Read the full transcript of Forouzan Alvari’s talk titled “How To Embrace Transitions In Your Career” at TEDxDublin Salon 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Bridge of Career Transition
FOROUZAN ALVARI: Think about the concept of the bridge, the connection between where we are and where we want to be. Now picture that bridge as a metaphor for career transition. But what if, for some, that bridge is laden with visible toll booths and robots, making the journey difficult?
A Race Against Time in Paris
On wandering and winding halls of the Louvre, mesmerized by masterpieces, especially the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa, time melts away. Soon I need to dash back to the hotel for my bag. Navigating through the maze of the museum, I realize I’m on an Olympic sprint.
I dart out, racing through the courtyard like a gold medal contender. But in Paris, finding a cab feels like a quest for hidden treasure. I dash to the left out of the street, finally snagging a ride. Yet, as we crawl through traffic, I know I can’t afford to stay idle. Like in New York on a mission, I leave the house determined to make my connection.
While in the cab, I call my hotel, instructing them to have my bag ready for swift pickup. It’s like a little orchestrated dance. Grab and go. Each leg of this journey is like a new round in high-stakes races against time. At the subway station, the train arrives, and we jump on just in time.
I sprint to the main train station, and basically, breathless, a minute before my train to Belgium departs. This long dash through Paris mirrors the journey with AI. We need to harness its power, yet embrace speed and efficiency, while still valuing the traditional fundamentals when they complement the technology. Just like my speeding and sprinting, it’s knowing when to accelerate and when to tread carefully.
I didn’t always feel this way, though.
A Turning Point in My Career
There was a point in my career when I was making amazing income. I was making one’s annual salary in one month, but yet my soul was bare. I remember physically I was present in my life, but emotionally I was checked out. I had minimal time to interact with my loved ones. For me, time spent with my loved ones fuels my energy in all other areas of my life.
I had a choice to make: to stay in my comfort zone and continue making a great amount of money, or to make a change and move towards my calling. At the time, this would have required moving to another state, starting from scratch, and going through an examination for the licenses needed to get me to the next stage. I decided to go for the latter. I decided to follow my heart and go where my soul feels alive. My soul is alive when I contribute to the community by giving my knowledge and expertise to set other people’s souls on fire to achieve whatever they desire in their life. You only die once, you live every day, as Snoopy told Charlie Brown.
The Moment of Realization
I didn’t even need to record the moment. I knew I had to change. One late afternoon, sitting at my work desk, my phone buzzed with notifications, but I barely noticed. Glancing out the window, I saw a family laughing and playing in the park. As their joy echoed through the air, I felt a deep emptiness inside.
Despite earning significant income, I knew I was missing out on what truly mattered: time spent with my loved ones. That evening, I opened up to my dad about my frustration and dreams. With every word, I felt the weight of my decision lifting. I stood at a crossroads. One path would lead to continued comfort, the other to fulfillment and purpose.
In that pivotal moment, I chose to follow my heart and embrace a new journey. The one that would ignite my spirit and empower other people to pursue their passions.
Breaking Society’s Expectations
Society made me believe that I need to stay in the same career for ten years, or even better, for the rest of my life, to be considered a successful person. For whom? And if I change careers, that means I don’t know what I want.
But in reality, I found out what was my calling at the time, and had the courage to move towards it. With overcoming the fear of, would I be worthy in society, even if that’s the thing, or not having income for a while.
Key Factors for Successful Career Transitions
There are key factors that contributed to my successful career transitions in my life:
Understood myself. Saw what I was going through as I was growing personally in each of my career paths.
Willingness to reinvent myself and try something new. Stay curious.
Support of my loved ones, especially my dad, by providing understanding in the moments I have doubted myself in some of my career transitions.
Surrounded myself with positive people, invested in coaches and mentors that could help me get to the next chapter.
Never defined myself by my job title because I always wanted people to get to know me for who I am as a person, a human being.
Understanding it’s very difficult and challenging at times to get there. For example, studying for top exams even on Saturday nights in New York City. But once you get there, it’s priceless what you went through.
Never looking at career transitions as failure. Because in reality, you gain so much knowledge and expertise by going through those transitions.
Knowing that you’re way more valuable than what just shows up on your resume for that specific job description because that’s not all of you.
Your health, when lost, rarely comes back by any dollar amount or the title of that specific position. Observed that in my close friends.
Sharing my experiences and knowledge from my previous careers helped many of my other friends to feel less stressed as they went through transition because they knew they had someone who listened to them for understanding, not judging them, and could help them in their journey.
That was the moment I felt most grateful. By knowing another human being is happy, and knowing that they are not alone on this difficult path of career transition.
Breaking Barriers in Career Transition
All of this taught me that we need to break barriers when it comes to career transition by providing understanding first and trying something new.
Lessons from Relationships
Have you ever been in a romantic relationship where you felt misaligned with your partner? Perhaps you stayed for the illusion of love, only to watch the relationship fade away.
Society and social media often lead us to believe that having someone by our side makes us more valuable. Whether you ended it or they did, you might have asked yourself why you didn’t let go sooner, allowing yourself to preserve your soul and individuality.
All of these experiences teach us wider lessons about what we truly want in a long-term relationship. It is essential to use what I like to call RAVEN:
Reflect on past relationships
Assess your values
Visualize your standards
Embrace growth and change
Nurture your connections through mentorship
By following each of these steps, we’ll help you to set boundaries for what will fulfill you, what you will tolerate, and what you want.
Career Transitions and the AI Revolution
Similarly, career transitions mirror this journey. Often, we find ourselves stuck in unfulfilling roles, clinging to titles, instead of pursuing what genuinely fulfills us. COVID-19 highlighted this reality for many, forcing us to pursue what was our true calling. We are not defined by our title, but by who we are beneath it.
As we enter the AI revolution, we must define what it means to be truly intelligent. While AI processes data swiftly, it lacks human qualities of experience, creativity, and empathy. By embracing resilience, we can break free from traditional modes and explore the boundless possibilities that await us.
A key way to navigate this transition is through mentorship, both seeking it and giving it. Mentorship creates a supportive community that empowers us. Just like explorers going into the ocean’s depths, together with AI as our navigational tool, we gain insights into trends and personalized learning experiences.
This dual illuminates our journey by guiding us to uncover new skills and pathways. So let’s embrace our current framework for our career:
Connect with your network
Act on your goals
Embrace AI tools
Stay resilient
Reflect on your previous career patterns
By following these steps, we can confidently navigate our unique paths. Courage. Together, let’s dive into the endless opportunities that await us. By aligning our relationships and careers with our true selves, we redefine success on our own terms.
No one says it better than Snoopy: “We only die once. We live every day.”
