Stuck at the Starting Line? Here’s Why.(And What to Do)
Ever sat down to start something important and suddenly remembered you need to clean out your inbox, alphabetise your spice rack, or research whether tortoises can swim?
Congratulations—you’ve encountered the first great barrier to career change: your own brain messing with you.
The truth is, getting started is often the hardest part. Not because the work itself is impossible, but because we build up psychological roadblocks that keep us firmly in place. So, let’s talk about the top three culprits—and, more importantly, how to bulldoze through them.
Barrier #1: The ‘I Need to Know Everything First’ Trap
(Also known as: ‘Just One More Podcast and Then I’ll Start’ Syndrome)
You want to switch careers, so you start researching. Then you research some more. Before you know it, you’ve watched 27 TED Talks, subscribed to six newsletters, and taken a free online course about regenerative agriculture (even though you’re not entirely sure what ‘regenerative’ means).
The problem? You never actually do anything. You just keep preparing.
The science: The Dunning-Kruger Effect explains part of this. When you know just a little about a topic, confidence is high. But as you learn more, you realise how much you don’t know, and confidence plummets. That’s where many mid-career professionals get stuck—assuming they need to master everything before they can take action.
The fix: Accept that you will never feel 100% ready. Action beats analysis, every time.
Instead of consuming more content, challenge yourself to take one tangible step—build a LinkedIn ecosystem and comment accordingly. (Get help with that HERE), contribute to a discussion (even if just asking smart questions), or share a thought-provoking insight about your industry.
Additional strategy: Use the ‘From Imposter to Insider’ approach to reframe your expertise. List your existing skills and find direct overlaps with your target industry. You’re not starting over—you’re repositioning yourself.
For a full exercise on how to address this check out this worksheet
Barrier #2: Imposter Syndrome (aka ‘Who Am I to Do This?’
Otherwise known as the belief that you’re a fraud, everyone else is more qualified, and at any moment a secret panel of experts will burst into your home and revoke your professional credibility.
Spoiler: They won’t.
The problem? You’re not alone. Research from 2021 found that 70% of people feel like they’re not good enough or that they’re just pretending to be competent. Even the most accomplished professionals experience this nagging doubt.
“Yes, but I don’t have anything interesting to say.”
The science: This is also where the Spotlight Effect comes in—the tendency to think everyone is paying more attention to our perceived flaws than they actually are. In reality, most people are too busy worrying about their own insecurities to scrutinise yours.
The fix: Stop waiting to feel ‘legit’ before you act. If you’re pivoting into climate work, don’t disqualify yourself just because you’re not a scientist. Find examples of people with your skill set who have successfully made the transition—if they did it, so can you.
BONUS : Want a tip to find those people:
First, make a list of 5-10 companies in your current industry.
Next, make a list of 5-10 companies in your target industry.
Now go to LinkedIn and:
Search for your target job title
Add current industry companies to the “Past Companies” filter
Add target companies to the “Current Company” filter
This will give you a list of everyone who transitioned from your current industry to your target industry!
Additional strategy: Try the ‘Your Name Inc.’ exercise—write a personal bio as if you were a company positioning itself in the market.
This reframes your experience as an asset rather than a liability and helps you articulate your value with more confidence. Visibility creates opportunities. Check it out below.
Barrier #3: The Perfectionism Paralysis
‘If I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all.’ Sound familiar? Perfectionism loves to disguise itself as high standards, but in reality, it’s just fear wearing a fancy coat.
The problem? You wait for the perfect moment, the perfect introduction, the perfect LinkedIn post… and in the meantime, opportunities pass you by.
The science: Perfectionism is often linked to fear of failure—which, ironically, increases the likelihood of procrastination. The more we delay, the more intimidating the task becomes, reinforcing the cycle.
The fix: Aim for ‘good enough to get moving.’ Instead of trying to craft the perfect career move, focus on starting where you are—without starting over. De-risk the ‘big decision’ by adopting a rapid prototyping approach. What is the absolute minimum effort you can make to find out enough about a particular field that will enable you to commit to the next minimal step. Pivot or persevere is the question, with the information available to you at the time.
Share ideas, ask questions, and engage with professionals in your field.
Conversations beat scrolling.
Want help with that, then grab a copy of the comprehensive guide to climate career conversations HERE
Additional strategy: Use ‘Push and Pull’ factors to—craft a compelling story about why you’re making this career move. When you own your story, perfectionism loses its grip because you see the bigger picture. Click to read more about that HERE
How to Actually Get Moving (Instead of Just Thinking About It)
If any of the above sound familiar, don’t worry. You’re not broken. Your brain is just doing what brains do: protecting you from risk.
But risk is where the good stuff happens. So, here’s your challenge for the week:
✔ Pick one thing you’ve been putting off and do the smallest possible version of it today. (Yes, today.)
✔ Set a ‘start before you’re ready’ deadline—whether it’s reaching out to a contact, contributing to an industry conversation, or publishing your perspective.
✔ When in doubt, take action before you feel confident. Confidence follows action, not the other way around.
✔ Use Informational Conversations to gather insights and expand your network—real conversations with real people will accelerate your career shift far more than passive research ever will. You are looking to find a job you don’t know exists.
By this time next week, you’ll either have made real progress… or you’ll have a very well-organised spice rack. Your choice. 😉
Boyan Slat and The Ocean Cleanup—Starting Before You’re Ready
At 16 years old, Boyan Slat was on a diving trip in Greece when he saw more plastic bags than fish. Instead of shrugging it off, he started working on a solution—before he had any funding, expertise, or credibility in the field.
He was a teenager with no background in environmental science or engineering.
He designed an ocean-cleaning device in high school, using basic research and self-taught engineering principles.
When he pitched the idea, experts told him it wouldn’t work—but he kept going.
Instead of waiting until he had the ‘right credentials,’ he:
Gave a TEDx talk at 18, which went viral and attracted support.
Dropped out of university and launched The Ocean Cleanup at 19.
Raised $2.2 million in crowdfunding, built a team, and refined his technology until it became viable.
Today, The Ocean Cleanup is a global organisation, removing plastic from oceans and rivers using technology that experts originally dismissed. He wasn’t ‘ready’—but he started anyway, and figured it out along the way.
This is the ultimate “Find a job you don’t know exists” example. Slat didn’t wait to be hired into sustainability—he built something new by taking action. Credibility comes from showing up, not from waiting to feel qualified.
