It was my first performance review in my first professional job and I was nervous. My manager—who is still a valued friend and mentor—sat down with me in a tiny conference room and reviewed the 360 degree feedback I had received from my colleagues. Most of the feedback, in fact almost all of it, was positive, even the so-called “opportunity areas.” But there was one review that was not so positive. I knew who had submitted it and exactly why he had made those comments, and felt it was massively unfair. I tried to explain to my boss what had really happened and why the feedback was unreasonable, but she stopped me by saying, “Feedback is a gift. Receive it as such and then you can decide what you want to do with it.”

My manager/mentor gave me many wise words of advice over the years, but that was the first that really stuck with me. I found it to be an incredibly empowering thought—people may give you all kinds of “feedback,” but it’s up to you how, or even if, to act upon it. Feedback takes time, thought, and often comes from a place of genuine helpfulness so it should never be completely ignored. But not every person giving feedback has the right motivations, the appropriate expertise, or even the personality/style to give useful feedback.  Knowing that, you can listen to all feedback cordially, thank the giver, and avoid being defensive.

No matter what role I’ve been in—direct report, manager, external consultant, mentor or mentee— I have found the ability to receive and act on feedback appropriately has been fundamentally important. It is a mark of emotional maturity and professional confidence to be able to accept critiques graciously. A perfectly acceptable response to someone else’s input can be a sincere, “Thank you for that feedback.” You don’t have to explain or defend yourself, but if you find value in the feedback, be sure to let the giver know. And if you really want to impress them, let them know what specific actions you are going to take in the future based on that feedback. If you’ve really thought about it and do not find the feedback to be helpful, feel free to just leave it with a simple thank you or other acknowledgement of having heard and understood the comment.

I have personally found a delayed response to feedback to be a valuable approach. There have been times when I have received feedback and my immediate reaction was to want to justify or explain myself.  But, by just accepting the gift and thinking about it more later—I’ve been able to pull out valuable pieces of input to apply to my work or approach. An instant response can be an emotional one and taking time to think about it may lead to a more rational evaluation.

There’s a verse from the Bible that comes to mind when I think about feedback: “Test all things; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 KJV).  When someone gives you a critique, consider it; evaluate whether it is true, whether it is applicable, and how—or if—you should act upon it moving forward. You always have the option to ignore the content (if you’re willing to accept the consequences), but don’t reject the gift.

Baby Boomers held an average of six jobs between the ages of 24 to 46, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and trends seem to indicate that number is only going to increase for future generations. In today’s workplace culture, professional reinvention is a necessity, not an option.

I recently left my long-time employer to follow an entrepreneurial path and did months of research in preparation. I found some things that really worked for me along the way, and while everyone’s situation is a little different, if you’re thinking about making a change, you might find this six-step approach helpful to your own process.

Step 1: Diagnosis

• Identify specifically what you are dissatisfied with in your current job. To borrow a cliché, you don’t want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire by leaving one unfulfilling situation only to enter another—potentially worse—one. Is it the day-to-day work and responsibilities? Are they not challenging enough or just not interesting to you? What about your colleagues and the company culture? Do you enjoy the work, but the compensation doesn’t reflect your experience level or isn’t competitive in your industry?

Step 2: Introspection

• Take time for self-reflection. Do a skills and interests inventory—considering all past work and volunteer experience as well as hobbies. Look for common themes and particularly focus on the areas where expertise and passion intersect. List out your top personal values and consider writing a life “purpose statement” (or mission or goals, whatever works for you). This is hard work and might even feel a bit uncomfortable, but taking the time to really know yourself will pay off in spades when it comes to finding just the right fit in your next move.

Step 3: Definition

• Describe your ideal job. Be specific about the things that really matter to you and prioritize. Consider the following: job structure & responsibilities, corporate culture, hours, compensation, physical environment, and geographic location. For me, this step was like deciding on a new place to live—I had my “non-negotiable” and “nice to have” attributes as well as “deal-breakers.” But, as in real estate, you can’t have it all, so force yourself to prioritize your list and decide what you absolutely must have, what you would like to have, and anything you just would not accept.

Step 4: Adaptation

• Consider if/how your current role could be modified. Based on what you diagnosed about your current job, your skills and your needs—take a broad view of your current position and ask yourself if anything could be changed to make it a better fit. For example, if you like most things about it, but the work just isn’t challenging, could you delegate some of the more basic work and talk to your manager about an exciting new project you’d like to take on? If you love the work, but the compensation or benefits are insufficient, could you demonstrate to your manager why you deserve a raise or negotiate for flexible work hours or more vacation time?

Step 5: Expansion

• Evaluate other opportunities at your current employer. If you’ve decided, for whatever reason, that your current role cannot be adapted to meet your needs, consider whether there might be other roles that would be a better fit within the company. This would obviously only be appropriate if the issues you identified in Step 1 weren’t endemic to the entire organization—if you hate the long commute to the one and only location or the corporate culture is a terrible fit, you can safely skip this step. If your concerns are more position-specific, consider whether a move to another part of the company might be an option. Look at your skills and interests inventory—is there perhaps another job function or department you could explore? Is there another location in a preferred geography where you could transfer? Is there another role within your current department where you would learn completely new skills and enhance your professional development?

Step 6: Transition

• Evaluate external options, including self-employment. This is many people’sfirst step when they are dissatisfied with their job, but by working through the due diligence of the preceding five steps, you can be sure that when and if you get to this step, you will truly be ready for it. Your best strategy at this stage is to operate from a position of strength. Unless you have been terminated without warning, it’s almost always a good idea to line up your next opportunity before leaving your current job. It’s a widely acknowledged fact that employers prefer to hire candidates who are already employed. If you’re considering making the leap to self-employment or entrepreneurialism, this means having a detailed strategy in place before leaving, including 6-12 months of living expenses in the bank and a solid business plan.

You own your career. It can be easy to lose sight of this fact when you’re employed by someone else or are at the mercy of clients for freelance work. However, by thinking long term and being proactive about defining your goals, purpose, needs, and passions, you will feel more empowered to make the sort of choices that lead to a fulfilling professional life. After all, as Sartre observed, “We invent ourselves by virtue of the multitude of our choices.” Who will you invent next?

My grandfather is an inveterate stock-ticker-watcher. He follows the markets every weekday, watches Jim Cramer and his obnoxious antics religiously, and like all serious investors, has his favorite companies—and right at the top of the list is the perennial blue-chip Procter & Gamble. I got a job with P&G right out of school, and to say my grandfather was proud of me would be an understatement. During a recent file clean-out session, I found multiple P&G-related newspaper and magazine articles he’d clipped and sent to me, with his elegant scrawl across the top pointing out something of interest and signed, “Daddy Ben.”

I left P&G last month after 14 years. Why in the world would I leave such a solid, reputable company, known not only for world-class brands, but also for taking such great care of its employees? (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the “janitor who retired from P&G as a millionaire” story.) Most people were polite enough not to ask me this directly, but my closest family members felt exempt from this propriety—all the more when they heard I was leaving my stable, steady career to start my own consulting practice. To say Daddy Ben was mystified—even gobsmacked—would not be overstating the point.

I spent the last six years of my time at P&G working in corporate innovation—identifying, evaluating and developing new product categories, business models, consumer groups and brands—and it was there that I found my passion. The realm of the future, of possibilities, of discoveries waiting to be found, of problems looking for solutions, that’s where I like to live. As William Gibson famously observed, “The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.” Looking for those pockets of the future-already-here in trends, in unarticulated consumer needs and compensating behaviors, and then visualizing and creating that future for the world-at-large, that’s exciting stuff.

So, leaving P&G has less to do with P&G itself, and far more to do with my glimpse into a broader future of possibilities—building on the knowledge I gleaned from my time at P&G. I learned discipline and rigor, but also how those things can morph into artificial constraints. I benefited from the scale and resources of a huge corporation, but saw how that can limit experimentation and risk-taking.  I worked with wicked smart people, but also learned that “not invented here” syndrome can be crippling for real innovation, and that culture is more important than many managers are willing to acknowledge.

And now it’s my turn. Here’s where I take all the lessons I’ve learned: the skills, the experiences, the expertise—the sum total of the things I know how to do, the ways I know how to create and discover and make-better, and—just as important—the knowledge of the ruts and traps to avoid. I expect that being an independent consultant will bring a steeper learning curve than I’ve ever experienced, but I can’t wait for the new challenges. And I especially can’t wait for the first time I get to clip an article or forward a glowing testimonial to Daddy Ben featuring my own company. It may be hard for him to completely understand why someone would choose uncertainty over stability, but I’m grateful to have the choice, the opportunity to learn, and yes, maybe even to fail. In that, I must agree with Coach John Wooden’s sentiment, “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”