Are you hanging on to a career that’s past its sell by date?
Tell me if any of this sounds like you?
Are you in a job that you used to love, but your passion has faded and now you’re just going through the motions?
Are you sticking with the status quo, only because you’re scared of taking a leap into the unknown?
In your personal life, do you tend to hang on to things e.g old possessions or relationships, even if they’re not making a positive contritbution to your life anymore?
Then you might be experiencing something called ‘loss aversion’.
I first read about this in Psychologies magazine, and discovered that it can be a big factor in holding you back from changing career.
Some people are more resistant to change than others, and don’t want to let go of things for fear that the alternative may be worse. However, sometimes this means that they don’t recognise that their current situation isn’t doing them any good either.
So what can you do about it?
Well ask yourself these two questions:
If you were applying for your current job now, how badly would you want it?
If your boss came in tomorrow and said that you were being moved to another department to do a completely different job, how would you feel?
If your response to either of those is lukewarm or apathetic, then it might well be time to look for something new! Sticking with it in the hope that things will improve, could result in even greater losses in the long run, because you are wasting your valuable skills, time, emotions and even money.
You could drastically improve your levels of joy, fulfilment, work/life balance and even salary, if you found a career or business idea that matched your strengths and values perfectly.
So how to begin the process of change?
The key to embracing the process of change is to break it down into small steps.
Starting your own business is a great example. You could start to attend networking groups and evening classes, and do your market research, all in your spare time whilst you are still in your 9 to 5.
Or go part time first, allowing you to test your services or products, create your website, and start to market yourself, all whilst keeping a regular salary coming in.
And remember, you can always change your mind. You may begin to take steps towards change, and in the process re-discover certain aspects of your job or your company, that you do actually like and value.
But unless you take action and stir the pot a bit, you will stay stuck and won’t be any closer to clarity.
I’ll talk to you soon,
Juliette xx
p.s If you want to chat through why you might be stuck in your career and discover how coaching can help, then book an introductory 45min coaching session with me for just £97. I’d love to talk more.
WANT TO BEAT PROCRASTINATION? Then read this
Hello lovely readers!
Now I’m going to be completely honest with you, I’ve been procrastinating over writing this for a while now. Actually try a whole month. I’ve done everything BUT sit down and write. I launched a website. Fiddled with Facebook. Baked muffins. Even registered my business with HMRC (yes seriously, I chose to speak to the tax office rather than write this, say whaaaat??).
And why oh why you might ask? Well basically because I was afraid of what people would think. Of me. Of my new business. Of the whole notion of coaching. Of whether I would be able to say anything that was remotely helpful to anyone. The list goes on. Ridiculous I know, but there it is. I was allowing my fears to be 100% in the driver’s seat.
Training as a coach does not make you superhuman, but it does give you access to some pretty amazing tools and techniques for overcoming your fears and limiting beliefs. In this case, I was procrastinating like crazy and procrastination can be seen as a form of self-sabotage. It can feel safer not to try at all, than to try and risk failure. So if this sounds familiar, what can you do about it?
Well one way is to think about your goal and why exactly you want to achieve it. Will it just benefit you? Or will it also benefit your family? Your partner? Your kids? Your friends? Your colleagues? Society as a whole? By making the goal about helping them, and not just about you, this can give you the motivation you need to get started.
In this TED talk, one of my favourite writers Elizabeth Gilbert beautifully explains how to get over the fear of failure and procrastination and get on with doing your life’s work, whatever that might be, by making it about something bigger than you.
So I pushed through the fear and got on with writing, because maybe just one, or two, or even several people reading this might have felt the same way and really want to learn how to get out of their own way, and get on with sharing their special gifts with the world. Maybe you're one of them.
Juliette xx
p.s Ready to beat procrastination and blast through some of your own fears? Or know someone else who is holding themselves back from reaching their potential? Then book a 45min introductory coaching session with me of just £97. Learn more here
