5 Women Break Their Own Rules

"I will never take a job where I have to wear a suit."

When Kim McWaters was in high school, she imagined her future would involve spangles, tutus, and Broadway lights, not a briefcase and sensible heels. "The corporate world seemed regimented and boring," says the 42-year-old mother of three in Glendale, Arizona. "I wanted to do something I was passionate about." Kim was talented enough to win a musical-theater scholarship, but a pregnancy threw a hitch into her plans. She stayed home to have the baby and enrolled part time in the local college.

To make extra money, Kim took a job answering phones at Universal Technical Institute, an automotive school. But then a funny thing happened. Kim found that she loved talking to the people who called the school. "I started thinking, I could actually like this," she recalls. She stayed at the company, moving to sales and marketing, where she put her theatrical chops to good use creating commercials and videos for the school. Twenty years later, she is the president and CEO of the company.

Kim says the fact that she made the right decision became clear one day when she was talking to an old theater friend who was starring in a Broadway show. "I asked him what it was like, and he said, 'It's just a job.' I have never once thought of my career as being just a job. It makes me think that this is my true calling."

Lesson Learned: Take a good look at the big picture. When you're in the process of switching destinies, you may experience moments of doubt, but if the choice truly makes sense for you, then those feelings will be short-lived. "Imagine yourself 10 years in the future," suggests Neuharth. "By then, the discomfort of going back on your never will have faded, so picture what all the long-run benefits are. Focusing on the positives will help your adjustment."

Best of all, once you knock down that first never, you'll see new opportunities everywhere you look. "When you step out of your traditional role, you open yourself up to completely new adventures in life," says Lightman.

Originally published in Fitness magazine, May 2006.