From Corporate to Calling
Do you wake up each day fully charged and raring to go and contribute in ways you find purposeful, fulfilling and meaningful? Be it at work or play, we all crave the need to make a meaningful contribution and add value along this crazy wild journey called life. In this month’s blog, I’ll show you how, so tune in.
I also left what seems like a lifetime in the corporate world, working for a blue chip multi-national mining company for over a decade, to somehow find myself in the world of being an entrepreneur in my own executive coaching practice and more recently the CEO of an international management consulting company called Wise Advocate Enterprises. How did I do that? What gave me the clarity of mind, confidence and will to make the changes to lead my life by design rather than default? This is how…
From Corporate to Calling
Here’s my biggest secret: my ‘job’ isn’t a job… it’s a calling. It’s a genuine, deep heart expression of my truest self, in service for a much bigger and greater good beyond my own self serving pursuits.
What I mean by that is that I get to wake up each day and make a positive and meaningful contribution to the lives of others. I get to support and enable them in ways they never thought possible. And the buzz I gain from seeing this extraordinary shifts in others, is worth all the hours I’ve invested in being able to do the work I do each day. I absolutely love it. And I’m growing and improving and thriving too.
My coaching clients inspire me to new heights of joy, achievement and fulfillment too. While I’m in the coaching seat, asking powerful questions that create breakthroughs in thinking, I too am not only witnessing, acknowledging and celebrating but I’m learning first hand about the extraordinary creative potential we all have to create a life we truly desire and deserve. I’ve done it. Hundreds of my own coaching clients have done it. And you can too!
It takes forward focus, will, determination, grit, persistence, perseverance, and a whole lot of patience and self encouragement. You need to be able to see and appreciate that even the small steps count. All steps that lead you in the general positive direction of your ultimate destination, is progress. And also note: sometimes, progress can be invisible! Shifts in your thinking and perspective can make all the difference to your game plan. It may not be visible, but you will surely feel it from the inside and it can inspire and motivate you beyond the tendancies to give up or give in when you begin to lose heart or sight of your goals.
The thing is this: you CAN do it… if you WANT to.
So what are the steps to ultimately be living a life by design, and doing a job you love?
Firstly, get clear about your values? Your core values are your blue print for making the ‘right’ decisions for you. They are guided by what you stand for, who you are and what you ought not to negotiate for any job or relationship or project. Your values are your blueprint for a truly happy life. If your decisions are guided by your blueprint of deepest truth, decision making can be very simple and easy.
If you want to learn how to do this effectively, check out my half day workshops over at josiethomson.com or download your copy of my Values Assessment Tool and have a go at them yourself. There is also careful comprehensive instructions of how to use this tool, along with all the tools I use with coaching clients who are keen to identify a vocation that could deliver greater fulfilment and expression and joy. You can check it out in my online course Career Transition Program which is packed with all the practical steps to take you from where you are right now, to defining what you really want to do and be, and how to get there. It’s worked for hundreds of clients and it can work for you too.
Once you know what’s important to you and your non-negotiables, you need to get clear about what you actually enjoy doing and what your interests are. Take the list and details out of your head and write them down. When you see the information in written form, the details become tangible and you may start to see some themes emerging.
Another step you can take is to conduct an informal 360 feedback process where you invite your nearest and dearest work colleagues (current and past) along with friends and family who have a pretty good sense of you, to provide their honest comments on 3 questions:
What do you perceive as being my strengths?
What are potential areas of improvement/development?
What vocations do you think I’d be suited to and why?
Their responses can provide valuable insight and encouragement for clarifying your next steps.
It’s also very important to know what you are not prepared to do, not prepared to change or not prepared to negotiate in order to have your dream job. This will provide some careful guidance and assistance as you discern your options.
I hope you find these guidelines useful. Please do let me know how you go.
You deserve to awaken each morning with a sense of joy, opportunity and purpose where you can shine brightly and make a positive contribution and difference in the world around you.
Sometimes it can be helpful to check in with how you’re thinking about yourself and your options so that past limiting beliefs are not holding you back from embracing the future that awaits you. To do this you may like to check out my new book: The Wise Advocate – the inner voice of strategic leadership. It’s about accessing a quiet, still, inner voice that knows what’s good for you and wants what’s best for you too. It’s only when we quieten down our mind and create a space to ‘hear’ that inner voice of the Wise Advocate, that you can reap the reward, peace and benefit of aligning with that still inner voice. My co-authors and I are also available for keynotes and workshops, and will soon have licensed trainings for coaches, practitioners and organisations available Express your interest here.
Until next time, remember this:
It’s your time.
It’s your life.
It’s your time to shine!
Be kind and be patient and take good care of YOU. Because you’re worth it!
Shine on.