Just Five Rules

Self-Coached IT Career Change

This book is for Information Technology (IT) professionals who are thinking about changing careers and want to apply self-coaching skills to the process. Readers planning a career transition within the world of IT may also find the self-coaching model of some benefit.

A successful IT career change can be a planned process with some predictable outcomes along the way. However, for many people it often turns out to be a very stressful journey into an uncertain and bewildering future. This is especially so when the career change is involuntary, there is pressure to find a new role fast, and beliefs about what may be possible are too limiting.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

I’ve been through two major career changes – one into the IT world in 1986 and another out of it in 2007 – and also coached a handful of IT people around various career obstacles. In my experience, self-coaching is a vital skill set in helping to navigate the uncertainties of an IT career path.

This book describes that skill set and how to use it, in the form of a simple self-coaching model called “just five rules.”

Is this a book just for geeks? Well, no. The book is marketed to IT professionals because I was one of them and feel qualified to write with some authority and experience on career change in that industry. Nonetheless, I think the content is also relevant to anyone wanting to know more about a self-coached career change.

Effective self-coaching is not an isolated approach and the book also recognizes the contributions that mentoring and career counseling services can give to IT professionals on a career transition path.

I started to plan and then draft this book in 2012. There were several false starts and gaps. Some of these are documented on the just five rules blog. Yes, these delays were embarrassing but I had already made a public commitment to publish my take on career change and self-coaching. So, there was no doubt in my mind that the book would eventually appear.

What kept me going was the '15 and Forgiveness' approach I first heard from motivational writer and tennis coach, Al Secunda. He was kind enough to let me interview him. Many years later I wrote a short eBook about our conversation. I like to think of it as a companion book to this one. The title is 'Living Your Best Life - Self-coaching Conversations.'

Here is a list of the self-coaching exercises in each chapter.

Chp. 1 Your Career Reality Checksum
Ex. 1 The Visible EM Spectrum
Ex. 2 The Invisible EM Spectrum
Ex. 3 Make This Book Reading Quiz a Habit

Chp. 2 Seven Major Career Change Clangers
Ex. 4 Skill Up!
Ex. 5 What's Your Powerful Request?

Chp. 3 Just Five Rules: The Self-Coaching Model
Ex. 6 Embracing Emotional Goal Creation
Ex. 7 Career Change Clarity

Chp. 4 Your Inner Sensei
Ex. 8 Behind The Dumbness of Setting Unreachable Goals
Ex. 9 Hypnotic Goal Setting Unleashed
Ex. 10 The Goal Setting Form Letter
Ex. 11 The Success Trigger

Chp. 5 Rule One: Take Action
Ex. 12 Your Disco Shuffle
Ex. 13 The Strength Game

Chp. 6 Rule Two: Follow a Proven Plan
Ex. 14 Career Anchors Self-Assessment
Ex. 15 About You

Chp. 7 Focus on One Thing at a Time
Ex. 16 Your Great Adventure

Chp. 8 Letting Time Go Lightly
Ex. 17 If You Could
Ex. 18 Seeding and Weeding In The Garden of Goals

Chp. 9 Find Games Worth Playing
Ex. 19 And Your Big Goal in Life is What?
Ex. 20 Anything You Want

Chp. 10 Parting Thoughts
Ex. 21 Your Vision and Mission Statement
Ex. 22 Your Turn

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