Hello friends!

One of the most commonly asked questions I receive is this:

I got asked this so much that I started to ask myself the meta-question of:

And then it dawned on me. The question wasn't about timing... it was about how to know when you're ready. There's no framework people can go to for this problem, and so that's why I get asked this question all the time.

And so I came up with the framework :)

That's what this week's exploration is about.

This week's theme:

How to know you're ready for that big life change.

Ironically, this actually takes me back to the skills I learned in my McKinsey days. Back then, we used to ask this super helpful question when dealing with unclear goals and strategies:

It's such a powerful question, and so we're going to apply it here:

And I believe there are just three conditions that need to be true.

Condition #1. You know what you want

Many people don't feel ready for the life change because they don't know what they actually want. And as a result, they're not sure if the change will be worth it.

Some other people have made decisions in the past thinking it'd give them what they want, but it turned out not to be true — and now they're second guessing themselves.

Condition #2. You know how to get there

Unsurprisingly, this is the area where most people focus their effort on. It's the deep research and the endless weighing of pros and cons.

The goal here is to eliminate all the unknowns... or is it?

What most people miss here is that there's a parallel path you can take to make you feel ready: Be okay with the unknowns.

If you combine "narrowing down uncertainty" with "increasing your acceptance of uncertainty", you'll feel ready much sooner.

Condition #3. You're okay with the costs

This is the condition that prompts the age-old question: "What if I end up regretting this?"

It's what I often work through with my coaching clients.

The solution always takes some form like this:

1. Many of the 'regrets' turn out to be unexamined fears which can be managed
2. Once you let go of those fears, then the regrets also fade into the background
3. And if the regret turns out to be a genuine life-changing regret, then we shift to making peace with letting go of this life change.

And that's it. Every single instance of someone asking the question "How will I know it's the right time to make that big life change?" usually means that one of those three conditions was not met.

If that's you, then go through those 3 conditions to examine what's missing.

And if you'd like to bounce ideas with someone who's worked with dozens of high achieving professionals on this exact topic, you can book a one-off coaching session with me here:

If you'd like to explore this more...

This week's video is about this same topic, narrowed down to context of making a career change.

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That's it for this week's issue of Emotional Explorations! I hope it brought you clarity and I look forward to writing to you again soon.

Best,
Eric