Transformation — real, lasting career shift — doesn’t happen overnight.

As Professor Brad McLain reminds us in his fantastic Designing Transformative Experiences: A Toolkit for Leaders, Trainers, Teachers, and other Experience Designers Byline book (May, 2023), there are seven essential elements we need to pay attention to: risk-taking, control, immersion, social and emotional involvement, intellectual challenge, identity matters and meaning making, that together shape deep, sustainable change.

We need experiences that challenge us — enough to stretch our limits — and we need to reflect on them through honest narrative, to truly change in the long term.

The Regenerative View of Career Shift: Becoming Healthy Systems Ourselves

From the regenerative perspective, we cannot be well in isolation. We are part of systems — families, teams, communities, and ecosystems — and our inner state reflects how these systems function.

To be healthy, we must move with the seasons, deliberately position ourselves on the edge of convergence (alignment) and divergence (exploration), and let emergence happen.

Regeneration asks us to heal our internal story of separation — the false divides between masculine and feminine, body and spirit, left and right brain (source: Regenerative Leadership by Laura Storm and Giles Hutchins).

It invites us to examine our Personal Ecosystem: Which relationships, environments, and habits serve us — and which don’t (source: Regenerators). Then, to take purpose-inspired action accordingly. This is how we begin to align our personal well-being with the health of the living systems we’re part of.

Career Shift and Japanese Psychology: Purpose and the Skills of Wellness

Japanese psychology reminds us that there’s no true career shift without purpose and mental wellness skills — the ability to coexist with unpleasant feelings, accept what is, pay attention, and take purpose-driven (not emotion-driven)action, especially when things get hard.

We must learn to rest deeply and introspect with courage — to see our lives as they really are.

At the heart of this process lies Ikigai — our “reason for living.”
It sits at the intersection of four questions:

1. What does the world need?
2. What are you good at?
3. What do you love doing?
4. What can you be paid for?

The common ground between vocation, mission, passion, and profession is where your Ikigai — your true purpose and career shift direction — reside.

Working with Attention and Career Shift: What You Focus on, Exists

Whatever you pay attention to, exists. Whatever you ignore — even pain — ceases to exist, at least for a moment.

Think about your last visit to a friend’s place: what color were the walls in their living room?
Exactly. You didn’t notice. Now, think about when you’re in a deep, enriching conversation. Do you think about your problems right then? No — your attention is elsewhere, fully engaged.

So what would happen if you gave your undivided attention to your most important project (like your career shift) for just five minutes a day? Would you stop at five minutes — or get lost in the flow, realizing hours later that you haven’t even had a sip of water?

Attention shapes reality. Whatever you feed with attention, grows.

Taking Purposeful Action during a Career Shift

Once you’ve reconnected with your purpose, it’s time to act — especially when it’s hard.

Purposeful action requires:

• Acceptance of what you cannot control,
• Resistance to the pull of fleeting emotions,
• Discipline to show up even when it’s not convenient,
• And authentic purpose as your compass.

Start small — the Japanese call this Kaizen — taking small, consistent steps every day to build momentum towards your career shift.

If you fail to do so, simply return to it. You’ve already won by coming back.

Don’t wait for the “right” conditions — they never come.
And don’t aim to always be right — ask yourself instead: What do I learn more from: my wins or my failures?

Just start. And keep going.

The Morita and Naikan Path: Stillness, Gratitude, and Realignment

In the Morita approach, patients move through four stages to restore balance: they begin with quiet rest and observation, progress to simple, purposeful work, gradually engage in more active tasks including outdoor activity, and finally reintegrate into social and professional life, learning to act despite persistent feelings of anxiety.

What could this look like in your own career shift?

• Go silent. Take time to “winter.” Rest deeply before rediscovering your next move.
• Get comfortable being alone. Solitude is not punishment — it’s a sacred pause.
• Reflect with Naikan. Ask yourself:
  • What have I received from others at my previous workplace?
  • What have I done for others that benefited them?
  • What challenges or problems have I caused?
  • What would I do differently in the next work environment, based on what I’ve learned?

This practice builds your gratitude muscle. It’s powerful — and humbling.
Even if it doesn’t “change your life” or shift your career immediately, it will give you a raw, authentic view of it.

You’ll move from feeling like a victim or an observer of your story to someone sitting behind the steering wheel, finally aware of the direction you’re taking.

Take the ride. Or stay in the parking lot.
It’s your life — your drive.

Risk: Between Recklessness and Regeneration

Now, let’s talk about risk — the word that often triggers both fear and misunderstanding.

We rarely talk about the positives of risk-taking in our culture. We tend to imagine it as standing on a cliff’s edge, one step away from falling into the void.

That’s not risk. That’s either desperation or lack of preparation.

Real risk is something else. We can assess our risks, mitigate them, and prepare wisely. We can distinguish between objective risk (falling) and manageable risk — the kind we can prepare for (source: Designing Transformative Experiences: A Toolkit for Leaders, Trainers, Teachers, and other Experience Designers Byline). We can take ropes, learn how to use them, and build an anchor that will stop us from falling if we get too close to the rim. Because risk isn’t about blindly jumping off the cliff — it’s about learning how to climb it.

And as social science seems to agree: there is no gain without risk-taking. Without it, there’s only status quo. So the question becomes: how much do you love your status quo? Your successful career shift requires you to embrace some level of discomfort.

Rest. Reflect. Risk. Regenerate.

Now, identify what you’d like to have achieved by the end of the year. What stands in your way? What risks does it involve?

Then ask: What can I do today, tomorrow, and for the rest of this month — even just for five minutes daily — to bring me closer to these goals?

Remember: the risks will always be there. But you don’t need to leap into the abyss. You can build ropes, learn to use them, and climb with awareness. And if you fall, you’ll know the fall was part of the ascent.

This process — of resting, reflecting, taking small steps, and embracing calculated risks — isn’t just about changing jobs. It’s about regenerating your whole life: your energy, your sense of purpose, your connection to yourself and others.

Want to Go Deeper?

If you’re curious about how Japanese psychology and the regenerative approach to life can support your career shift, visit our blog for inspiration, take a DIY sabbatical with us, or contact us for 1:1 life transition coaching.

As Harvard Business Review recently noted:

“Taking a break isn’t about stepping away — it’s about stepping into something new.”

Sabbaticals and a Career Shift

And as The New York Times highlighted, companies like Microsoft, Patagonia, and Ralph Lauren are now offering sabbaticals to allow employees to “pause, refocus, and come back more energized.”

Approximately 6.7% of salaried employees were on sabbatical in January 2024, up from 3.3% in 2019 — a sign that more people are embracing rest as part of their professional rhythm. Women are slightly more likely to take this route than men, with 7.2% of women on sabbatical compared to 6.3% of men. Encouragingly, 23% of U.S. companies now offer sabbaticals (17% unpaid and 6% paid), recognizing that rest is not indulgence but strategy — especially as burnout contributes to an estimated $190 billion in annual healthcare expenses in the U.S. alone.

Millennials, in particular, are leading this make-your-own-sabbatical movement — seeking meaning, flexibility, and renewal beyond titles and promotions.

Because sometimes the most radical thing you can do in your career isn’t to push harder — it’s to pause, reflect, and begin again with purpose.

Your life isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a season to move through.
Rest when it’s winter. Bloom when it’s spring.
And remember: transformation isn’t about becoming someone else —
it’s about coming home to who you already are.

Inspiration and Gratitude

This post was inspired by a question I recently came across in a Facebook group.
Someone asked:

“Looking for a career coach or therapist for a midlife career change — ideally someone who combines therapy with career coaching to address both the emotional and practical aspects of a career shift. Any recommendations (local or not) are appreciated.”

Her words stayed with me. They captured something I’ve seen again and again — how deeply intertwined the emotional and logistical parts of any transition truly are.

Drawing from the many courses, certification programs, and books I’ve studied on the topic of healthy transitions, I felt called to write this piece. I also wanted to honor the teachers and thinkers who have profoundly shaped my understanding of transformation and purpose:

• One of the kind, Laura Storm (read more about Laura’s remarkable work here), and the community behind the Regenerators and their exceptional Regenerative Leadership year-long journey, which continues to influence my perspective on systems thinking and human regeneration.
• The ToDo Institute in Vermont, USA, and especially Gregg Krech, whose decades of work in Japanese psychology have guided so many of us toward more grounded, purposeful living.
• Dearest Tanner Colton and Ivana Damnjanovic, PhD, TTC’s Transformation Design Program creators, (formerly) hosts, and experts.
• And Brad McLain — dear friend, university professor, NASA experience designer, former Jane Goodall Institute board member, and social scientist exploring what truly makes transformation happen. His book Designing Transformative Experiences remains one of the best resources I know on this subject.

This post is a synthesis of their wisdom, my own reflections, and the inspiration sparked by one simple — and profoundly human — question about how to navigate change with both courage and care.

Monika, founder at empowered.travel & empowered.climbing