It’s very common to get stuck in your work life from time to time. Sometimes it’s a life event such as motherhood, bereavement, illness, redundancy, divorce, a global pandemic (?) that causes you to stop and take stock of the direction your life (and work) is taking. There’s nothing like a dose of perspective to make you think differently about what you want and what would make you happy.
Sometimes, the sensation of ‘feeling stuck’ can slowly creep up on you. And what started out as a dull nagging feeling at the bottom of your stomach becomes a general sense of apathy or discontent months – or even years – down the line. Before you know it, you’ve been working on ‘autopilot’ for a good chunk of your career. “How do I ‘get unstuck?” is the million dollar question so many of my amazing clients come to me with.
And because I have been incredibly stuck in my own work life, I can empathise completely. It’s a rubbish place to be. But perhaps more importantly, I have the tools and techniques to help you get unstuck and working happy again. This is my own story of how I got unstuck and reset my own work life back in 2016.
My own reset story
You can’t go back & change the beginning, but you can start where you are & change the ending.
-C.S Lewis
Once upon a time…
…I suffered horribly from a nasty case of ‘shiny-object syndrome’. I was lured into a sparkly new role with a fancy job title and a pretty decent pay cheque – a ‘dream job’, on paper. But even as I signed my contract, my stomach lurched. Not long after, when things started to get really bad, my intuition piped up, “I told you so.”
The role was completely out of alignment with who I was, what I was great at and the dent I really wanted to make in the world.
I berated myself for not having trusted my gut, as I ignored those red flags my intuition had been furiously waving at me from the very beginning. (I hadn’t really ever been taught how to tune into those rumblings of my inner voice.) I longed to go back and do things differently, stand up for what I believed in. Stand up for who I was and what I wanted. But the truth is, I don’t think I really even knew who I was or what I wanted out of my work life back then.
Of course I knew I couldn’t go back and change the choices I’d made, but I made damn sure that I changed my ending and I embarked upon a total work-life reset. Oh, and I haven’t ignored my intuition since!
Self-knowledge brings confidence & clarity
The only way to change your ending and perform a total work-life reset, is to get super-clear on your truest, most authentic self.
Your best professional (and personal) identity.
In other words, you’ll need to explore the following:
⭐️ Who are you?
⭐️ What are you really great at?
⭐️ What are you known for?
⭐️ How do you add value, professionally?
⭐️ What makes you tick?
⭐️ What drives and motivates you?
⭐️ What’s important to you about the work you do & the people you do it with?
⭐️ What makes you feel happy and fulfilled?
⭐️ What do you actually want out of your work (and personal) life?
After all, knowledge is power.⚡️ And self-knowledge is self-power.
Significant life events – hello Covid, motherhood, redundancy, burnout, illness, divorce, loss etc – can cause a shift in your identity. And all of the above therefore have to be re-calibrated and redefined.
As things around you change, so you change.
Working through the answers to all these questions, without societal noise and pressures throwing you off track is really bloody hard. But, I promise you, getting clarity on this stuff is the absolute pre-requisite to finding happiness at work.
Which is why 90% of the work I do with my 1:1 clients is about self-discovery.
Discovery of your best authentic self.
And then we design and align your work life around this precise version of you.
You don't have to do it alone
Of course, you absolutely CAN work out what would make you happier and more successful in your work life on your own…(there’s always google, YouTube, free downloads, self-help books, journaling, trial and error, well-meaning friends and family, the cat…?)
But all I’m saying is that you don’t have to, if you don’t want to.
So if you’re looking for some gentle accountability, friendly support, a little bit of neuroscience, positive psychology and personality profiling ‘magic’ blended with some down-to-earth and serious self-reflection to help you work out your best next steps, I’d love to help.
I have a tried and tested coaching programme that has now helped 100’s of brilliant women (and a few men!) over the last 4 years. And it works.
S.H.I.N.E is my signature coaching framework for career clarity, confidence and contentment, and if you’d like to experience its power for yourself, you can find out more about my 1:1 career coaching programmes here.
Go it alone or get wings & fly?
So if you want:
- To find more meaning, purpose and fulfilment
- Crystal clarity on your next steps
- A self-belief and confidence-boost
- To reignite your motivation levels
- To unlock your professional potential
- To get ‘unstuck’ & make a plan
- Take action to create a work life you love
- To reconnect with what you’re great at
- To take back control of your career
- To sense-check a new business idea you’ve had
- To do something for YOU for a change…
…or you’re just intrigued to find that elusive ‘sweet spot’ where your passions, talents and experience collide with a need in the world; all whilst allowing you to enjoy life…then my 1:1 coaching programmes will help.
Or you can sign up for my affordable career and personal development membership –The Shine Collective – today if you prefer some self-directed coaching and you’re happy ‘DIY’ your work happiness journey.
You can book a free ‘no strings’ call using the button below if you’d like to see how I can help you create more happiness in your work life. Or drop me a line on [email protected] and let’s chat.
