When was the last time you had a Personal Career Review? If you are are like most people your answer is probably “Never” or “A while ago” or “I have not done it because I do not know how to do it”. If you are in a minority your answer might be “I did it 6 months ago or 12 months ago”.
If you are in the majority group you need to read this further as you are on a trajectory towards a downward spiral that may lead you to a difficult situation where you will feel that you have hit the end of the road with no options in sight. Some people I have coached have been in this situation for years - they knew they were not happy with their job, they knew that they had stopped growing and developing, they had a feeling that they needed to do something about it, and they tried to figure it out with nothing to show for it no matter how hard they thought about it.
The good news is that everyone - and I repeat this - everyone is capable of taking control of their career and through some inner work and outside research and networking achieve a significant improvement in their careers. Most people want to feel that they are valued and appreciated at work, that they are doing something meaningful while using their unique talents and experience, that they are making an impact which benefits society at large. These are very worthy and fulfilling aspirations to have and they are totally achievable. And if you are not experiencing your career in a positive way you need to take some urgent steps to change it as the longer you are in a career or a job that does not make you happy you are wasting valuable time.
The first step to creating a beautiful career just as you want it to be is to start being honest with yourself.
What are the basic assumptions that you have in life? What is your idea of living a successful and beautiful life?
Do you really know what you want in all aspects of your life?
You see I know most people cannot answer these questions...
Not because they don’t know but because they have not put their mind to it and thought them through.
I think most conversations on careers start with looking at external factors. We delegate the responsibility for our own careers and life to things outside of us - we think that employers have to take care of us, before that educational institutions and before that our parents. And we have friends and family who are always telling us who we are or what we should do. We also have a lot of noise from media that makes us feel insecure and fearful about our ability to have a good job, e.g. artificial intelligence replacing many jobs. So there are a lot of external influences that make us dependent on what happens outside of us and when we are feeling stuck or unhappy in our careers we rush to change our jobs and employers and the first thing we do is to update our CVs and LinkedIn profile and start applying for jobs and reading about some clever strategies and tactics of a successful job search.
I have been there and done that and it was OK but it was not great, beautiful, or inspiring. I wanted more than OK, I wanted my career to be amazing, I wanted to do what I love and have joy and happiness in my career and life, and I wanted to have a positive and inspiring impact on people I work with.
So, I turned inward, I slowed down (before speeding up) and I became obsessed with finding my own answers to the questions I have put at the beginning of this post.
What I discovered is that when you become brave enough to put everything and everyone to one side and dive deep into who you are, what makes you happy, what you want to experience in life, what would make you say at the end of your life that “I had a beautiful life” - everything becomes so clear and there is an inner knowing what you should do, who you need to be and how you will make your beautiful life and career.
This clarity does not happen overnight and it is not static. Life is a journey not a destination. Things are constantly changing, speeding up and evolving. We are also changing, firing new desires and cravings for new experiences. But connecting deeply to who we are and having an honest conversation and tools to get to know ourselves will always be your foundation or springboard that helps us achieve any crazy ideas how to make our careers and lives amazing. In this age of globalisation and technological revolution we have so many opportunities that other generations before us did not have. We are standing on the shoulders of our forefathers who helped us with their ideas, inventions and bravery so that we can have a great journey in life and pass it on to new generations.
My mission is to empower as many people as I can to transform their careers and live a happy and fulfilling life. If you would like to experience a transformation of your career and life by going inward and taking control and responsibility for your own career I will be very happy to be your guide and walk by your side towards your beautiful career.
To book your free 45 min Consultation Call with Oxana Bristowe please email at contact@oxanabristowe.com