It’s the time of year for resolutions. Get fit, lose weight, learn a language and generally turn ourselves into better human beings.
However, few professionals resolve to do the one thing that would truly improve their lives in the coming year, which is to plan their escape from a corporate life that is draining them dry.
With only nine per cent of us actually in our dream jobs, according to LinkedIn, most of us appear to be trapped in careers that cause pain and not pleasure.
Things don’t have to be this way.
You don’t have to endure dispiriting commutes, fraught days with colleagues as disillusioned as you, or wait around for the redundancy axe to fall your way, as long as you resolve to do something different.
And that’s what more and more disenchanted professionals are doing.
Fed up with their lot, they’re turning their back on the world of big business to become new entrepreneurs - post-corporate employees who achieve greater prosperity and freedom by tapping into the fresh opportunities offered by a changing business landscape.
So if you’re stuck in a rut, there’s no need to stay there because, just like them, you’re already equipped to succeed outside the organisation - all that’s required is a new way of looking at the world.
So what do you have to do differently?
MINDSET
First, reprogramme your mindset, because almost certainly you’re holding a set of negative and unhelpful thinking patterns that pigeonhole you as a ‘corporate individual’ who can’t succeed on your own.
Of course, career specialisation means that, as yet, you probably don’t have a full complement of business skills, but when they first start up in business, who does?
And take solace from the fact that many others far less qualified or competent than you are already running highly profitable businesses.
You may not be the ‘finished item’, but your corporate time has still equipped you with an invaluable armoury of skills that enables you to assess and analyse, understand process, focus on outcomes and much more besides.
DESTINATION
Second, you need to set yourself a destination - the business you can make your own.
You may not be quite sure of the core idea right now, but like any seasoned individual you’re already sitting on a wealth of possibilities that can come from your interests, passions and experiences.
And the good news is the business tide is turning in the new entrepreneur’s direction, as enthusiastic customers and clients demand ever more focused services and products geared to their needs.
CHOICE
Third, you must force yourself to make the choice to leave the rat race.
If you don’t, you end up prevaricating, wasting time and leaving the decision to others.
That takes away your control and puts you at their mercy.
Don’t convince yourself that if you hang on things will get better soon.
With Eurozone issues yet to feed through and the world still economically shaky, they probably won’t and that leaves anyone in corporate life exposed.
ACTION
Finally, having decided to break free, take action to make that happen.
Don’t let inertia out of ignorance keep you where you are and from being who you really could be.
Will the transition from employee to new entrepreneur be easy, quick and simple?
Hopefully so, but possibly not.
But will taking charge of your own destiny make you happier? There’s no guarantee, but almost certainly yes, and there’s no better resolution than that.
Maite Barón is author of Corporate Escape: The Rise of the New Entrepreneur.
You can download two free chapters of Corporate Escape here: www.maitebaron.com/freechapters