Defining Success, Your Way.
One of the things we get so caught up with in life is this traditional need to "be successful" - To work hard, climb the corporate ladder and to follow a linear career path.
Being a female, and a mother, I have experienced a multitude of things that get in the way of moving through a set career path. Having kids, taking time off work and everything else to do with being a Mum can certainly interrupt the flow of a "normal" career progression.
The expectations of following a career path can come from yourself, what you have seen, what you believe success is and what you have been taught by your parents and role models.
Sometimes, what you have seen from other people growing up is the opposite of what you end up following as well! Perhaps your parents had very strong work ethics and that has influenced you to become more relaxed about your approach because you saw how rigid they were.
Flexibility is important when looking at following a set career path, as is knowing what success is to you. This is one of the key, critical components to have in your life. Looking forward and planning out your next steps, whether within your current job or outside of it, starting your own business or getting back into the workforce.
Often this planning just becomes thoughts, we ponder all of this with no specific structure. Which is one of the benefits of having a coach, being able to have that clarity around what you're doing, your values and direction. Sometimes having an outside perspective on why you're feeling a certain way about your situation or how to move forward helps you get unstuck and enables you to take action.
We can help you too when faced with an unexpected opportunity or situation that can come up in your career path too. Maybe you've been offered a promotion that doesn't feel right and you need support around this, or you feel like you should have found success with where you're at, but something is not right and you can't figure out what it is.
When something doesn't feel right in your career, it's important to tap into it. What is it trying to tell you? It all comes down to how you define happiness and how you define success. Because if you don't know or you're not working in alignment with that, you'll never feel satisfied.
There are many ways we can work with you to define these key elements, including values exercises and identifying your strengths, then using these tools to help you plan your future.
Two questions for you to ponder:
1. What does success look like?
2. What does success mean to me?
