When you are faced with a career transition, such as a layoff, or your company goes through bad times, you may be surprised and angry. You may think there were no warning signs and that there is no order in your world. The truth is that most changes in business are not that swift. They take time and there are many signals as to the health of the business and the possibility for layoffs. There are even personal signals that you may be feeling that you simply ignore because you are comfotable being defined by the current job you hold. You don't want to change and you convince yourself that there is no reason to change. You're job takes care of the bills and you don't want to have to exert yourself to chase a dream that may not succeed.

The problem with the ostrich-head-in-the-sand approach to life is that ignoring things doesn't make them go away. To be utterly realistic, experts agree that people today will follow between three or four career paths as they get older or the business environment changes. So, if this is the reality of the situation, it is necessary to be proactive and make decisions. One can't ignore the possibilities of a career transition by being either too optimistic or trying to ignore it.

It will happen to you, it's just a matter of when. If you are well prepared for the eventuality of a career change, the process can be very easy and even personally rewarding. If you choose to ignore the signs, then the change can be the most traumatic thing to happen to you in years. The choice is basically your own as to whether you want to pick up the reigns of your career and direct it to produce happiness or keep going down some wayward stream that has no apparent direction or security.

You must learn to be your own motivation to not only like your job, but love your job too! If the present situation isn't utilizing your passions, you can change your life to start out on a new area of exploration. You just have to pay attention to yourself and decide what inspires you to begin with. You can always be working towards the future and making your own opportunities in a way that seems almost magical to others. That's because you took the time to find what motivated you and to set up some contingency plans in preparation for a career transition.

In order to be able to follow your dreams, you have to learn to free yourself from your own insecurities and the tendency to drift through life. This requires a good foundation of learning how to be financially responsible and practical. The two things that keep many people at jobs they hate are fear and debt. By having a plan and being proactive, you can learn to feel confidence instead of fear. By managing your money to get rid of high credit card debt or potentially risky investments, you can be more at ease being sure you can pay your bills.

Remember, the smartest thing you can do to be prepared for the future is to keep at least six month's living expenses in the bank as an emergency fund to help you make it through the initial months of a career transition.