Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! For years, I thought people changed careers because they found a better opportunity. Today, I don't think that's true. I think change begins much earlier. It often starts with what I now call a quiet signal. Sometimes it's as simple as realizing the coffee you drink every morning suddenly doesn't taste...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! This week, while sorting through old notebooks, I came across one I hadn't opened in years. As I started reading through its pages, I was immediately transported back to a very different chapter of my life. At the time, I was preparing to move to another country. I wanted to build an international...
26 days ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with people from many different professions. Engineers. Marketing executives. Leaders in the banking industry. IT specialists. Professionals in global health. Even psychoanalysts. On the surface, their careers looked very different. But when they started...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! Two years ago, at the age of 57, I decided to publish my first book in English. It was an experiment. I challenged myself to write and publish it in seven days. It took me ten 🙈. To be fair, I wasn't starting from scratch. Over the previous fifteen years as a career transition coach, I had accumulated a...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! Recently, I spoke with a client who found himself in a strange place. On paper, very little was wrong. He had a stable job, a good income, and a family he cared deeply about. Three children. A mortgage. The kind of responsibilities that make stability matter. He wasn't facing a crisis. In many ways, life...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! A few years ago, I worked with a senior executive who was going through one of the most difficult periods of his life. His marriage had ended. He was trying to rebuild a relationship with his son. Sleep had become unreliable. Thoughts circled endlessly through the night. At the same time, his professional...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! A few months ago, I spoke with a woman who had spent many years in animation and cartoon production. She started as a designer but gradually learned many other parts of the business. Over time, she became the kind of professional every company values: someone who can step into almost any project, in any...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! One of the hardest phases in any transition begins after the excitement of starting fades. You’ve already invested a lot into the new direction.You’ve learned.Tried things.Adjusted.Spent emotional energy on it. And yet, the external reality still feels uncertain. No clear breakthrough. No obvious...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Elena Agafonova Coach | Author | Career Pivot Guide 🌱 Letters of Change A weekly reflection on change, self-trust, and finding your way forward Begin where you are Hello and welcome, Reader! One of the most common things I hear from smart people in midlife career transitions sounds like this: I’m exploring. And often, they really are. Courses. Certifications. Side projects. New ideas. Conversations. Books. Possibilities. And yes, on the surface, it can look very active. Even impressive. But...
3 months ago • 2 min read