Why there will never be a 'right time'

If you want to bounce out of bed every Monday morning feeling excited for the week ahead.

And fill your day with tasks and activities that you love.

And go to bed knowing that you’ve made a difference.

And create a life that inspires and empowers you.

There will never be a 'right time' to do it.

You'll have to push yourself to try new things that scare you.

You might encounter criticism, jealousy or fear from others (and that could include people who are close to you).

There's a possibility it might not work out exactly the way you thought it would.

You'll have to dedicate time and money to getting your dream off the ground. 

You might have to re-arrange your priorities for a while (and yes the house may not perfectly organised for a few weeks/months).

But I can tell you this. This short term, uncomfortable, sometimes scary beginning, pays off BIG in the long term. That is, if you want...

Purpose
Direction
Motivation
Freedom
Confidence 
Authenticity
Balance 

Change isn't always easy. Which is why not everyone goes after their career dreams. And there never seems to be a 'right time'. 

But if you are willing to be brave. And do the work in the short term. And you have the right support system by your side. Then you CAN do it. I've seen it happen many, many times. 

If you feel the irresistible urge to create a meaningful career and life you love, then get in touch.

I'll speak to you soon,
Juliette

How to build great work relationships

It's Valentine’s Day today, so talk of love and relationships is in the air, and that got me thinking about our work relationships.

Meaningful connection meets an important emotional need in all of us, and that extends to our work lives too. 

We don’t just check those emotional needs in at the office door every morning, they come in with us, and feeling connected to a close network of colleagues can make a big difference to our happiness at work.

For his book Good to Great, Jim Collins spent five years researching what makes the difference between a ‘good’ or a ‘great’ organisation and found that: 

“The people we interviewed from good to great companies, clearly loved what they did largely because they loved who they did it with.”

So it would seem that great people often achieve great things because they are part of a great team:

• Thomas Edison may have got the credit for inventing the lightbulb, but he did it with the help of 30 lab assistants.

• Neil Armstrong may have been the first person to walk on the moon, but it took a team of 400,000 scientists, engineers and technicians to actually get him there.

• The sound of The Beatles would never have been what it was without the combination of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star playing together.

Now in terms of your work colleagues, you might think you have no control over who you’re surrounded by, but that’s not necessarily accurate. 

What you can do is change the balance of who you spend most time with and how you spend it with them.

For example, you can choose to spend more face to face time with colleagues you like, by having in person meetings, or walking over to their desk when you need to speak to them, or arranging to have lunch together.

Whereas with those colleagues who you don’t get on so well with, you could choose to communicate more often by email or by text.

Of course it’s unlikely that you can completely avoid having to work alongside colleagues who you don’t gel with, but you can probably change the balance of time you spend with them face to face, and that small change could end up having a big effect. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Juliette

p.s Want to have a chat about your current career struggles and see if coaching can help you? Then schedule a free, no obligation 15min Clarity Call with me. You’ll finish the call feeling more confident, positive, motivated, and ready to start making the changes you want to see in your life and career.

Is your mindset holding you back from career success?

Sorting out your mindset is just as important as finding the right career.

In fact, do you spend as much time working on your mindset as you do looking for a new job or business idea?

If not, I would highly recommend that you do.

Because feeling strong and confident in your mindset can make all the difference between you actually going after your career dreams or just putting them off for another day. And another. And another.

Fear can really hold us back. It might manifest itself as not feeling good enough, or continually comparing yourself to others, or feeling like an 'imposter' and that you're going to be found out.

I can totally relate because I went through all of those feelings during my career change. One in particular was 'imposter syndrome' and thinking "who am I to start a business? I'm not an expert". Despite the fact that I had done my coaching training, that I'd had plenty of practice clients, and I was 100% ready to do the work. But those negative voices in my head kept knocking my confidence.

I've had to work really hard on my mindset since I made my career change, such as changing the way I talk to myself (those pesky little 'negative inner voices'), continuing to get support from a coach, keeping a journal, modelling confident behaviour from others etc etc. There are plenty of little mindset tools and strategies that have really worked for me, and that's why I include them in my coaching programme.

Often we can focus too much on the nuts and bolts of making a career change, such as trawling jobs boards, or fretting about making our website look perfect. But if your mindset is holding you back then your transition is going to be much harder than it needs to be.

I believe that a healthy mindset and career happiness go together.

Like strawberries and cream.

If you read about any of my clients, they will say the same, that they had to overcome at least some aspects of fear, low confidence, self-doubt, perfectionism or procrastination. And I have definitely experienced them all too. They still come up from time to time (to be honest they never 100% go away), but now I know how to deal with them and they affect me much less.

My Dream Career Discovery Programme contains lots of practical strategies for identifying new career paths or business ideas and creating an action plan for your transition, but what my clients often tell me is that the most powerful sessions are the ones where we deal with mindset. This is what gives them a solid foundation to build on when searching for their ideal career and being able to dream bigger than they ever allowed themselves to before!

Are you finally ready to tame those negative voices and make your dream career a reality this year? Then read more here and book yourself in for a free 15min, no obligation clarity call.

Speak to you soon,

Juliette