There are a million career change stories out there. Icy at Individual Chic left a comment in response to yesterday’s article, The “can do” skill, about a friend of hers who went from being a chemical engineer, to an animator for Disney!

That’s quite a significant career shift!

A few years ago I was chatting to a careers advisor who told about me about a stockbroker working in Sydney, who had probably presented the worse case of career burn out he had ever seen.

The stockbroker was apparently working 18 hours a day, six days a week. Even on his “day off” he was still studying market trends and keeping in touch with clients.

Then one morning he woke up and decided he’d had enough. He wanted time to slow down so he could “smell the roses”, and take in a bit more of what was happening around him.

He had approached the careers advisor because he simply had no idea what he wanted to do next. The advisor subjected him to all sorts of career aptitude tests, but none of the results seemed to excite the stockbroker.

Then one morning the erstwhile stockbroker arrived at the careers advisor’s office announcing he had found his new vocation in life; sweeping leaves in the nearby domain!

Apparently he had seen a council worker going about his duties in the park and had become ever more curious as to what the job entailed.

It was outdoors work. The hours were set, 8am to 4pm, five days per week. No overtime. And as a bonus, he really could take time to “smell the roses” in the park!

So he went from being a stockbroker on a six-figure salary, to a gardener on a far more humble income. But he was happy. He still apparently felt that way some months later when the careers advisor saw him one morning.

The only adjustment the former stockbroker really had to get used to was the change in lifestyle, as a result of the reduction in his salary!

This story reminded me of a former boss of mine. He had been for some years the assistant general manager of a nationwide company.

Then the company was taken over, and it was decided it would be totally dissolved. The assistant general manager was made CEO of the soon to be defunct entity, and was charged with the task of winding up the operation.

It turned out to be the most stressful six months of his life, as he had to make colleagues he had worked with for years redundant, and break up the company he had spent years trying to build up!

Eventually his last day of arrived, and after leaving with his final pay cheque, wondered what he would do next for work.

Then he spotted a “now hiring” sign on a gateway, and within minutes had signed up for work as a building site labourer!

According to former colleagues who saw him some years later, he was still very happy in his new career, even though he could easily have found another executive role. He however just wasn’t interested in the responsibility (read: stress) that came with such a position.

Changing careers is about finding meaningful work. Work you find meaningful, whatever that is. Not the next person, or the neighbours, definition of meaningful, but yours.

In fact I shouldn’t even call the two career transitions I’ve just described as “downshifting”. If it’s what you want to do, then it is neither going downwards nor backwards.