What Scares You Most?
Let fear propel you to make a change instead of being the reason you don't
Two years ago, I made the difficult decision to change jobs.
Changing jobs wasn’t the difficult part—if you know anything about me, you know I’m down for change. What was difficult was the decision to move away from the industry and roles I had been in for 18 years, and into something that was totally unfamiliar to me.
I had worked in higher education for 15 years, and was a higher ed CIO the last ten of those years. After leaving university life, I held roles that focused on higher education for another three years—first as an industry analyst and then as a go-to-market strategy leader for AWS.
Until one day in August, 2022 …
I moved away from an IT and higher ed-focused role, and transferred into the AWS partner organization to lead a team focused on accelerating co-sell with some of the company’s most strategic partners, globally. For the record, at the time I knew next-to-nothing about partner organizations, partner programs, or co-sell … so obviously, this move made perfect sense. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)
I had made job leaps before, including when I decided to hang up my CIO hat for a corporate job. But the last time I made a move this significant—shifting both role and industry at the same time—I was younger and less established in my career, had fewer responsibilities in life (family, kids, house), and wasn’t walking away from both the resume and the reputation I had built up over 18 years in one field.
And yet, walk away I did.
I knew I needed a change. I was no longer learning and growing at the rate that I wanted to be. I wanted to deepen my understanding of Amazon’s peculiar culture and explore different areas of the business. But despite having clear reasons for wanting a change, it still wasn’t an easy decision to make.
I agonized over this decision. I made lists. I talked to family and friends, and consulted with trusted colleagues about what made the most career sense. I weighed the pros and cons. In the end, I was no closer to knowing what the right decision was than when I started.
And then someone asked me “What scares you most, staying in your current role or taking the new one? Do that.”
The answer was abundantly clear—so that’s what I did.
I made the move. It was the decision that I knew was best all along, but couldn’t quite pull the trigger on. For every pro, there was a con—there was no clear right choice.
There often isn’t a right answer when it comes to major work or life decisions. No one can tell us the correct course of action or the best path forward. There is no flashing neon sign telling us what to do (but wouldn’t it be nice if there were?).
In the absence of clarity, we often choose the path of least resistance—staying the course. Because choosing the other path requires making a change, and change is difficult (even if we think we want it). Change pushes us into unfamiliar territory, outside of our comfort zone. It feeds into our imposter syndrome and deeply rooted insecurity that we simply are not good enough and our previous success was a fluke.
We let our fear paralyze us. But what if we didn’t?
What if we let our fear propel us to make a change, instead of being the reason we don’t? What if we lean into our fear, because it means we are …
Facing a change—and change is important, healthy, and good for us.
Outside of our comfort zone—and that’s where we’ll learn and grow the most.
Feeling imposter syndrome—and that’s what will help fuel our ability to succeed (and remember, “only losers don’t feel like losers”).
There are rarely clear answers in life. We make the best decisions we can with the information we have available to us at the time. So use your fear as information, and do what scares you most.
Because as Yung Pueblo says, “what’s meant for you will sometimes feel scary, risky, and new. ease and calm don’t always mean you’re moving in the right direction.”
Is the decision you’re contemplating a job change? Read my post “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” on knowing when it’s time to move on from your job.