**This is an auto-generated transcript**

Regardless of where you are in your career journey.

I want you to hear me loud and clear. Anybody that moves to a new specialty, when they get the job, they don't have experience in that specialty 9 times out of 10. That's why they invite you to come to the specialty, because you get a job and you learn and you grow.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today I'm talking about changing specialties. I get this question a lot and I wanted to talk about it briefly today just to give you something to think about in your career. Because so many of you are sitting on the fence wondering, should I change specialties?

What if I don't have enough? Maybe I need another certificate. Like what am I doing here? I'm bored. like, I can't do this anymore. I want to move on to another position. But then your brain kicks in and you find all the reasons why you can't and why it's not going to be possible for you instead of looking at all the evidence out there to suggest all the ways in which it could be possible for you.

So whilst last week we talked about allowing the boredom and allowing yourself just to sit with being quote unquote bored in your job and using it as an opportunity for self growth, self regulation and personal development. I want you to think about this week, about what is really stopping you from changing specialties.

So many of you message me and say, Liam, I, you know, I've hit a brick wall in this job. I'm feeling the pull to do something more. And I'm thinking of doing this, this or this. Or you'll say, I don't know. And then I'll come back and say, well, What's stopping you from making that happen? Like, it's totally possible.

Based on what you've just told me, you can totally do that. And then, their brain, cue their brain, their subconscious brain, it just gives all of the, verbal BS, right, of like, why they can't do it. And I want to just offer to you that that's all it ever is. It's only effort. Verbal BS. It's subconscious thoughts that we have been conditioned to believe over time that we think are gospel truth.

They are not facts. They're just stories. Okay, and the stories tend to just love to keep us safe. For example, recently I've been on a few calls with nurses that have been wanting to explore new pathways in their career. They've got amazing experience. Now, for those of you that don't have quote unquote amazing experience, everybody has amazing experience.

By amazing experience I mean they've got, yeah, a couple of years, at least five years plus. And they're questioning themselves and they're saying, I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if it's possible for me, I want to shift from here to here but I don't have experience in that area. And regardless of where you are in your career journey.

about making a shift because your brain's going to be like, but you need to have it all worked out. You need to know exactly what you're going to be doing. You need to know the exact steps from A to B for you to be able to be successful in this process. You need to go and get another certificate. Don't you think you can go across there and become an intensive care nurse without ever stepping foot in an ICU?

Right? You need to go and get a master's before you can do that. Just notice what your brain is offering you when you're thinking of navigating all of these changes in your career. And I just want you to acknowledge that change. Change is not what your brain likes, okay? Change is not invited by your brain.

So it could be the best job on the earth, it could be paying you a million dollars, your brain is still going to throw up all the crap, but what if I'm not capable? What if I can't do it? What if, you know, I need more qualifications, more time, more experience? But I want you to tune into the part of you that is curious about it, because it might only just be 1 percent of your being that is curious, but I want you to lean into that part of you that is like, but what if I could do this?

What if I could do this? If he can do it, I can do it. If she can do it, I can do it. And I'm not going to stop until I make it my reality. I'm going to align my thinking, feeling, and actions intentionally, and I'm going to see all of the brain BS, and I'm just going to allow it to be there, and I'm going to step by step, thought by thought, going to just try on a new thought, and reframe and reconsider how I talk to myself about opportunities, about possibilities, Because if you want to do something in your career, and someone else has done it, Why would it not be possible for you? Cue your brain's BS. When I grew up as a child, no one ever believed in me. That's exactly what I say. Right? I tell myself all these stories that just further confirm why I can't hit my goals.

You know, like I've got a slow metabolism. I can't lose the weight, but I want to lose the weight, right? Maybe, just maybe, right now I'm not supposed to lose all the weight. Maybe I'm supposed to be exactly as I am. Because I don't have a compelling enough reason yet. I don't believe in the full possibility that I can be a Greek Adonis.

And that's totally fine, but when I argue with it all the time, I just create this horrific internal world for myself. Right? And usually I then externally take it out on usually look, right? My partner. So I just want to, I digress a little bit, but I just want you to think about how that could be true in pursuing something new in your career.

That change is just change equals lack of safety. Our brain believes our subconscious oldest part of our brain, our primitive brain believes change equals a lack of safety. It is unsafe. Our job to use our prefrontal cortex and a higher part of our brain is to have a little internal narrative, a little storytelling session where we're like, okay, primitive brain, tell me all the things and your primitive brain's like, well, you know.

How are you going to pay your bills? What if that panel don't like the way you look? What if you stumble in the interview? What if you get the job and you lose a friend because they're, you know, on the floor still? What if, what if, what if, what if, what if? That's totally always going to come up, regardless, okay, at any level of your career.

But what we want to do is we just create space and allow those thoughts to come up. We don't believe them. We're just curiously analyzing them and exploring them and being like, well, that could be true. The panel might not like what I say or what I wear. Maybe the panel will be horrible. Maybe. Maybe, when I get promoted, I, will lose a friend.

Maybe they, have their own drama that they're dealing with. And that's fine. Okay? But then we want it to happen to our prefrontal cortex and be like, okay, so what could be possible here? What if I get a promotion and make five new friends? that I haven't met before. Maybe I'll meet my best mate in that role.

What if I get promoted and I move and change specialty and I swap from aged care into intensive care nursing and I show other people that it's possible? What if I get promoted and I realise that maybe it's not all about the money but like, I find my dream job and I'm just so enamoured with this opportunity to grow, learn, develop?

What if I allow myself to change specialties and in the process I learn so much more about myself? So as much as we might have negative what ifs, like what if this could happen? What if the worst thing could happen? We also have the other end of the spectrum and we're changing specialties that are totally possible and totally available to us.

How you experience that change is dictated by how you think and feel about it. Okay, let me say that again. How you experience any change, any transition, is how you consciously, with your prefrontal cortex, not your primitive old part of your brain, how you consciously think and feel about it. Okay, because remember, our thoughts create our feelings, feelings drive our actions, actions create our reality, our results.

When we think that, you know, this is an amazing opportunity, it's so possible for me, I can go out there and create this. I'm totally a great candidate. I have amazing transferable skills. We feel confident and empowered. Our actions align with that. We apply, we sell ourselves, we go all in. We deliver to the interview.

And the reality and result that we can possibly create for ourselves, that's within our control, is that we give ourselves the best go. That we allow ourselves to go all in. Because here's what I want you all to pay attention to. The worst thing that can happen. The worst thing that can happen in any change process is that you feel an emotion.

You didn't think I was going to say that, did you? The worst thing that can happen is you feel a certain way. That's it. Maybe you're embarrassed. Maybe you feel a little bit ashamed. Maybe you feel disappointment. Maybe you're frustrated. Maybe you're angry. Maybe you feel pissed, right? I always talk about it.

Maybe you feel stressed, maybe you're just like, I think I said disappointed, but you get the gist. The worst thing that's going to happen is you're going to feel a certain way. You apply for the change of specialty and the panel say no. You feel rejected. You feel sad. You feel disappointed. But we feel that way in the moment because of our thought.

And what is the thought that is driving that emotion? Is it I'm so sad because this opportunity was amazing, and that's why I feel sad and disappointed, or are we telling ourselves through a primitive old neural pattern, subconscious pattern, I just wasn't good enough, was I? Or, you know, maybe I'm lacking in something, maybe there's somebody better on the day, you know, maybe I'm just not good enough.

That creates a different experience of the same emotion, right? So I just want you to tune into that and normalize that it's okay to feel disappointment, it's okay to feel frustration, all of the things that we just talked about, but we want to get consciously aware of like, what is the thought that's driving this?

And is it a thought that I want to consciously continue to practice believing? For me, I would be okay with feeling sadness for a day, for 48 hours, right? Through telling myself something like, I'm disappointed because I really tried my best. That's fine. But it's when we create these stories and these neural pathways, and I see this all the time, where when we try and change and we don't make the result happen, and it's out of our control and we don't get the job, we then start creating these stories like, well, maybe I need something more, maybe I'm not good enough, maybe I'm not capable, maybe they don't want me.

And that creates a whole different narrative. And that's like a prolonged... Micro imprint of trauma right on our psyche as we move and we continue to tell that story, right? We want to tell our stories of our career in a way that in the present serves us That we're not looking to the past and trying to change the past, that we're telling the story in a way that serves and communicates how awesome we are as we move forward.

That's not egotistical, that's not overly confident. It's just being kind, loving, compassionate, respectful to yourself. So when we change specialties, it's an emotional rollercoaster. Your brain is going to want to resist the change. It doesn't want to change, ever. It wants you to stay, and I want you to hear this, it wants you to stay even when it's a hot mess express.

Even when your body and all of the other parts of your body is saying, You need to leave this place, you need to leave this place, you can't stay here anymore. Your brain won't convince you to stay because it's a highly efficient operating machine. It's like a dialysis machine. It loves to be super efficient.

It's very technical. Right? It's very methodical and logical. And it wants to preserve energy. It wants to get the job done. Right? If you've ever seen a dialysis machine, it looks like so complex. And then like, but it just works so well and it gets the job done. Right? That's like our brain. That's like our body.

We are a highly efficient operating system. And when we introduce change, we interrupt the efficiency because when change is happening, you guys all know this because we have change every day in healthcare, we then have to create new neural pathways, new mental and cognitive cognitive pathways. We have to allow ourselves to experience different emotions that we haven't experienced.

We have to take different actions. All of that requires energy. That's why change is difficult. That's why we've been worried to not engage and like change. Okay, but on the other side of change is growth. And through change is growth. And that mental and emotional capacity building that occurs when you do change, whether you get the result or not, is always worth it.

If we look at it and we allow ourselves to see through that lens of continued personal development. So if you're somebody that is changing specialties, normalize all of the =things= that I just talked about. Let yourself, remind yourself, let yourself sit with the discomfort of pursuing your dreams.

When we pursue our goals, I'm a firm believer, my coach says this all the time, that discomfort is the currency of your dreams. Now, discomfort is the currency of your dreams, it can be a comfortable process towards your dreams, it doesn't have to be hell on earth. But, en route to the goal, we do often experience uncomfortable things, especially if we're coming through this dysregulated state where we're not really open to experiencing all of the things.

So, whilst we build that mental and emotional capacity, and whilst we allow ourselves to regulate ourselves, and our nervous system, and our emotional experience, and we build mental and emotional wealth, and we allow ourselves to experience all of the things, change becomes a little bit easier every time that you do it, but it will still throw up all of the brain drama every time.

So, if you're going through that process, it's totally normal. So, nothing's gone wrong. You're right on track, whether you're a graduate nurse, an AIN graduate nurse, or you're moving from Don to CEO, it's always going to be the way. And the more that we can manage our internal roles in that process, the more that we allow ourselves to feel harder, we will suffer less, and we will grow and thrive as we build our careers, instead of just surviving and hoping and praying that the next level we'll be able to deal with all the things.

So I'm super excited for you. If you're changing specialty, you're listening to this episode, go out there and do all the things, create all the opportunities for yourself. Know that sometimes when you change specialties, it's okay to fail. It is okay to get rejected sometimes. Well, all the times a rejection is a redirection.

Let yourself. Be exposed to the discomfort of rejection. And then see it for what it is and just be like, Oh my god, rejection is just like, it's actually not that scary. I get rejected, like, it's only made worse by how I think about rejection. Rejection is just an emotional experience. I get to change my state, I get to change how I think about be rejected.

How could you think about it like that? And when you are navigating, changing your specialty, creating space for opportunity and creating multiple opportunities and volume of applications is normal. Don't let anybody tell you that if you apply once and you don't get it, you should never apply again. I see this happen all the time.

I want you to think about it through this lens. This is how I think about business. Because if I took every rejection personally when I started my business and continue to grow my business and people saying no and people not engaging, then I would like be back at work. In a job that I hate.

Hopefully not. But I would be not doing what I do today because I've been able to build my mental and emotional capacity for rejection. And I don't make it mean anything about me anymore. At the start I used to make it mean something about me. But what I believe has helped me is volume. Okay? Like, I did, like, over 200 calls one year.

Where, like, 150 of them said no to me. They're like, no, no, I'm not interested. That's fine. But I've built the mental and emotional capacity to be able to deal with that. So when you're changing specialty, don't be afraid of putting out lots of applications. or don't tell yourself that you shouldn't have to do 10, 15, 20 applications.

Maybe you do. Maybe if you really want to make big change, that's totally normal. That's actually one of the main reasons why, if you join our Graduate Career Launch Programme Round 2, which is open right now for grads that haven't landed their job, their first job, and they want all the support. Or if you join any of our other programmes where we work with you until you land a job.

That's why we provide unlimited support, because we know that sometimes it just is volume. Sometimes you've just got to apply multiple times, to different jobs, different positions, for the right thing to come through, for the right opportunity to arise for you. Like, we've got to stop beating ourselves up for not getting it the first time around.

Sometimes we have to apply multiple times, and that's totally okay. Let's normalize. Volume of application. Now, volume of application is when your application is solid, and it's really, really good, and your interview game is amazing, and you're prepped, and you're prepared, and you're positioning yourself well.

Not hundreds of applications, when you've strung together your application, you've shot it out to the world, and you're then questioning your self worth. Am I capable? Okay, because there are two things that stop you from getting a job, and none of them have got to do with you. It is your application and the ability to sell and communicate your skill set through your application.

So how can we sell you through written words on an application and show them why you're perfect for the job. To make an irresistible offer to the employer. And number two is your interview preparation and skills in the interview and being able to communicate and sell yourself to the interview. Notice I didn't mention that your years of clinical experience, your GPA, your postgraduate qualifications.

None of that really technically matters in the process of applying for a specialty change. If you think about how impersonal the process is as it currently stands, it's about your application and your interview. That's what they take you on, that's what they judge you on, that's what they assess you on.

So we've got to solve for those two problems, make them amazing. And then the opportunities will fly in the door. Okay, so if you're somebody that wants to work with us and wants to explore that, we are open. We are here. We are ready to rock and roll. If you are a graduate nurse that didn't land your graduate position, I'm so sorry that happened.

It totally sucks. Come and have a chat with us. Download our didn't land our grad guide. It's in the show notes here. And book a call and let's map out your next steps. If you are not a graduate nurse and you're thinking why does LIam only help the graduates? We help everybody. I get that message all the time.

We help all the people. So come and book a call with me. Let's map out where you are. Let's talk about your options. Let's think about where you could potentially go. What is possible for you? Let's create a little bit of space in your brain to start seeing that it's possible. Because when we're dysregulated, it's really hard to see our options.

That's where you're probably saying, I don't know what I could do. I don't know what I would do with my career. It's probably because you're in a high stress state and you have been for a little while. So come and let me help you co regulate. Let's have a conversation. Let's see where we can take you. And let me see if I can help you see what is possible for you in your nursing career.

I'll see you next week.

Hey, thanks so much for listening. I'm so privileged that you spent your time with us here today. Hey, can I ask a favor? If you know someone that would benefit from this podcast episode, please share it with them. The more you share, the more we get in front of amazing nurses, and we're able to help them see that nursing on their terms, across their career, is totally possible for them.

So I'd love if you could do that. Now, I will see you in the next episode next week. Until then, let's make this year the year that you nurse on your terms. Are you ready? Let's do it.