Are you happy with where you are in your career?

The average person works 92,120 hours over their lifetime. That’s a lot of hours to spend unhappy isn’t it?! Even if it’s only 1 year where you’re not loving work, it’s almost 1,800 hours. What if you could take control and make it a happy experience and maybe even make a career change? Gallup has shown through their studies globally, that career wellbeing has the biggest impact on your overall wellbeing. Why? Because it is the focus of time, energy, and for most it’s an integral part of their identity.

Unquestionably, I recognise we all have our ups and downs, and I’m not talking about galloping into work with joy every single day…that’s just not realistic. It’s when the Sunday night fear sets in every week. Or at it’s worst, it kicks in on a Saturday, or is a constant feature in your life at the present time.

Maybe it’s time to start listening to those feelings and what they’re really trying to tell you. ‘I just can’t work in that toxic environment anymore’, ‘I’m not feeling valued’, ‘I’m not where I thought I would be’, ‘I want my work to mean something’, ‘I’ve lost my confidence’, …I’ve heard all of these things from clients (and that’s just in the past week!). They’ve all taken the step to make a career change, and maybe it’s time you did too.

I get it, change can feel scary.

When I was in that position I felt stuck, as have many of my clients. Now they are in careers they love, earning more money, and feel more fulfilled. I’m here to tell you, the only thing that’s keeping you stuck is your thinking. Once you open your mind to consider that there are options, you’ll realise that there’s always a way to get to where you want, whether that is a promotion or career change.

There are lots of stories we tell ourselves as to why we are where we are, and why we can’t move up or go for a career change. We use endless amounts of imagination to keep ourselves right where we are, the great news is, you can use those same skills to get yourself moving forward towards what you really want.

Creating Your VISION

I’ve been sharing some pointers over the last few weeks to build the foundations for a great year, if you haven’t read them yet, check them out:

https://www.genwomen.global/want-to-grow-further-in-2018-take-time-to-review-your-year/

https://www.genwomen.global/identifying-your-values-will-help-you-set-effective-goals-for-2018/

https://www.genwomen.global/would-knowing-your-purpose-help-you-in-your-career/

This blog is all about helping you identify what you really want.

Firstly, this needs to start by creating the right space and time. It’s best to do it somewhere you feel comfortable and can spread out. Ideally you want to make your space creative, whether that includes candles, a glass of wine, some lovely pens…whatever makes it right for you.

Get together some coloured sticky notes, and some pens, at the very least! (I love stationery so am usually knee deep in coloured paper, pens and flip charts).

Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself on New Year’s Eve (this year, or even in 5 years). You’re celebrating what you’ve achieved this year. In this VISION you’re toasting your best year yet. What are you excited about? What have you made happen for yourself? Who are you celebrating with? What are you proud of?

When you open your eyes, jot down everything you saw, heard and felt.

Now, for each of these headings ask yourself, given that vision, what do I want in terms of…

Career
Health
Lifestyle
Family/ Relationships
Social life and community involvement

These are the key aspects of your well-being, and all are crucial in defining the life you want. Use your coloured sticky notes to capture your thoughts – one idea per note.

Vision Board

This is a collage of your dream life that you display somewhere where you see it every day.

Ultimately, whatever way you choose to represent it, it’s important to know that by committing it to paper, it’s much more likely to happen. You’re creating a destination. This is giving your mind the clear picture it needs of your future, so it can conceive where it’s going.

Turning VISION into ACTION

Now that you have created an exciting and compelling vision, it’s time to set some concrete steps that will take you there. To turn this into an action plan, it’s useful to prioritise into must do, want to do, would like to do. Obviously you’ll focus your energy on the must/ want to do items. The trick is to not overload yourself when creating a plan, you can always come back to the other things at a later date. A good rule of thumb is to focus on no more than 3 at a time.

Now we are going to set some well-formed outcomes. These take your goals from concept to reality. Work your way through the following questions for each goal…

What do you want – specifically?
Why is it important to you?
What will it look like, feel like, sound like to have this?
How will you know when you have it?
What resources, strengths, and skills do you have already that will enable you to achieve this?
Which resources, strengths, and skills do you need to develop or get help with to be able to achieve this?
What needs to happen for it to happen?
Identify are the first 3 steps towards making this a reality?
When will you make them?
What will keep you accountable?
How will you know you’re achieving your goals?
What do the next 90 days look like to achieve this?

Knowing what you want and having a strategy in place to achieve it is fundamental to achieving career change and success.

All things considered, whether you want a career change, or you want to glide up the corporate ladder faster where you are, this is a great place to start. I work with clients regularly to help them succeed in their careers. Whether it’s getting a promotion, setting a clear direction, or becoming a great leader, you need to know what it is you want first.

If you want help getting clear on your vision, and to develop your strategy for 2019, my Rise and Shine Career Design programme just what you need.

For more information, email me at sinead@sineadsharkey.co.uk to set up a call to see how I can help.