Be Your Own Transition Expert: Part 1 – Shutting Out the Noise

Transitions are rarely quiet. The moment change begins, so does the noise: advice, opinions, warnings, encouragement. This is all layered on top of your own uncertainty. While some input may be helpful, it can also drown out the one voice that matters most: your own.

When it comes to navigating workplace transitions, you are the person who knows what’s best for you. This blog explores how to recognize and trust that expertise by shutting out the noise and reconnecting with your inner voice.

🔔 You Are the Expert

Transitions bring unique challenges, and no two are alike. Well-meaning advice rarely accounts for:

✅ Your personal values and priorities

✅ The nuances of your career goals

✅ The context of your life, relationships, and responsibilities

For example, imagine someone moving from a traditional office role to hybrid work. On the surface, it seems ideal, flexible and balanced. But for someone managing young children at home, it can blur boundaries and increase stress.

Colleagues might say, “You’ll love it! Just set up a home office,” but that doesn’t address their reality.

Recognizing that you're the expert on your own life doesn’t mean rejecting advice entirely. It means filtering that advice through the lens of what’s right for you.

Key Insight: You’re the only person who truly understands your goals, values, and challenges. Trusting your expertise is the first step to navigating transitions effectively.

🧐 The Role of Noise

Transitions amplify the “noise” around us—external opinions, societal expectations, and internal doubts. This noise can make it hard to hear your own voice.

We’ll explore Quieting the Noise of Transition more deeply in an upcoming post. For now, simply recognize how noise can be a barrier to accessing your own expertise.

🟢 Step 1 – Recognizing the Noise

“Shutting out the noise” isn’t about ignoring others or suppressing doubts—it’s about filtering the chaos to focus on what matters.

Key Steps to Begin Filtering the Noise:

1️⃣ Recognize Its Presence – Notice how external opinions and internal doubts shape your decisions.

2️⃣ Create Space for Reflection – Journal, take a walk, or sit quietly with your thoughts.

3️⃣ Focus on Your Priorities – Ask: What are my values? What goals matter most right now?

Example: A client moving to hybrid work was overwhelmed by advice on schedules and home offices. In coaching, they realized their true challenge wasn’t logistical, it was emotional. They needed clear boundaries to protect personal time. Once they identified this, their choices aligned with their real needs.

✨ Finding and Trusting Your Inner Transition Expert

You are your own best guide—but your expertise can get buried under the noise. Creating space for reflection allows your own insights to emerge.

Leadership coach and author Tara Mohr calls this tuning in to your inner mentor, a wiser, future version of yourself. In Playing Big, Mohr writes:

“Your inner mentor’s guidance often emerges quietly. It doesn't compete with the noise. You have to create space to hear it.”

This resonates with what many coaching clients discover: the clearest answers often surface when you create room for stillness. The wisdom you need is already within, you just need to listen.

🗝️ Recognizing Your Expertise

✔️ Pause and Reflect – Step back from the whirlwind. What do you truly need right now?

✔️ Clarify Your Priorities – Define your values, goals, and vision.

✔️ Filter Input – Ask: Does this advice align with what I value and need?

Example: One client felt torn between staying in a secure job or launching a new business. Through Guided Exploration, they realized their true fear wasn’t financial risk, it was disappointing their family. Naming that fear helped them create a plan that honored both personal and professional goals.

Key Insight: Being your own expert isn’t about ignoring others, it’s about making your values the filter for all advice.

🎯 How Guided Exploration Helps

Our coaching process, Guided Exploration, isn’t about adding more opinions, it’s about giving you the space and structure to uncover your own clarity.

Coaching provides a space to:

• Unearth what’s really driving your decisions

• Explore options without judgment

• Build confidence in navigating change

Key Takeaway: Guided Exploration empowers you to trust your own voice and move forward with clarity.

👣 Take the Next Step

Feeling overwhelmed by the noise of workplace transitions?

Coaching offers space to cut through the chaos, reconnect with your priorities, and access your own expertise.

📅 Schedule your Free 15-minute consultation to start your journey toward clarity and confidence.

📌 What’s Next?

Shutting out the noise is the first step to taking ownership of your transition.

In the next post, Be Your Own Transition Expert: Part 2 – Accessing Your Inner Wisdom, we’ll share practical strategies for staying grounded, trusting your instincts, and maintaining clarity through ongoing change. Don’t miss it!