Many years ago, I read Derek Sivers’ post titled “Don’t Be a Donkey.” The premise of the post was that if we think long term, we realise that we can do many of the things we want to do in a lifetime, just not all at once.

Derek argued that “If you’re thirty now and have six different directions you want to pursue, then you can do each one for ten years, and have done all of them by the time you’re ninety.”

Beneath this argument is the undertone that transitioning from one pursuit to another every ten years is feasible, but more importantly, that you can “just do things.” At the time I read the essay, it helped me greatly to focus my attention on the present—obviously with the view that if I wanted to do the next thing, I could simply do it.

My experience over the last decade shows two things. First, indeed, you can just do things, especially if you are a high-agency person. Second—and this is what I probably did not fully appreciate a decade earlier—such changes come at a cost. Changing jobs, as today’s newsletter concludes, is rarely just a change in employment. It is a moment when individuals reconstruct both their professional lives and their understanding of themselves, and this is a painstaking demand on any human being.

And this demand is what today’s newsletter is about.

The Core Idea: Career Change Is a Psychological Transition

Nancy Schlossberg’s work begins with a simple and powerful claim: career change should not be understood merely as a labour-market event. It is, more fundamentally, a psychological transition. When people move between roles, they are not only changing employers or job titles. They are altering the structure of their daily lives.

Schlossberg defined a transition as any event—or even the absence of an expected event—that changes a person’s roles, relationships, routines, or assumptions. These four elements form the underlying structure of working life. Roles provide identity and purpose; relationships create social belonging; routines organise time; and assumptions give people a sense of direction about the future.

When a career change occurs, these elements are disturbed simultaneously. The person must renegotiate who they are in a professional sense, rebuild networks, construct new habits, and reinterpret their expectations about the path ahead. This disruption produces what Schlossberg described as transition shock—a period in which the psychological system that previously stabilised life no longer fits the new situation. The emotional work of career change is therefore the work of rebuilding that structure.

The Three Determinants of How Difficult the Transition Will Be

Schlossberg argued that the difficulty of a transition does not depend solely on the change itself. Instead, it is shaped by three broad sets of conditions: the nature of the transition, the environment surrounding the individual, and the personal characteristics of the individual undergoing the change.

The first determinant is the nature of the transition. Some career changes are anticipated and voluntary, such as accepting a new opportunity or pursuing a planned promotion. Others occur unexpectedly, such as organisational restructuring or redundancy. Timing also matters. A transition that occurs when a person feels prepared may be experienced as an opportunity, whereas the same transition at a less favourable moment may feel destabilising. Whether the change is gradual or abrupt, welcome or imposed, significantly influences the psychological response.

The second determinant concerns environmental conditions. Career transitions occur within a wider social and economic setting. Family responsibilities, financial stability, organisational culture, and labour-market opportunities all affect how individuals experience change. Supportive relationships—colleagues, mentors, friends, and family—can provide emotional reassurance and practical guidance during uncertain periods. In contrast, an unsupportive environment can amplify the stress associated with transition.

The third determinant lies in the individual. People differ in resilience, coping strategies, and the extent to which their identity is tied to their professional role. For some individuals, work forms a central part of self-definition; losing or changing that role can therefore threaten their sense of self. Others possess more flexible identities or prior experience with change, enabling them to adapt more easily. Personality, confidence, and previous exposure to transitions all influence how the individual navigates the disruption.

The Transition Process

According to Schlossberg, transitions unfold as a process rather than a single event. The moment of career change initiates a period of psychological adjustment that develops over time.

The process often begins with a phase of initial disruption. At this stage, individuals confront the fact that their existing structures no longer apply. Feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety may arise as they attempt to interpret what the change means for their identity and future.

This is followed by a longer period of adjustment, during which individuals begin experimenting with new behaviours and reconstructing their professional identity. They establish new routines, develop relationships in unfamiliar environments, and test how their skills and self-perception fit within the new context. Much of the emotional labour of transition occurs here, as individuals gradually make sense of the change and redefine their place within it.

Eventually, successful transitions reach a stage of integration. The new role becomes familiar, routines stabilise, and the individual no longer experiences the change as a disruption. Instead, it becomes a normal part of life. At this point, the transition has been psychologically absorbed.

The Psychological Mechanism

The mechanism underlying Schlossberg’s theory can be understood as a balance between demands and resources. Career transitions introduce new demands: individuals must learn unfamiliar tasks, navigate different organisational cultures, rebuild networks, and manage the uncertainty associated with change.

At the same time, individuals possess resources that help them cope with these demands. These resources may include personal resilience, emotional stability, financial security, supportive relationships, and access to information about the new environment.

Adaptation depends on the relationship between the two. When the resources available to an individual exceed the demands imposed by the transition, adjustment tends to occur relatively smoothly. When demands exceed available resources, however, the transition may become stressful or overwhelming. The emotional experience of career change therefore reflects not just the event itself but the balance between these opposing forces.

The 4S Coping Framework

In later developments of her theory, Schlossberg organised the factors that shape transitions into what became known as the 4S framework. This framework provides a structured way of understanding why some individuals navigate career changes more successfully than others.

  • The first element is the situation: the specific characteristics of the transition, including its timing, duration, and degree of control the individual has over it.
  • The second element is the self, referring to the personal characteristics that influence coping, such as resilience, outlook, and confidence.
  • The third element is support, which includes relationships and social networks that provide emotional or practical assistance.
  • The final element is strategies, meaning the coping mechanisms individuals use to manage the transition.

Together, these four elements determine how effectively individuals adapt. Strong support networks, positive coping strategies, and a stable sense of self can transform a potentially destabilising career change into a manageable and even constructive experience.

The Use of This Research for Careers

Hopefully, this helps you understand more how career transitions happens and affects us psychologically.

When people move between roles, they must rebuild the structures that give work meaning in their lives. They renegotiate identity, reconstruct social relationships, and establish new routines that support their sense of stability. This explains why career transitions can feel emotionally intense even when they represent positive opportunities.

The lasting insight of Schlossberg’s work is that career mobility cannot be fully understood without recognising its human dimension. A change in job is rarely just a change in employment. It is a moment when individuals reconstruct both their professional lives and their understanding of themselves.