On this twelve day journey into the twelve areas of our lives; today we are going to tackle our professional career.
Let’s get right to it here shall we?
What do you believe about your professional life?
Why do you believe what you do about your career?
Where did you get this belief?
Does this belief still serve you today in this season of your life?
Those are heavy questions and they have sorts of ramifications attached to them. Let’s take them one at a time.
What do you believe about your professional life?
When you got your first real paying job, you may not have been hired in the field you were educated in, or you may have taken a job that you do not love at all but it pays the bills. Perhaps you are still in a state of restlessness around not loving what you do and you are always on the “hunt” to escape into something that makes you soar everyday. Some people spend their entire lives searching and die with the song still in their heart. Some of us are too scared to look or to change because the cost of losing something else is to great. What do you believe?
Why do you believe what you do about your career?
This is that “story”, that “agreement” we tell ourselves that we talked about in the last post. It is the story we tell ourselves so we won’t have to look at the real reason things are the way they are. You may tell yourself, “I’m stuck in this dead end job and there is no way out”, “..my goal is to become a VP…by the time I am……years old…and then….”, “….someday, I will go out and do ……… which is my real passion…”. The story lines are endless.
Where did you get this belief?
One place is that storyline you made up to exist from day to day. Another is you did what you were told without the consideration of what you wanted, were really good at or where the current job trends were heading when you were in school, or perhaps you did it because everyone else in your family is a “…..whatever…..”.
Does this belief still serve you?
Well, if you love what you are doing; the answer is an enthusiastic YES! If you hate what you are currently doing; the answer is a resounding NO! If you have a plan and you are executing your own bigger vision and you know that this specific job is one step closer to where you want to be, the answer is another: “YES”!
If you are stuck and you really dislike your job, you have full permission from yourself to change. There will be hardships and consequences that you will have to weigh in light of your decisions. There are also family members and others that may be impacted with your decision.
What is really worth it? Where do your true values lie?
What is harder, swallowing, breathing and living in an environment which is killing your internal joy or living and working inside your passion?
I can hear you now: “….but, you don’t understand….”; really I do. I coach clients everyday who are just existing and they hate their lives and they are unwilling to make a change so they exist in misery.
What will you do?