Ep. 10: Overthinking Your Career Pivot? You Can’t Spreadsheet Clarity
Trying to pivot but low-key packing fear, guilt, and a spreadsheet for the ride? Yeah… let’s unpack that.
In this solo episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of a real-life pivot moment, when I had to decide between a familiar job that made sense… and a terrifying, thrilling opportunity in New York that lit me up and freaked me out.
Spoiler: I tried to logic my way through it. Spreadsheets. Trade studies. Asking everyone but myself. And it didn’t work.
What I eventually realized? You can’t pack for a heart-led career pivot with tools designed to keep you safe. You need something deeper—tools that honor your inner leader. Tools like pause, discernment, faith… and maybe a good outfit or two.
If you loved
Episode 3 – You Got the Dream Job… So Why Are You Still Anxious?,
this one goes even deeper. Because naming the misalignment is one thing—moving through it takes a whole new set of tools.
📌 I also share more about that magical year in New York in
Episode 2 – How to Make Life Feel Magical—Without Quitting Your Job or Moving to Bali.
This one’s for the high-achievers making all the “right” moves—and realizing they’re still stuck. If you’ve been spinning in indecision, this episode is the reset you didn’t know you needed.
You’ll hear:
Why guilt and fear are the two tools you need to stop packing
The mistake I made trying to spreadsheet my way through a pivot
How to tell when “obligation” is just fear in disguise
5 tools from the Lead Intact Toolbox that helped me get unstuck
Why over-preparing is just your nervous system trying to keep you small
What it actually means to lead your own life
“Sometimes fear dresses up as obligation. But it’s still fear. And it’s not in charge.”
Want to know what you should be packing for your next pivot?
Grab the Lead Intact Toolbox—20 practical and soulful tools for navigating transitions like a damn leader.
🎁 Download it free
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Introduction to The Pivot Point
Laura: You are listening to The Pivot Point where we unpack the defining moments that shift careers and lives. I'm your host, Laura Dionisio, a founder of Lead Intact, and my mission is to spotlight the raw real stories behind career pivots, the fears, the hopes. The messy middles and the bold decisions that follow if you're feeling stuck or quietly wondering what's next?
I hope these stories help you see yourself a little more clearly and inspire you to start moving toward your own dream life. Let's begin.
The Importance of Packing Tools for Career Transitions
Laura: Have you ever gone on a trip and like just not packed anything? Probably not. Right. So when you think about a career transition, which is pretty much a journey, why would you go into that transition without packing any tools?
Laura's Magical Year in New York
Laura: So I'm thinking about the time when I had this magical year in New York.
I talk about it in. One of my earlier episodes, I'll link that in the description below. In that magical year, I was living in Southern California at the time and I had expressed to my boss, Hey, I would love any opportunities on the East coast without any sort of expectation of it being possible.
I was just like, let me put it out there. Even my boss was like you do realize there's no reason for anyone there. And I was just like, I know. I'm just putting it out there. And then at that time. I got a temporary relocation assignment and I was in upstate New York for supposedly six months. It turned into a year, but that year was simultaneously the least planned.
The least amount of control that I had because I didn't know how long I was gonna be there. I don't know what the job was, and yet it was the most freeing and just most magical experience ever. And then when it came time to come back, I did ask my boss at the time if I could stay, and they were like, you know what?
We'll try to make a case for it because we do still have to work with that vendor. On the East coast, but no promises, and they ended up saying no. I said yes to the desire. I already was just like, I want this thing to happen.
Making Bold Decisions and Taking Action
Laura: You ever been in a situation where you get so stuck on the details that you don't end up taking action at all. I mean, I've been in that situation before where it's taken me a long time to make a decision or even admit what I really wanted because I was so concerned about the how of it, when the truth is, once you acknowledge to yourself, fully acknowledge and say yes to that desire, then girl, pack your bags.
Begin to pack your bags as if it's a done deal. You start to plan for it. So I was set that I wanted to move back to New York and because I was set on it and I was open and I was sharing about my life to like friends, I ended up getting two job offers and one of them was more aligned with what my background was, what my experience was, and the other one.
Was like the vast unknown. You know what I did at the time to help make my decision. I basically, used my engineering background that there's this activity called the trade study matrix. When we're evaluating different concepts or different solutions to a problem, let's just say it's basically done in a spreadsheet, at least the way I've done it in the past, and you basically list out all these factors that are important to you.
And then you assign value to it and then you assign weighting depending on how important the thing is. You probably are. Like you what? You did the what and the who. Exactly. Way too complicated. That was not the right tool to use to help me make a decision. The other thing I did was, ask advice from a bunch of people.
I asked my parents. I asked my aunt and uncle, I asked my cousins, I asked my friends and I will never forget, one friend was like, Laura, I know you do not spreadsheet this. I didn't listen at the time, but she said, do not spreadsheet this. Just listen to your heart.
What ends up happening based on my own experience listening to clients of mine and even friends who are going through career transition. It's that, and again, I'm guilty of this too, we get so caught up on being overly prepared. That inadvertently what we pack in our suitcase, so to speak, to go on this career journey are things like fear, things like doubt, things like feeling of obligation and guilt.
Like, oh, I can't leave this company. I just started this team, and they're relying on me. It's like if you saw your career journey, like you would a vacation. What would you actually pack to prepare yourself? Probably not those things, but I think what ends up happening is we aren't aware that's what we're doing.
We're not aware that like, oh, what do you mean fear and obligation is a tool. It is a tool. Maybe helpful in other situations, but it's definitely a component of your decision making skills. So.
Introducing the Lead Intact Toolbox
Laura: What I wanted to share today is what I learned the hard way is I ended up developing a set of tools.
Now, originally the context of these tools, I had come up with it for how to become a better leader. And at the time, I was very much climbing the corporate ladder. I cared about that kind of thing. But I recently reconnected with this, what I call the Lead Intact Toolbox, and realized this doesn't just apply when you are a leader in corporate.
It actually applies to any moment in your life where you have to call forth that inner leader within and decide what tools you're going to use to proceed forward on your journey. This Lead Intact Toolbox is a freebie. I'll put the link in the show notes. There's basically five components to it.
Okay? So think of yourself, first of all, think of yourself as a leader, right? You are the leader in your life. And specifically, if you're listening to this, you're probably like, I just need some career advice. You're a leader in this journey and you get to decide.
What tools you're gonna use as you make this journey. Like what are you gonna pack in your suitcase, right? So in this toolbox, there are five main categories. And keep in mind, I initially had created this if you're in leadership externally, so the five categories are, know what to do. So these are a set of tools that will help you know what to do, how to stay present.
How to put yourself first, how to set your pace and how to work well with others. And I'll give you some examples of how I did end up using these tools, even though I hadn't developed it at the time.
Using the Toolbox for Career Decisions
Laura: So like I mentioned, when I first started thinking about which job should I take, the tool that I used was not any of these in the Lead Intact Toolbox.
I actually borrowed from my engineering toolbox, even though my friend advised me not to, Ultimately when I sat down with myself I wasn't satisfied with the results by the way, 'cause I had these numbers and I'm like, this is not helping my decision. What I did instead is I paused.
So this is the Pause tool under set your pace. I paused. I sat still and let my feelings land. So that is a tool that you can use to, understand what state are you in right now. And if you saw yourself as a leader of your career journey, would you wanna make a decision from that state?
And when I was in the self-doubt, fear, kinda like constrictive state, I told myself like, I don't even feel good right now. So any decision I make in this state is not gonna be the best one for me. So I used the Pause tool, which is basically a affirmation statement to help you hone in on what you need to do.
In this case, "I sit still and let my feelings land". So I did that and then I realized I did the thing where I didn't trust myself very much and I just kept asking other people questions. I kept referencing the spreadsheet even though like I knew it wasn't making me feel better.
And then I used another tool from the Set Your Pace, which is the Fast Forward tool, and it is, "I go into action to move forward" because I realized like at this moment, by the way, I didn't have an apartment and so I was either staying at my aunt's place or my parents' place on the weekends, and my two cats were living in an empty apartment by themselves in New York.
Thankfully, I had a friend who was looking after them, so I was just like, I can't be, I can't just be slowing down.I can't sit still. Like I'm glad that I paused because I also didn't wanna take erratic action, but I can't just sit around in indecision. So then I used a tool from the Know What to Do category called Faith tool.
"I have faith in myself to take the next step forward" and what this looked like for me is reminding me how I even got the two job offers to begin with. I just. Follow the nudge to go talk to two of my friends. I didn't talk to them for the sake of trying to find a job, but that's what happened.
So I just remembered, that's right. I can have faith in myself. And then the other thing that I was starting to be in my head about is because I had just gotten the best performance review. Out of all my time being in that company, and in a way I was kind of feeling guilty. I was like, oh man, I was the point person on this program.
The other engineer on the team isn't even on site. So like if I leave. Then I will be disappointing everyone.
Overcoming Fear and Guilt in Career Transitions
Laura: Does that sound familiar? Is this you? Are you feeling a sense of guilt when you think about leaving your position that's preventing you from actually moving forward?
Well, I'm here to tell you, and I say this with such love and kindness, because again, this was me too . sometimes our fear likes to dress up as a feeling of obligation because. It keeps us safe, quote unquote, and stuck in our familiar situation. So if this is you and you're feeling a sense of obligation or guilt, just ask yourself, if I wasn't feeling obligation or guilt, if I knew that things were gonna be okay for the team I'm leaving behind, the company I'm leaving behind, what would I want to do?
And for me, I felt a combination of fear and excitement. And that's how I knew. I'm like, oh, okay. In my case, I was using guilt and obligation to mask my fear because I'm like, I don't know what life is gonna be like if I leave this comfortable known, career path.
And so. In this case, I use the Story Buster tool. This is my favorite tool by the way. it basically keeps me honest. So this is part of the Stay Present category because sometimes when we worry, usually it's because you are future projecting or you are thinking about the past when you've made a mistake or something like that.
But what's really helpful is to stay present. And in this case, the Story Buster tool is, "I use fact and truth to bust the story I'm telling myself." So in my case, the story I was telling myself was, oh, if I leave, I'll be letting the team down. Oh, but like this is the best performance rating I've had in this company.
It would be a disservice to myself if I didn't stay. That was the story I was telling myself. But the fact and truth at that time was I was scared. I was scared, especially when I thought about the other job. So one job was more related to my specific field at the time. The other job was leaving engineering for a role that was not even clearly defined.
That scared the shit outta me. But you know what? It also made me really excited. So the fact and truth I'll be fine. I have two job offers. Another fact. The team's gonna be fine. The team is fine. Another fact I'm scared. I'm not gonna pretend that I'm not. Another fact. I am so excited and it lights me up in a way that I don't feel when I think about moving forward with the job that I was already in at the time.
And then another tool that's super helpful, especially if you're feeling that sense of obligation or guilt, this has to do with the Know What to Do category. There's this tool called the Discernment Tool. "I take responsibility only for what's mine to do", and in my case, what's mine to do is to be honest about how I feel and communicate it to my team.
Because let me tell you, if I stuck with that job and I wasn't really fully in it anymore, like my heart was like in New York with this job that scared the shit outta me, but excited me. Then it's not really fair to my team either. 'cause I probably wouldn't be fully showing up. Like I wouldn't be fully present when I was doing my responsibilities .
So the Discernment tool is not only to help you out, but it's also to help your team, like you are not at your best or performing well if your heart is not fully in it anymore.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Laura: So there are a total of 20 tools in this Lead Intact Toolbox. I only. I gave an example of, I don't even know, like four or five, but I found it to be really helpful.
I have this poster that I made with this cool graphic, and again, you can download it. It's gonna be in the show notes if you're like, okay, I hear what you're saying, Laura. Totally cool. I understand the concept of packing your suitcase in preparation for your career transition journey, but I dunno where to start.
Go ahead and book a call with me. I got you. Or if you're like, wow, I have a story to share with you and I wanna share with you like what my tools were when I was going through my career transition journey, I would love to hear from you. Shoot me a DM on Instagram @leadintact, and if you are in the beginning of your career transition story, or maybe if you're in the middle.
Remember to proceed as if success is inevitable because it is. All right. I will talk to you next time. Bye for now.
All right, friend. That's it for today's drop. If this episode hits something deep, don't just sit with it, act on it. Share this with a friend who needs to hear it, and then head to www.leadintact.com to grab your free heart aligned career transition starter, or book a free 20 minute call with me. I'm here when you're ready to stop feeling stuck and start moving toward what you really want.
Catch you next time.