By Sandie Shaw
Discover the work you were born to do!
What to do if your career ladder is leaning up against the wrong wall.
You’ve worked hard to get where you are and you feel pleased with what you’ve accomplished so far in your career or your education. But what if you don’t feel inspired by your chosen field of work, or proud of what you do for a living?
These things are not only important, they matter greatly when it comes to your quality of life, as anyone who spends day after day counting down the hours till home-time, the weekend or their next holiday, will testify.
We all have our unique strengths, but just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean it’s going to make you happy.
The simple truth is, that to be happy and successful in the work place (to frequently lose track of time because you’re so tuned-in and enthusiastic about what you’re doing) you need a job that not only matches your interests and your strengths, but brings about success simply by you being the person you really are. My advice: Do what you actually are.
Here at High Peak Life Coaching, I specialise in helping people discover exactly that; who you really are and what work will bring you to life. I will help you explore your most valued transferable skills, what you actually enjoy doing and how you like to work. Using a tried and tested career discovery process, I have been able to successfully redirect my clients when they have been unable to work out the best way forward for themselves. The process is simple, fun and highly effective.
To please yourself, you must know yourself.
Why is it important to ‘know yourself’ when it comes to career transition and progression?
This is an good question, because the process of understanding all aspects of who you are takes a good deal of investigation – you need to know a lot more than what is written on your CV. Creating a full inventory of who you really are matters because:-
- You will be more motivated to pursue your chosen career, despite any initial knock backs, because you will know in your heart that this is what you truly want to do (it’s who you really are)
- Knowing that you are going to find all aspects of job enjoyable (even your dream job) involves some element of good luck, however, now your luck has been calculated. You know it’s got the highest potential for success – you know your priorities and you are willing to compromise
- By knowing yourself well, you can describe in confidence and full detail exactly what you are looking for. This means that you can go beyond posted vacancies and use other modern methods of jobhunting. One of the best routes into the workplace is through people you already know; your network – accessing jobs which are not even advertised. Being able to clearly state what you want, to your friends, family, agency staff, LinkedIn contacts, etc., enables others to be your eyes and ears for you and they can introduce you into the workplace, and sometimes, will even get a bonus and a pat on the back for introducing you.
- You will learn that there could be several fields of work which interest you that match your unique strengths, skills and talents, and you can describe your suitability for this work in many ways. This means that you can approach more job markets, and not be limited by one specific ‘job-title’. If no-one is hiring for that job-title’ – well, that’s the end of your jobsearch. Now you will have passion and huge motivation to do many things, it’s just a question of what ticks the most boxes.. Your checklist will be there, in your hand.
Confucius, the great philosopher, said “choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” He also said, “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence”. Clever chap, that one.
If you, or anyone you know, would like professional help to build some strong foundations for lasting career satisfaction, then please get in touch today and get your career move off to a great start.
