A career pivot can remove the structure that made your previous role manageable. You may still know how to work hard, prepare, and perform under pressure. The harder question is what to do first when someone else is no longer setting the plan.
In Episode 118, The Pivot, Marc Nudelberg describes leaving football coaching for sales. His coaching role came with a detailed plan and a 365-day calendar covering recruiting, practices, games and travel. In his new work, he had to define the priorities, allocate time and choose the behaviors himself.
Identify the structure you used to receive
Before copying habits from your old role, list the decisions it made for you. A team schedule may have set the time for preparation. A practice plan may have defined the task. A game or a meeting may have supplied the deadline and the feedback.
Nudelberg’s story makes that change tangible. The ability to execute a clear plan did not automatically supply the new plan. Recognizing the missing structure gave him something specific to rebuild, rather than treating the entire career change as an undefined problem.
Define priorities in terms of visible work
A goal such as “be successful in sales” gives you little guidance for the next hour. A more useful priority describes work you can prepare for and review. That might be learning a customer’s needs, improving a conversation, or completing a clear follow-up.
For each priority, write the behavior it requires and the situation in which you need to perform it. Nudelberg describes learning to allocate time to priorities and define behaviors for specific scenarios. This connects an abstract ambition to the work of an ordinary day.
Build a first-week structure
The following exercise is THCC’s application of that lesson. Adjust it to the expectations of your role and the guidance of your manager or mentor.
- Name the responsibility: what must you become reliable at doing?
- Define the behavior: what action would demonstrate progress?
- Reserve the time: when will you prepare, practice, and follow through?
- Choose feedback: who can observe the work and help you improve?
- Review the week: what happened, and what needs to change next?
For a first week in a customer-facing role, the routine could be specific: prepare questions before a conversation, record the customer’s concerns and promised next step afterward, and review one difficult moment with an experienced colleague. This is a THCC exercise, not Nudelberg’s reported calendar. Judge it by the quality of the preparation and follow-through, then adjust it to the role.
Use experience without assuming every habit transfers
Experience in one field can provide useful skills. It can also hide assumptions about how the new role works. Preparation may still matter, while the way customers make decisions may be unfamiliar. Keep the transferable skill and stay curious about the new setting.
Nudelberg also describes receiving support from his father as he developed his new structure. The broader lesson is to seek informed feedback. A mentor can help you notice what you have not yet learned; the working plan still needs to fit your responsibilities.
Make the structure useful to other people
A personal routine should help you deliver on commitments. If your work involves a customer or a team, make the next action clear and follow through. A calendar full of activity is less useful when people are waiting for an answer they were promised.
Read THCC’s guide to leadership development for growing teams for a related discussion of turning development into behavior. Explore entrepreneurship conversations when a pivot also involves taking responsibility for a business.
Questions about career pivots
What if I know my goal but cannot organize the work?
Identify the smallest responsibility you need to perform reliably, then connect it to time, practice, and feedback. Ask someone who understands the role to help you test whether that responsibility is the right starting point.
Does changing careers mean starting from zero?
You may bring relevant habits and experience, while still needing to learn a different environment. Nudelberg’s account illustrates how a capable person can need a new structure when the context changes.
Watch Marc Nudelberg’s story
Nudelberg’s segment begins at the published 02:15 chapter. Watch the complete Episode 118 conversation for the other guests’ accounts of changing direction in life and business.
