I happen to have a questionnaire I give to most of my new clients. Although I know they're coming to me to lose weight or be a better parent or find out ways to be good to themselves for a change, 25% of the questions are concerning their work. Why is this?
For so many people work is a vital part of the background of their lives, one thing that just needs to be factored in. For quite a few it is a great part of their identity, even.
So I like to bring it up in the questionnaire so that they, and I, can gauge the place of work in their lives; it is a bit like checking whether a client is single or living with husband, 3 children and an Alsatian - it does make a difference.
One of the questions is: if you didn't have your current job, what will you be doing? Some of the answers are quite astonishing; others (“I don't know”) make a few raised eyebrows.
You know what is approaching next. Yes, go on, ask yourself that question right away! Send me the answer if you like :)
In my preceding career I trained teachers of English (as a foreign language). Some of my trainees were inexperienced the job market or were already teaching, and approached me to upgrade their skills. The majority of them, however, had been doing work in several other industries and had opted that, in reality, they wished to do something different, occasionally spectacularly unique. My “job” was to provide them the basic skills, but my own personal secret mission (!) was to infect them with a sense that teaching English was the complete most exciting thing they could ever do.
Having been like a midwife to virtually 300 people's new, or first, careers, one day I opted to try the career change thing for myself. The amazing thing is, dropping an identity blissfully held for 20+ years became pleasantly effortless.
Several years on, I will honestly reveal that pursuing a second career has (cliché!) been a journey. It has enhanced my life enormously and taught me a lot of things, one among them being that I'm a not a natural business person ... Then again, since life coaching.
people to have fascinating lives is much more exciting than teaching English, running a business is a price I'm willing to pay :)
And guess what, pazrt of my work now is to infect people with a sense that whatever change it is that they are making in their life is the total most fun thing they can possibly do …
Certainly, an individual's job is simply one of several fields of their life that might be worth changing, nevertheless as it is an area that’s really rich in interesting possibilities, it is really worth choosing a job that means something - to you.
Live the difference Life Coaching is based in Melbourne which offers transformational one-on-one coaching both face-to-face and on the phone. People come from all walks of life and live in and around Melbourne, interstate and overseas.