Kaia Birch writes about the mechanics of high-stakes personal decisions. Her work draws on behavioural science research into how people get stuck between viable options and what moves decisions forward when more reflection and research stop helping.
Career Change
You started thinking about changing careers a while ago. A year, maybe two. Maybe longer than you'd admit to anyone who asked. At some point you stopped mentioning it. The conversations got repetitive. Friends gave the same advice. You gave the same reasons for not acting. Eventually you
You've typed some version of this search before. "Want a career change but don't know what to do." Maybe not those exact words. Maybe it was "don't know what career I want" or "hate my job but have no
Career Decisions
You have a shortlist. You've had it for a while. Three ideas, maybe four, that you keep circling back to. Teaching. Starting something of your own. That role in a completely different industry you bookmarked six months ago and still haven't applied for. You've
You've done the reflection work. You know what the environment was like in roles that left you depleted, and what kind of work produces a persistent wrongness even when you're doing it competently. The list of what doesn't fit is detailed and accumulated. Your
Career Decisions
You've read the books. You've taken the assessments. You've done two informational interviews, maybe three, and spent a considerable amount of time online researching what it's actually like to work in the fields you're considering. You have a shortlist. You
Career Change
You have tried to shorten the list. You sat down with your five or six career options, the ones you have been circling for months, and you tried to cross one off. You knew which one it should be. You picked up the pen, or opened the spreadsheet, or just
You know your four-letter type and your top five strengths. You may have got there through a coach, or on your own at midnight with a coffee you should not be drinking and a browser tab you will not admit to anyone. Either way, you have a file somewhere,
Career Change
Someone in your life has said it to you recently. A friend over coffee, a partner who has watched you circle the same question for months, maybe a therapist trying to shake you out of a holding pattern. The advice sounded like this: stop overthinking it. Just try something. You&
Career Decisions
The fear of choosing the wrong career keeps you weighing options for months. The question has no answer, and the holding pattern has a real cost.
Career Change
You've drawn the line down the middle of the page. Left column, right column. You've been thorough about it — listing everything you can think of for each option, trying to capture every angle. Maybe you've done this on paper, maybe in a spreadsheet, maybe
Career Change
You've done the work. You've researched directions, talked to people, thought seriously about what you want. You've arrived at a shortlist: three options, maybe four, maybe five that won't quite die. And now you're supposed to pick one. So you
Career Change
You've been thinking about a career change for a while now. Months, probably. Maybe longer. You've bookmarked courses you haven't started, saved job descriptions you're not sure you'd actually apply for, and researched industries at eleven o'clock at