When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA, he wanted to coach.
He thought he would easily get picked up for an opportunity.
After all, he’d been playing basketball for 30+ years, and when he retired, he led the league in: scoring, games/minutes played, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, along with championships at all levels.
Who wouldn’t want his expertise?!
Pretty quickly he realized that he was wrong and became very disappointed, as he didn’t have any previous coaching experience, regardless of the playing experience he had.
Turning to his UCLA Coach Wooden in frustration, Coach advised him that he needed to show more initiative.
As he tried to figure that out, he was able to re-connect with a previous Native American school district that he visited 4 years earlier when he was writing a book about Buffalo Soldiers during the Civil War, which had nothing to do with basketball.
They gave Kareem a shot, and it kickstarted his coaching career.
As you continue your transition, the opportunity you might find could be where you least expect it.
Keep showing initiative.
