31 Career decision points
by Una Hearne.
The way the coaching process works, in essence, is simple.
1 You imagine what you want / where you want to be. Create a vision.
2 You assess where you are now and what resources you have. You generate options and plan how you are going to achieve your vision.
3 You take action and deal with obstacles along the way.
(Note I tend to use the word vision – if you don’t like this word or it doesn’t resonate with you please substitute whichever of the following you prefer: goal, dream, outcome, mission, objective, desire, aim, target, intention, destination.)
Essentially it’s about getting in the driving seat of your own life, taking responsibility for yourself and doing stuff on purpose to create the best life you can for you.
Easy peasy!
Or it would be if we weren’t human beings and this wasn’t planet Earth! I’m sure you’ve noticed this complicates matters somewhat.
Creating the work you want and achieving goals and dreams can mean very different journeys for each individual. Journeys of wildly varying lengths and difficulty, depending on the size of the vision or goal, how much needs to be done and how you personally operate in the world.
As a career coach people tend to come to me at a time when they want to make changes in their work, or change has been thrust upon them. My clients want to make the best choices for themselves. The actual work involved can vary from an apparently small shift in attitude to a total change of career direction. I often refer to these significant times as career (or life) decision point and some common examples are:
- Facing redundancy (‘Is this an opportunity or a threat?)
- Stuck in a rut (‘There must be more to life!’)
- Illness, or some other significant life change (‘How do I respond to this?)
- Doing well (‘How do I sustain this success and build on it?’)
- Starting out. (‘I’m not sure what direction to choose!’)
- Retirement (‘What now?’)
- Specific difficulties in current work – development opportunities
Each of these significant points might scare the hell out of you and put you under considerable pressure. Or you may realise they are opportunities to use your ultimate power in life – the power to make choices for yourself.
All of the people I know, including my clients, who have taken charge in their lives, made choices for themselves and moved forward, have all been better off and happier as a result. Whether we do it consciously or not, whether we work with a coach or not, engaging with our lives and exercising our true power makes us happier and more successful in our day to day lives.
