Dear Anna,

Due to our family sportswear business closing down, I’ve recently rekindled my schoolboy ambitions of going into the creative industries, with the intention of moving into product design.

But I don’t have any relevant qualifications and next to no experience, just a head full of dreams. Is there any hope for me?

Tarkan

Dear Tarkan,

This is a great question, because I don’t think enough of us think about new or different paths we might take, and it gets harder the further down one avenue we go. Rekindling early ambitions brings two things to the fore for me. Firstly, that you’re bravely looking at a new potential route through life. Secondly, it shows that your passion for working in the creative industries has held strong all this time, which is a good indicator of how much you’d put into this new route.

Before we look at where you might go from here, let’s look at where you’ve been. You say you have no relevant qualifications or experience, yet you’ve been running a family sportswear business. Unless you were solely focused on spreadsheets in the office, I’d imagine such an endeavour gives you buckets of relevant experience, if you look at it in the right way.

I always encourage people to try to think about a problem from the other end, a different angle, or in an entirely new way

One of the most useful tools in coaching for thinking about where we are, or where we might go, is reframing. Reframing is incredibly useful because we can get stuck in seeing things in a way that might close opportunity down rather than open it up. But if you change your perspective, you can often see new options and routes through a challenge.

I always encourage people to try to think about a problem from the other end, a different angle, or in an entirely new way. There are loads of ways you can do this, but broadly they all come under trying to step outside of yourself – because we all form mental models that help us navigate the world. We see things a particular way, so we can be more effective at doing all the other stuff we have to do – and it makes sense, simplifying some things helps us get on and focus on doing more complex work.

So, step outside of yourself: look at this like you were giving someone else advice. What would you say to a good friend who told you what you’ve told me? Imagine a friend you think is brilliant is telling you that they have no transferable skills and no qualifications, so it’s all too big a risk to move from X to Y.

When it feels awkward to celebrate your own achievements, it can sometimes help to trick yourself by changing the name you’re using

Even with the smallest sliver of information in your question, I’d say there’s a lot for you to think about and leverage here. If you’ve worked in the sportswear world, aren’t you working with product design every day? You also have to think about fashion seasons, changes in taste and marketing in all sorts of ways that would serve you well in any future career – but particularly a refocus into a creative role.

A creative who understands the mechanics of how products get to a customer, who can think ahead in terms of manufacturing challenges or the myriad experiences you’ve had in the family business, might actually be in a pretty interesting position.

Reframing long-held views about ourselves is often very hard. It’s why the models we make for ourselves are so effective – they’re often subconscious

So I think there’s plenty of hope if you can help yourself by reframing your journey so far. Brainstorm, write lists, research courses and see what graduates have gone on to do, then work backwards from there to define your next steps.

In each of those steps, remember to reframe. If you write a list of all the points on an application you haven’t got, counter it with a list of things you have. When it feels awkward to celebrate your own achievements, it can sometimes help to trick yourself by changing the name you’re using – replace it with an employee’s name you think is brilliant. Or write it from the perspective of someone you know who thinks you are brilliant.

Vera Wang was a figure skater, then a journalist, and it was only when she couldn’t find a good wedding dress that she embarked on her now world-famous work

When you’ve reframed until you feel you can reframe no more, it’s time to ask for a real outside perspective. Is there someone you trust who can help you to feel confident in your reframing? Who can read your applications, or look over your CV? This is useful because reframing long-held views about ourselves is often very hard. It’s why the models we make for ourselves are so effective – they’re often subconscious. Enrol someone to help you challenge yourself even further as you make exciting inroads into a potential new journey.

Through it all, remember that although we live in a culture that celebrates people who have started early and built decades-long track records in a certain career, it’s never too late to shift to somewhere you really want to be. And loads of people have made that shift themselves. Did you know that Harrison Ford was a carpenter for 15 years? Vera Wang was a figure skater, then a journalist, and it was only when she couldn’t find a good wedding dress that she embarked on her now world-famous work. So there’s always hope, and by reviewing, reframing and reapplying what got you here, who knows how far you’ll go? What I can be sure of is, if you’re following your passion and finding a sense of purpose, you’ll enjoy the journey.

Anna

Anna Higgs is head of entertainment at Facebook. If you have a question for her, send it via CR’s social channels, or email [email protected]