While most people seek a meaningful career with purpose, there are still those who have not landed in what is necessarily a fulfilling career. These people generally don’t have flexibility in these jobs to stretch their creativity or to be a parent during office hours.
Women face increasing pressure as more is added to their plates, leaving them struggling to find balance between a career and relationships. It is not easy for people to make a drastic change, leaving the individual unfilled and potentially unhappy.
Having worked for a solid decade before marriage and children, I found myself part of this struggle. It took me years and learning the hard way to realise that while I did enjoy building my career, it was perhaps not my destiny. It reached new heights when I had children and gradually got harder to continue in the same way and feel the same sense of satisfaction.
I realised that I had to make a hard call and either continue, accepting my reality, or make a 180-degree turn. So, I turned.
After years of relentlessly building a senior role within the ICT industry, I discovered my true calling as a coach, facilitator and mentor within business. It’s in this role that I encounter such life lessons in what my clients have been through, helping them to find their way, and to live a life that inspires – no matter what you do. It’s not easy, that I can assure you, but for both individuals, it’s a way forward as each day I help a client, they help me too.
There are more and more great examples of women and men who have managed to find some semblance of balance, either carving a role within a corporate or taking an entirely new path. Finding purpose in a new career is often a daunting challenge, if you are considering making a drastic change, consider these questions first:
• Does your career make you happy?
• Are you building it for yourself or is it tied to an expectation from someone or something in your past?
• Have you considered alternative careers or another way to do what will give you purpose?
• When last did you stop driving yourself at 200k per hour and spend time getting perspective?
There is an old proverb “More haste, less speed.” Slow down, reflect, breathe and allow the answers to flow.
Something to think about… (over coffee)
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