We are all, endlessly, urged to ‘be positive’. And yet, for many of us, life is tough. We may not have any work, or hate what we do, there may be financial strains, which stress our relationships. In short, you may be suffering at the moment.
That was certainly true for Laura. A talented woman in her early fifties, she’d long made a good living as an independent consultant. But her work was getting harder and harder. Budgets were being cut, clients were becoming more demanding, there was increasing competition.
Her answer? To look on the bright side. To tell herself that this was fine. To celebrate her many successes.
The result? The hole she was in was getting deeper and deeper.
While we at Position Ignition understand the virtue of positive thinking, equally we believe it is vital to acknowledge the truth of these dark periods and not gloss over them. As it happens, one of the criteria for selecting our Guides is that they have themselves experienced such times. Experienced them, learnt from them, and got to the other side.
That’s because these dark times, and the learning that comes from them, are critical for our growth.
For Laura, the learning only started with the recession, when her phone simply stopped ringing. Now she had to change. Working with her Guide, she began to focus on the fact that what she enjoyed most of about her work was contributing to society, the public service side of it. Talking to her network, she discovered an opportunity to get involved in a project with an eco charity, something that she’d put a lot of time into as a volunteer. She’s now got a project with them that is deeply satisfying to her, pays a steady wage, and is opening up new opportunities daily.
There’s a deep truth here. Before you can win through to a new life, where you are doing work that is both satisfying personally, fully embodies your values, and is rewarding financially, you may need to end what you are currently doing. That’s a form of death, and as with any death, it’s painful. But it’s part of the cycle of endings and beginnings. It’s the job of our Guides to help you explore how you will create that old beginning.
If you are having a horrible time at the moment, you might find this scant consolation, but for many of us, there cannot be a new beginning without the old coming to an end.
Author: James Caplin. James is a Position Ignition Career Guide In addition to having gained his Professional Certified Coach credentials with the International Coach Federation, James brings more than professional expertise to the role of a Guide. He is well placed to empathise with our clients as he himself has successfully made several major career changes for the better. Before discovering his skill and passion for coaching and guiding, James was a talented writer of videos, books and articles, on subjects including car maintenance, cooking and gardening!
