Career Transition: how to change your job titles without losing yourself.

The ground keeps shifting, but your core doesn’t have to.  

We dive into the art of evolving your identity without feeling lost, using one deceptively simple question to turn uncertainty into clarity.  

When we anchor to purpose and let the packaging change, we gain freedom to pivot, experiment, and still feel like ourselves.  

We start by dismantling the end of history illusion, that sneaky belief that who we are today is who we’ll be forever.  

You’ll hear how Maya Shankar reframed a lost violin career into cognitive science by following her values, and how Vera Wang translated the drive of elite skating into world-changing fashion. Those stories aren’t fairy dust - they’re blueprints. If your why is service, creation, truth, or potential, there are many hats that can honor it, even as technology and markets evolve.  

Walk away with a simple, repeatable practice to keep your core steady while your tools, titles, and tactics evolve with the times.  

If this sparked something for you, follow the show, share it with a friend or your mastermind, and leave a quick review so more people can navigate change with clarity and courage.  

Transcript

Letting Go Of Old Selves

Expectations, Taste, And Bias

Adjusting Identity To Reality

Happiness = Reality - Expectations

Maya Shankar And The Power Of Why

Vera Wang, AI, And Lasting Purpose

Your Turn: Clarify And Practice

Share, Review, And Keep Evolving

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Shorina. I'm your host. I'm your partner in Change, Personal and Collective Evolution, executive coach, executive health and high performance coach 360, and just someone who's really passionate and absolutely committed to your absolute best and human potential. Guys, today, as usual, we are discussing tools for change, for evolving, for growing, and also for shifting identities, for saying goodbye to who we were, to say hello to who uh who we are becoming. I found with my clients and myself that the hardest part of change is actually letting go of our old version of self, to then adjust to the world, to the change, to how we find things instead of how we wish things were. Today we'll talk about one simple tool, one simple question that you can use to keep evolving and shifting with the world, to change your work titles, your career paths easier and more naturally, more aligned with the world and your personal identity as it evolves, versus clinging to what was there and getting sad and frustrated with the world just moving too fast and you seemingly losing a lot of things, maybe even losing yourself, and not really sure how you fit in into this new world. So it seems ambitious that just one tool, one question can be a game changer, a life changer, a career changer. But some questions are truly this transformational when you ask them at the right moment for the right reason. Guys, first I want to start with what we all can relate to food. When somebody cooks a dish for us, whether that's at home, you know, somebody's house, in a restaurant, in a cafe, whether we like it or not depends on a couple of things. A, our expectations. Well, what do we think a good meal in this specific situation at this specific place is supposed to be like? Right? The right amount of salt or sweetness, the right amount of cooked, the right presentation and portion size, the right combination of foods. You know, for example, in certain cultures, they are like Chinese culture. At least for me, it's very not so much foreign, but you know, something I'm really not used to, or Thai culture or Japanese culture. Like they have a lot of different food combinations that we more or less Westerners are not really used to and wouldn't think they're like delicious. Even I like a lot of foods that a lot of people think like, how can you eat it like 100% chocolate with no sugar whatsoever? How can you enjoy it? Or Nato, that is uh if you don't know what it is, it's a Japanese fermented soy beans, and they taste some people say like fit, dirty, sweetie fit, but I actually don't like it. Or there is this fruit durian that smells like something is throatening, but then some people say that it tastes like ice cream. I couldn't get over it that weird smell, not taste the texture. But the point is, the good meal will depend on a lot of things, like our expectations or our preferences on that particular day. Maybe sometimes we want sweeter or we want things to be saltier or we want things to be lighter or heavier or more refreshing or more warming and comforting. We love different foods at different times. We love different foods, period. We also admire different people at different stages of our lives, right? Maybe today you like uh Taylor Swift, and in 10 years you'd be into music of the 60s and some blues and jazz. Things change. We change. We strive for different things at different stages of our life. What you found to be exhilarating and exciting when you were or are in your 20s is gonna be different than what you find exciting in your 50s and 60s. But there is this like cognitive bias and of history illusion that we feel that how we feel, what we like, how we are right now is that's how we're gonna be till the rest of our life. The funniest thing is even people on Twitters think that way, like, no way I'm gonna change, no way I'm gonna like, and then looking backwards, if you do some sort of journaling and you have the record of what you liked back then, maybe some pictures also, your old records, you're like, how what how was I liking that? It's completely out of my taste right now. So we evolve, we change, and the things we like, none of it is good or bad, right or wrong. It's simply what matches our expectations, preferences, values, desires, needs right now. And the challenging part in life is often that we cling too too much for too long to this outdated, outgrown idea of who we were for too long. What we need, what we like, what we're supposed to want, what we're supposed to have by now. We start believing that what we already have is what we'll prefer forever, and we start designing our life moving forward around that, and on that around that work title, or that, or that specific industry, or that specific way of working, or that specific income. And we think that no other choice, but like more, or exactly what we envision, only that option can be as good. The most challenging part of life is often letting go of what we were supposed to be, to want, to have. We hold on to old preferences and titles even when they no longer match our reality. They no longer match even who we are becoming. We cling to who we were at the expense of who we are becoming. Take an example of an injured athlete. Uh stay with me, you'll understand what I mean. The athlete was in their fitness peak fitness, and they had a specific lifestyle and a specific diet, and then something happened, or maybe they outgrew this stage of life, and they were not as active anymore. But maybe their preferences of food and certain meals and amounts stayed the same. But then reality shifted, and you're no longer that athlete. And so a lot of your preferences actually need to adjust in order for you to feel good versus getting fat and feeling like really like your prime is behind you. But if you just adjust to who you're becoming, actually, you still can have a pretty damn awesome experience if you adjust to the change. A seed in a garden doesn't get mad at the change of seasons. It changes with the season so it can grow and thrive. With all the ways we've adapted the world to us, we've made it convenient, we sometimes forget that we still have to adapt to the world as well as it is, not as we would like it to be. And the world, that world never stops changing. Now it's accelerating interchange even more. Unlike plants, we get angry at that or sad or resistant. Like, why did it have to change? Well, because change is the nature of our reality, and that resistance makes change far more painful than it needs to be. I love this formula, guys, that I remind myself and my clients over and over and over again. Happiness equals reality minus expectations. Think about that. Happiness equals reality, what the world is like, minus your expectations. It's a great reminder that happiness is mostly an inside job. Because in that formula, the only thing that you can control is your expectations. You cannot control reality. I recently, yesterday actually, just finished this book, The Other Side of Change: Who We Become When Life Makes Other Plans by Maya Shankar. And Maya Shankar for the context, she's now like really brilliant cognitive scientist, but in her youth, she thought she was meant to be a violinist. She went through very rigorous training, but then she had some conditions that wouldn't allow her to become the kind of violinist she wanted to be. And so she needed to make a choice. How does she evolve into your new her new version of life without the violin? The core message of the book reminded me that the most important work that we have to do as humans is matching our own evolution and growth to the change as it unfolds to the world, as it unfolds, as it as it evolves, not as we would like it to be according to our plan. The most important work is not clinging to old identities just because we've had them for a long time. Change is the only constant in this world. It always works, it always will be. Which means we have to be evolving all the time too. And the faster it goes, the more we have to evolve. Not everything. The core stays the same. But all the outer parts, the things we have, the food that we are used to, that those things might change. But some parts of us have to change and evolve and grow with it. And the core of us, what makes us, what makes you you, it's gotta stay the same so you feel not lost and wandering and floating in the air like some leaf without any foundation, but still you, even with all the change. And that is a dictotomy, that is a conundrum that we all have to figure out. How do I stay true to myself and keep changing, evolving, and growing? How do you change your job, your work title, maybe the business you do without losing yourself? Parts that are really essential to you. And one of the most useful tools that I learned in the book or was reminded of because I already been using it in coaching with clients and with myself. So one of the most useful tools, one question, was asking, yeah, why do I do the things that I do? The why tends to be long-lasting. Like I remember even when I was eight and ten years old, I always was fascinated by human potential, by superheroes, by who we can become, who we can evolve into, and what we can do to get ourselves closer and closer to that version of self without using anything else getting in the way. Like that was fascinated me since I was a kid. The why tends to be long-lasting. The what will keep changing, especially in a world that's accelerating that fast, the eye and everything. When Maya Shankar, the author of the book, The Other Side of Change, Who We Become When Life Makes, Other Plans, when Maya Shankar had to stop being a violinist, she didn't just ask, what else can I do? She asked, Why didn't love being a violinist in the first place? She dug into her values and tried to understand why she loved the things that she loved. And then she found another way to leave those same values, eventually becoming a brilliant cognitive scientist. Vera Wong, the famous fashion designer and bridal industry icon, she transitioned, believe it or not, if I read it either in Hidden Potential or some other book, but you can also Google it. So Vera Vera Wong transitioned from a competitive figure skater who was getting ready for the Olympic team, so not just you know average uh ice skater. She transitioned from that to a groundbreaking fashion designer and bridal industry icon by asking why. Why did she like the things that she liked? And what else could she do leaving the same values when she couldn't do figure skating anymore? That question did the same thing for me. That's how I'm not afraid of the world of AI. Because I simply ask myself more often, why do I do my work to unlock more human potential and people who are striving to be their best? And so the roles will change how I call myself, the tools will change, the formats will change, the why doesn't. And so I can evolve and shape shift as the world changes. Staying true to who I am. And as many of you will have to change what you do on paper, your job title, your career title, multiple times in your lives now, especially the younger you are, the more you will have to change. This question becomes an essential practice. Why do I do the things that I do? And what else could fulfill the same why as the world changes? So over to you, dear listener. Why do you do your work? Why do you care about things that you care about? And what other path might let keep that why alive? What other path can you explore to keep that why alive while you're pursuing other different things that show up in the world as the world changes? And uh well, before we sum up this episode, guys, don't forget to share this episode with maybe your book club or your peer club as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, maybe your interest club in some other arena. Share this podcast with at least one other person, maybe a group, so it's a community thing. So that's something you could discuss and practice together, and then rate review our podcast so we reach more listeners around the world. So we so you help me to help more people transition through life without losing the sense of self, but actually strengthening and and creating more and more fulfilling life experience. So it will help me a lot. And to sum up this episode, guys, life will keep changing, and you are designed to evolve as well. And as we are moving into this uh era of really fast change, of things uh emerging and dying and shape shifting, we all need to be comfortable with that a lot of titles, a lot of things we are used to, even foods that we are used to as our global population grows and we learn different ways of making foods better more sustainably, right? A lot of things will change and evolve. And so it's very important to understand why you do the things that you do, what are your values, why you care about certain things but not other things, so that when life shifts and changes, whether it's like for that injured athlete or Maya Shankar from violinist to cognitive scientist, or there are one from uh figure skater to a world-known um bridal designer. So when the life changes as it always will, you can easily adapt to the change because you know what is your core and what are the evolving, growing, shape-shifting parts of identities that you can easily let go of or find them a different expression. Guys, hope it was helpful. The next step is practice, ask yourself why do I do what I do? And all what are the all the what are all the ways that I can stay true to myself, changing all these externalities, right? Why do you do what you do? Thank you guys for listening. Thank you for tuning in, and till next time, keep pushing the envelope, the boundaries, and keep growing.