Transition Dynamics

Career Clarity Article

It's a Journey

Creating the life/career you want is a journey. An adventure. Everything doesn't come together all at once, but over a period of time. In fact the ultimate destination often evolves as the process unfolds and you become clearer and clearer about your needs and your desires.

In December this notion of the journey came to my mind several times as I was:

~ Doing my own year end review and planning for the year to come.
~ Reading the manuscript of a former Career Clarity Program client who is now a Career Clarity Coach and a Seasons of Change Coach.
~ Working with a client who is just starting her business.

While each of us is striving to create a life/career that works for us, we are each in a different phase of the journey. In the rest of this newsletter I'll give you a snapshot of where each of us is in our journey. Then I'll spell out some of the qualities, perspectives, and skills that can help you make the most of your own journey.

Three Snapshots of the Journey

1) The month of December I typically take time to refocus my energy and align myself, my business, and my office with my vision for the next year. This year was no exception.

As I put the finishing touches on the new Career Clarity Program (which will be ready to launch in a few weeks), I can't help but look back. Fifteen years ago I made my leap from the corporate world. The next two years the Career Clarity Program and The Seasons of Change were taking shape. In the years since then, these two ideas have continued to evolve and grow. The new 6th Edition of the Career Clarity Program is completely online, which not only makes it easier to use the first time around, but it gives people a starting place the next time they are ready to enhance their career. A whole new level of The Seasons of Change sits in my mind, waiting for me to have the time to bring it into the world.

Certifying other professionals to bring these two programs to their clients in the midst of life and career transitions is a dream come true. Coaches, therapists, and other Transition Professionals from 20 states and three other countries are now involved.

As I look forward, I see so many possibilities. Planning is now underway to spread the word about these programs so that more and more people can find the hope, insight, and direction they need to transform their lives.

2) When Lauren Sullivan worked with me twelve years ago, she was a stay-at-home Mom facing the work world again for the first time in seven years. As we talked about her needs and her desires, she told me of her childhood dream of becoming a inspirational speaker. Although I could see that the idea intrigued her, it was clear to both of us that at this stage of her life, becoming a inspirational speaker didn't feel like a very realistic solution.

Soon after that conversation she landed a corporate job that fit her needs, if not her dreams. Lauren and I worked together several times over the next six years. Each time we met, she was clearer about who she was and what she wanted out of life.

Lauren is now a life coach who facilitates life changing retreats for women. She lives in Santa Barbara, is remarried, and is writing her inspirational book entitled Give Wings to Your Dreams. In her book she shares the seven stepping stones to creating the life you want. Reading her manuscript over the last week I've been reminded of all the twists and turns her journey has had. I'm so proud of what she has accomplished since we first met.

You can check out her work at www.inspiredlifedesign.com. I'll let you know when her book is available.

3) One of my current clients has been working toward her dream for a little over a year. While I can see she's made some big strides, she's still battling with whether she can really make this business work. It's clear when we talk that she enjoys the work itself. What's bogging her down are the business skills that are completely new to her.

Like anyone starting something new, she's unsure of herself. Does she have the skills? Can she learn those she doesn't have? Won't it be hard? Will she want to do what she has to do to succeed? Will she actually do what she needs to do to make it? In a recent phone conversation about these issues, I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was worried about failing.

I told her that we'd look at a wide range of things she could do and then we'd focus in on the new behaviors she was willing to try. We'd build her confidence from those successes. I could feel a shift in her thinking as she saw that she could start with things that she felt comfortable doing.

The Qualities, Skills, and Perspectives for Your Journey

1) Holding Your Vision

Even if it's vague to begin with, if you have a vision of where you want to go and what you want to achieve, it fuels your journey. It keeps you focused. It helps you set your priorities. It keeps you going when the path is a bit rocky.

Some people, like Lauren, have an inner compass they identified early in life. Early on her dream felt so far fetched and out of reach that she didn't believe she could do it. And yet, even though she didn't hold her vision in her conscious mind for many years, it still led her to pay attention to what attracted her (personal growth books and workshops, coaching, and inspiring others). After moving through a series of transitions, she reconnected with herself at a new level. From that point many of her day to day decisions built on each other so that now she is living her dream.

I knew, from what I experienced after my father died, that I wanted to transform the way our culture sees and deals with transitions. When I started out I had no idea what that really meant. The Seasons of Change hadn't come into focus yet. I had no idea that much of my work could center around career change. Everything I've done over the last fifteen years has evolved out of my broad vision. I didn't set out to write a book, develop a career change program, or create a certification training program. I had a passion for helping people get through the difficult times of transition. That passion kept me going through the high points and low points of my career--leading me forward each step of the way.

2) Having Faith in Yourself

Even when the chips are down and things look bleak, some part of you needs to hold onto the faith you have in yourself and in your core vision. In the depths of evaluating what's not working, you rely on your faith to keep you going. You search high and low for the best way to keep moving toward your goal.

3) Trusting the Process of Unfolding

Another key element of the journey is trusting your vision as it unfolds. You can't always make things happen when you want them to. Sometimes it's in the act of taking the next step in front of you that leads you to the step beyond that. If you only act when you know exactly what will happen, you actually limit where your journey can take you. Be open to discovering your next key contact, supplier, idea, or opportunity as you work with the situation in front of you.

4) Finding Creative Solutions

Anyone who has taken the path to follow a dream has come across bumps in the road. It's just the nature of the journey. When you move into new territory, things happen that you can't plan for. The key to success is working out how you respond to the bumps.

~Do you make a U turn and go back the other way?
~Do you ignore them and keep moving?
~Do you try to work around them?

~Do you use the bumps as a launching pad to improve your idea?

Finding creative solutions to a block of any sort becomes second nature to anyone who is set on manifesting their vision. There's a fierce commitment that nothing and no one will stand in your way. What's ironic is that sometimes the solution we uncover shows us a better path than the original one we had in mind.

5) Staying Open to Learning and Growing

Taking on your vision means stepping into new situations on a regular basis. At first it's scary because most of us live in our comfort zone--doing what we've always done before. Taking on new actions in new situations, adding new skills, learning new information requires a different mind set--one in which something new stimulates us to be open to experimenting, learning, and growing.

6) Thriving in Ambiguity

Another inherent part of the process is facing the unknown. Your future isn't set in stone. It's evolving, taking on new forms as it hits each new stage. Living with this level of ambiguity takes some getting used to. Rather than investing a lot in keeping a picture of your future in focus, you learn to focus your attention on doing what it takes to move your dream forward.

Taking Your First Steps

Taking this kind of journey is very fulfilling. You feel alive as you move closer to your envisioned reality. It's exciting. New opportunities, new experiences, new connections.

At the same time, it can be scary. This is a whole new way of living and working.

You can actually prepare yourself to handle all this newness. Increase your comfort level by trying unfamiliar activities in unfamiliar places. Feel what it feels like to do new things. Learn how to work with your nervous energy, handle unexpected situations, and trust yourself to find your way. Then when you find yourself in an unfamiliar place, you can roll with the process because you trust your ability to handle it.

It also helps to have a guide--a step-by-step program, a mentor, a coach, a colleague--who has done what you are doing. By aligning with others, you get moral support, referrals to helpful resources, and the peace of mind of knowing you are not alone in your venture. Leverage the experience of others so you don't need to start from scratch.

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