For something that we have been experiencing all our lives, most of us handle change very badly. We switch careers and marriages more often than ever before, we move from one city to another, meet different people every day, yet, each change brings with it new fears and further confusion. How can we better handle these difficult, painful experiences? And what new insights can we learn about ourselves from these transitions? Written by the author of Jobshift and Managing Trasitions, this book shows how making a successful transition lets people recognize and seize new opportunities. The book helps both in identifying and coping with critical changes in people's lives. It provides a road map of the transition process, offering skills, suggestions and advice for negotiating the three stages of transition: endings - every transition begins with one. Too often, we misunderstand them and confuse them with finality. We must recognize endings as opportunities as well as losses, and even celbrate them with rituals designed to open new doors. The neutral zone - the second hurdle of transition: a seemingly unproductive timeout when we feel disconnected and things in the past are emotionally unconnected to the present. The most frightening stage of transition, the neutral zone is really an important time for re-orientation. How can we make the most of it? Finally, the new beginning - in transitions we come to beginnings only at the end, when we launch new activities. A successful transition requires more than persevering: it means launching new priorities and understanding the external signs and internal signals that point the way to the future.