Rethinking Your Career
I’ve had a flurry of people contacting me lately about coaching around their career. This is a new trend. Most of my clients are business owners and executives seeking to grow their business and enhance their leadership skills. I wonder if this is a post-covid trend. Many of us realized during those God awful covid years, that we have more choices than we thought. Much like a cancer patient faced with the possibility of a shortened life, priorities change. I think this is a good thing.
In particular I am inspired to hear clients seeking change for the pursuit of meaning, purpose and relational connection. I think we can all benefit from those longings. It can get us on a path of transcendence, which gives us the possibility of greater joy, health and even prosperity.
Is a career change necessary to achieve these things? Not necessarily. But sometimes it is. Case in point. A middle aged man who had been with a company most of his career battled with anxiety, poor health and marriage issues. He went through several years of therapy, coaching and group support. He made some very positive changes in many key areas of his life.
However, he continued to be unhappy at work and came to the realization that the corporate culture was just too toxic in ways that were beyond his control. When he was not as self-aware of his emotions, his history and personality tendencies, the job environment was just a part of the hard life he was living.
As he made changes in himself, his marriage and his family relationships, he found a level of peace and confidence. It reminds me of the message in Carly Simon’s song, “I haven’t got time for the pain. I haven’t the need for the pain…”. He realized he could no longer tolerate disrespectful and confusing communication and knew he no longer needed to stay there.
Before, he felt like a victim who had no other choice. But not anymore.
It did not take him long to find a new company who valued his experience and placed a priority on human relationships in their organization. He called me last week to share the exciting news and thanked me for helping him on the journey of his own self-discovery. That always feels good to hear success stories, even if it’s years after I’ve worked with someone.
Another 40-something man I spoke with recently shared a different kind of career story. In his case, he was ready for a change because he felt unchallenged and isolated. Some might consider his situation a dream job. He earned over $150,000 with generous benefits in a long-term contract with a well-known, successful company. His leaders valued him tremendously and he experienced making a positive difference and had many project wins under his belt.
During covid he requested a move back to his home city and they heartily agreed to allow him to work remotely. When covid subsided, they had no problem with his choice to continue to work remotely and live in the city he loved.
However, lately he sensed he might be underutilized. He is feeling nudged to do more with his talents. He also misses being around people and enjoys catalyzing a team to achieve something together, in person. Having completed a degree program recently, he is ready to take a risk and swing out to try for a higher level executive position with a new company close to home. He wonders if he can do it. He questions whether he is qualified to be at a VP level. He is anxious about the risk.
He is doing it anyway.
He is smart to get the right support to plan his strategy and stay focused on his vision.
Here’s my takeaway. We all struggle at times. Our career success and satisfaction is one indicator of how we are doing in life - much like our relationships and our health. Self-actualization is all about moving towards our greatest potential. When something shows up like a roadblock, an area of pain or the need for a change, it’s a opportunity to explore what’s going on at a deeper level. What areas of self-awareness are being revealed? What is ready to be grown, healed, or transformed? What is there to explore at this time more than ever? How can I do that? Where should I start? Who can help?
If you are rethinking your career, use this opportunity to take a deeper dive into your personal vision, your values and your goals. Get some expert counseling, coaching, mentoring, or support group to join you on this important journey. Don’t go it alone! Celebrate that you are getting ready for an important change!
For help with this, consider my free e-book called Life As Art.
Life As Art is a tool to help you explore and clarify essential elements for creating your future. Through the process of reflection, visioning, goal setting, and developing planning habits, it is my hope you will maximize your talents, fulfill your dreams, weather inevitable storms, and sustain proactive positivity in all circumstances!
Also, take a look at this great book called LifeForward by Pam McLean. Here’s the Amazon description: A LifeLaunch is the beginning of a new chapter of your life. Each LifeLaunch requires a fresh new vision, new plans, and inner courage as you shift gears from yesterday's commitments to tomorrows possibilities. Each LifeLaunch is a graduation from one era of your life into the next. Society used to tailor our LifeLaunches for us, and guide us down established paths of adult life. No more. Today you must design your own path, and take charge of all your LifeLaunches no matter what your age or situation.
Meet Elaine and get started.
