by Debbie Peterson, Professional Speaker, Trainer and Career Coach.
As human beings we can make success pretty complicated. Some women, like myself, can take any situation, twist it up, create something where there is nothing, and make it much more complicated than it ever was to begin with. At least, that’s the way I used to be.
I remember back to the days before I had discovered my purpose, before I was doing something that was meaningful to me and I was serving other women just like you. I was in a job that I “should” have been happy with. Everybody thought I was just so “lucky” and that just made me feel worse, because I wasn’t happy. Have you been there?
As a matter of fact, I thought there was something wrong with me that I couldn’t feel happy, blessed, lucky – whatever you call it. I had a job that paid me well, gave me autonomy, trained me well, flew me to various locations (many times on a private jet) but I just wasn’t feeling it. Have you felt that way?
I knew there was something more for me and I had absolutely no idea what that was. I wanted to find the perfect job. I wanted someone to tell me exactly what I needed to do to be happy in my career but no one would. Is that what you are waiting for?
One thing that I know for sure, as Oprah would say, is that you have to have a goal, plan, strategy or direction. If you have nothing that you are moving towards then you are standing still. You deserve better than that.
But what if you don’t know what that is?
That’s where I was, and out of frustration and desperation I finally had a good rant about not having a clue what to do about my career or purpose and it happened to be to one of my teachers and mentors. It was someone who I admired and it was so painfully obvious he was living his purpose, that I was jealous. He told me I was making it much to complicated.
I thought moving forward with my career, to discover and start living my purpose had to be complicated. It wasn’t, I was just making it that way. It’s actually very simple.
When you think about what you love to do. When you think about what makes you feel great. When you think about what you do all of the time, naturally, what is that? What are the causes you care about? What do you volunteer to do because you enjoy it? Start paying attention to things that are work, but not really, because you enjoy it. Start investigating YOUR Next Chapter, whether its for the company you work for or in starting your own business.
It can start vague and big, that’s okay. Getting to Clarity started by wanting to serve women by empowering their mindset. I wanted to use the experiences and knowledge from my life and training that had changed my life. Other than that, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
Nada.
But today I’m living my purpose through Getting to Clarity and its all because of one thing.
I did something with it.
When I knew that I wanted to work with women and help empower their mindset so they could achieve what I had, I started there and didn’t make it any more complicated than that. I looked for ways to do just that. What do you want to do in your career? What do you want to be, do, or have as part it? Who do you know that is already doing it? Finding out what you don’t want helps you to narrow the focus on what you do. More information comes to you by taking more action.
That’s your very first step. Take action. Do something with it. Be curious. Research, talk to others, try new things, explore.
I picked a direction, I picked a lane and I stuck with it. I tried it out. I experimented with it. I paid attention to how it made me feel. I discovered what worked and what didn’t. I discovered what I want to do and what I didn’t. I discovered what I’m supposed to do on this earth and I’m still figuring out HOW I’m supposed to do it, and through continuous, focused action you’ll start getting clarity on what YOUR Next Chapter is too.
Until next time, here’s wishing you the clarity you deserve!
Deb
P.S. If the job you have isn’t the one you love, then it’s time to figure out what YOUR Next Chapter is. Get the clarity you deserve and schedule a complimentary clarity session HERE.
