Unique Original Articles » Empower your Career in Five Steps

How do you feel about your employment? Do you truly adore what you do for a living? Or, are you like most people: dreading getting out of bed each morning, hitting the snooze button many times... barely able to face another unfulfilling day working?

A lot of my life coaching clients express feeling frozen in a profession that they absolutely don’t enjoy, or worse, dread. This happens to all kinds of people in all kinds of careers. It happens to people who strike one as having "made it" just as often as it happens to those at the starting gate of their career journey. It happened to me.

For a very long time, I felt stuck in a career that came with a lot of financial reward and status, yet left me emotionally hungry. Fear kept me trapped. I feared that changing my career would result in a loss of my purpose. I wondered what people would think about me if I surrendered? Would they call me an idiot? I feared that I'd "never figure it out" and that in the future, I'd be in the exact same place I yearned to leave, for lack of a decision or solid plan.

Can you relate to these career concerns? A lot of people can. I believe it boils down to distrust and a lack of knowing what in fact fulfills us. And, the times when we discover some possible solutions, fear kicks in. Fear reminds us that it’s not all right to take risks, that we need certainty, that most people fail at "X" and we’ll have to work really, really hard if we expect to get somewhere.

A possible reason why you stay in the same profession even with feeling unfulfilled: you're good at what you do. On the surface, your career gives the illusion of a flawless fit. Yet on the inside, you may have a secret dream of being terminated. Maybe you long for that magical opportunity. But then you wonder, "Who's to say that my talent is any good?" And on the flip side you worry, "How can I possibly land a new job that pays as well as my current one?" Indeed, it seems that fear has you in its grip: you are afraid to break away and afraid to stay.

To be fulfilled, you must move through the fear. This requires awareness, risk, and determination.

Ask yourself: How did I arrive at career unhappiness?

· Did your profession choose you instead of you choosing it? Perhaps somewhere along the way you took a job that seemed good at the time, yet after a while it lost its luster. Now you’re stuck because it’s all you think you know and changing now would be a stupid thing to do.

· Did someone else's "opinions" choose your profession for you? It’s what mom or someone else wanted. And you went a long with it so as to avoid conflict?

· Did you go with what seemed prosperous? Maybe it was about a lack of trust? Or, perhaps you didn't feel talented enough to get what you really wanted.

· Do you suppose "there's no looking back now?" You've spent your best years climbing the ladder - yet suddenly you fear you’ll give up before the getting gets really good. Perhaps its "too late" for you to make your real dream come true so you choose to live with apology and career dread.

· Do you feel overwhelmed? Do your conflicting talents and interests pull you in numerous directions? Are you unable to make a commitment, and so you just do "whatever" to be doing something?

Try this five step plan to open your mind to new career possibilities and manage the fear that immobilizes you.

Step one: Make a list of everything that you like.
Step two: Make a list of your skills.
Step three: Make a list of your successes.

Step four: Now look for the patterns. What do you see? For example, do what you love and enjoy involve the outdoors? Animals? People? Are your talents and skills related to using your hands, creating art, music, speaking, using your body? If your lists are long enough, you will see some patterns.

Step five: Now set aside some time and do some investigating:

Search out every possible career that incorporates what you love, enjoy and are good at. Search the Internet, look in the yellow pages, go to the library, ask friends and family members for direction. Interview people, gather facts and information. Actually do activities related to your themes. Attend some networking groups, career classes, adventure groups, writing clubs… whatever interests You!

The key is to take steps! A big bummer about career dread is it tends to deplete us. It can make us feel devitalized. Getting into action will not only help you figure out yourself more and identify a career path that is fulfilling for you, it will get you moving again! Get outside, connect with folks, invest yourself in your passions… engage in activities that intrigue you. This alone will re-energize you. And, who knows. Maybe you’ll meet others along the way who shares your passion, can mentor you, or support you somehow.

Want proof that you really can choose your career, versus letting your career choose you? Below is a list of people who chose their own career path:

Mary Kay Ash - Mary Kay Cosmetics
Barbara Sher
Julia Morgan
Billie Jean King
Rosanne Barr

Today step out of career dread and into empowerment. If you are living to work, then you’re not really living. You spend a lot of your years working in your career. Why not create a life that includes loving what you do
Life Coach, Susan Liddy of Aspire Life Coaching, empowers women who have life plans yet feel buried by fear. Her Passages to Empowerment program is a surefire way to overcome your fear and reconnect with yourself so your inner confidence can emerge: http://www.AspireLifeCoaching.org
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