Five life lessons from a career chameleon

I was pleased to speak at the December Chamber Breakfast about my career journey to date. After 4 careers and 5 jobs, I shared what I’ve learnt along the way.

Starting out as a solicitor, I’m also a former journalist, research analyst and new business manager. I now head up creative strategy, verbal branding and copywriting at creative studio, Sherlock. And I’m a recently published children’s author.

For many, the end of December is a time of great reflection before making positive lifestyle or career changes in the New Year. For anyone who’s in that frame of mind, here are my five ‘life lessons’ from my career over the past 20 years.

1. Do what makes you happy / Don’t do what makes you unhappy

It sounds so obvious, doesn’t it? But life’s busy, and it’s all too easy to slip into doing something which doesn’t make us happy. Whether it’s a project, a client, a job, or a whole career, I’ve learnt through experience that if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you’re much less likely to succeed. And over time, it runs the risk of eroding your confidence, your wellbeing and even your ability to perform your job.

2. Reframe your ‘impossible’ as ‘possible’

It isn’t just people we perceive to be extraordinary who can achieve extraordinary things, you know. Us ‘ordinary’ people can do them too! We can all achieve the impossible. But the first step towards doing so is to retune your thinking. Take what you want to do and think, ‘Well, it could be possible if I…’ Design a roadmap – in your mind or on paper – of how you’ll get there and you’ll stand a much greater chance of making it happen.

3. Accept and embrace those inevitable stepping-stone jobs

There’s only so much you can glean from a job spec and an interview: occasionally a new job isn’t all you thought it would be. If you find yourself in that situation, don’t panic but embrace the chance to live outside of your comfort zone for a while. Learn what you can while you can and upskill. If it’s still not working out, move on in the knowledge that you’ve learnt something from the experience which – I can assure you - will be useful in some way, in some form, in future.

4. Craft your own story

LinkedIn, CVs and application forms are very factual, staccato ways of communicating your career journey and personality. Importantly, they leave it to someone else to connect the dots and write your narrative. Whether you’re job-hunting or not, spend some time piecing together your own story. Understand in your own mind what you enjoy, what you need in order to thrive, and why you made certain career, job or lifestyle decisions in the past. There’s only one person who knows the real story behind the facts… and it’s you! Getting your story straight in your own mind will really set you up for future changes.

5. If you really believe in something but no one’s listening, keep going. If they say no, do it anyway. And if you need to go to the top, what’s stopping you?

It’s easy to give up on something if it’s harder than we think it’s going to be. That’s particularly the case if we receive negative feedback from someone or we’re simply ghosted when we reach out. If you really believe in an idea you have, or you’re trying to make something happen, focus on what you want to achieve and put the hurdles to one side. Remember that we all have different priorities, agendas and time. All of these factors can feed into someone’s negative - or lack of - response. So don’t let it put you off. And for the right thing in the right place at the right time, it can pay to go right to the person at the top.

Rich Ford is Strategy Director at Sherlock Studio. Find out more about Rich’s recently published children’s book, Unken Dunken Makes Pancakes here, and get a copy at toy stores across Brighton or online.

Rich spoke at our Chamber Breakfast in December. Find all our upcoming Breakfasts in 2023 on the Chamber events calendar.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk