind the scenes for high-achievers. The headlines would lead you to believe that no one is getting promoted, that no one is finding new jobs, and that everyone is stuck. In seeing my clients (and others in my own network) navigate this market, I can confidently say that high-achievers are still making moves.
I think they’re still finding success because when traditional paths break down, it demands a take-charge mindset. The ones who break through move first, trust their gut, and cut through the noise because they’re not waiting for a perfect path, they’re building their own.
Given that I have a slightly different perspective here, I wanted to share my advice for getting through a season of change, successfully. Here’s a curated list of mindsets, books, and hot takes that have helped me and others step into our next career phases. Whether you’re exploring the possibility of a new job, you think it’s time to step up or level up, or you’ve just been laid off — I hope you find some inspiration in these words.
PS: you’ll probably want to bookmark this post.
MY ADVICE: CAREER TRUTHS TO HELP YOU BREAK THROUGH
5 Career Truths Every High-Achiever Should Know
Truth #1: Break the rules
I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’ve unlocked every single opportunity in my career by zigging when everyone was zagging. I take calculated risks all the time. It gives me a rush. I don’t know if this so-called addiction of mine is “healthy” and I don’t care. I’ve never landed a job or promotion through a traditional path. In my 3 previous roles prior to going solo, I was either approached with opportunities or I reached out to leaders directly to express my interest. I’m always looking for fresh perspectives and I enjoyed Mallory Contois’s tactical, behind the scenes insights on her career moves (click the image to read full post on LinkedIn).
Truth #2: Have opinions and a clear POV
Smart people are super consumers. We’re always sharing things we’ve learned, observed, and read. It’s encyclopedic. I’ve also noticed that sometimes this proclivity towards collecting and sharing ideas, replaces the harder work of forming your own opinions. I’ve fallen into this trap myself. Over the years, I’ve learned not to just focus on consuming and learning things, but to develop a perspective on them. It’s why you read this newsletter. How boring would it be if I just shared facts and frameworks with no insights? My advice is to spend time formulating opinions about the world, about your work, about your life.
If you’re looking for tactical advice on this topic, I really enjoyed this piece on
about how to develop your own POV.Truth #3: Don’t convince yourself you’re under qualified
If you’re a high achiever and you’re questioning whether you’re under qualified, ask yourself by what measure? Oftentimes, it’s because you’re lacking 1 or 2 skills. Read that again. How will you get better at those skills if you don’t put yourself in situations where you have to practice them? Instead just go for it. One of my clients thought they weren’t qualified for a VP role because they hadn’t managed a specific function listed in the job spec. She got the job anyway.
Here’s a few resources for getting over the hump of feeling under-qualified. When I work with clients, they get my special form of behind the scenes imposter syndrome vampire slaying, but these are a great starting points:
What If I’m under qualified? (Psychology Today)
Worried You’re Not Qualified for The Job You Want — Apply Anyway (Forbes)
How To Get Over Imposter Syndrome (Fast Company)
Truth #4: Being yourself at work is complicated
People often say “just be yourself”. Candidly speaking, while I agree, it’s also been a struggle for me. Because I’ve struggled with it, I’ve found that it’s rare that people share how to navigate the times when “just being yourself” is met with resistance in the workplace. Things like, what happens if: your colleagues think “you’re too much”, when you and your boss don’t exactly vibe but you respect each other, when you ruffle feathers because you’re not like everyone else, the list goes on. When you hit those proverbial walls, the urge to make those interactions mean something about you will be strong. Some of you will be tempted to internalize the lack of alchemy as “I’m too much”, “My boss doesn’t like me”, “I’m not likable” — none of that is true.
’s perspective on this stopped my scroll on Twitter (I’m never calling it “X” - get over it), click the image for the full tweet. It’s gold.
Additional reading on this topic:
Ambition Monster - I just finished this book in Mexico and it’s brilliant. I’d say it’s a cautionary tale about blindly chasing ambition without “knowing” yourself. It’s such a fresh career focused memoir.
shares her origin story, her circuitous path into the world of publishing, her mishaps and mistakes, her climb to the executive level, and the sacrifices she made in her ascent. She also wrote Weird in a World That’s Not.
Truth #5: Coping with being a high-achiever
When you’re exceptional you’ll always be an exception.
I reflect on this all the time. It’s the entire thesis behind everything I do.
When you’re exceptional, you might:
be ready for the next level faster than your peers or those that came before you
understand concepts quicker than everyone else
accomplish things your peers or colleagues haven’t yet
identify problems/issues that others don’t yet see
consistently hit or exceed your goals (goals that others thought were impossible)
be in a situation that others deem good or even great but you know you can do better/bigger/more (and everyone else’s opinions might make you feel guilty)
And because of this, you might:
hear no (not because you’re not ready because you exceeded their expectations and they need to recalibrate)
hit a ceiling at one job but then step easily into the next level at another employer
not have peers you can relate to
find yourself trying to navigate a system that wasn’t built with you/your needs in mind
be asked to take on more and more and more because you make it all look easy
You’re not broken, you’re just working outside of the confines of the system.
I’ll leave you with this, when you are exceptional, people will not know what to do with you because you will do things that they can’t conceive of. Keep pushing.
Good luck. See you next week!
Ashley
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Wonderful article Ashley!! I'm actually going to feature it in this week's issue of Life's Leadership Lessons (13k+ subs).
Awesome stuff.
(Oh, it's here: www.TheBestLeadershipNewsletter.com)
Happy belated! Hope Mexico was a blast, loved this advice.