Last chance…how to come out of this lockdown with some idea of what direction you want to head in

 

 

 

“I would like to come out of this lockdown with some idea of what direction I want to head in.”

Can you identify with Laurie? Is your career in a flux? Has the job you’ve always had disappeared? Or do you wish it would?

Whatever your reasons for seeking a career change you’ll find a range of creative, practical, and inspirational strategies in my new release.

The clock is ticking.

You’ve got less than a few hours left.

This is one final reminder that your opportunity to grab my new release at the reduced price ends very soon.

How will Happy at Work help you?

I’ve divided Happy at Work into three vital stages: Dreaming. Discovering. Succeeding. Be wary of rushing to succeeding. Stages one and two will help ensure you are excelling at something worth living for. Stage three will help you market your skillset successfully so you can land the job you want.

If anything, COVID-19 has taught us all that nothing remains the same. But, with proactive planning, that may turn out to be a good thing.

Here’s one of my favourite strategies from Happy at Work:

Imagination is more important than any other skill and vitally important now. Many jobs are disappearing by the day and new ones must and will be created.   This can feel challenging if all you’ve known is one career or job path, or thinking creatively doesn’t come naturally to you.

As I shared in Mid-Life Career Rescue: The Call For Change, discovering your great joy and the work you were born to do requires allowing yourself to dream and explore. It requires tuning down the rational mind for a while and engaging the right side of your brain, and listening to your intuition and the stirrings of your heart.

It requires allowing yourself to dream and imagine a reality that doesn’t yet exist. It requires being creative.

To do this, you have to be prepared to challenge current assumptions and allow yourself to dream about what could be possible.

The Heart Of Creativity

Many people get caught up in the classical definitions of an artist when they think about creativity, but you don’t have to be an artist, painter or sculptor to be creative. Imagining what doesn’t yet exist and then bringing it into being lies at the heart of creativity.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines the ability to create as: “to make or cause to be or to become; bring into existence; pursue a creative activity; be engaged in a creative activity; invest with a new title, office, or rank; create by artistic means; create or manufacture a man-made product.”

Creativity is about…

• Imagining what could be

• Dreams, hopes, and desires

• Challenging the status quo

• Being willing to change

• Thinking outside the square

• Drawing outside the lines

• Bringing something into existence

• Innovation and new ideas

• Taking risks, trials, and errors

• A wish for something better

• Tailoring for changing needs

• Uniqueness

• Producing something

• Designing new products and services.

Lighten Up!

Let go of needing to know all the answers, finding a cure for cancer, ending hunger, solving problems or creating the job you know for sure you will love.

Creativity, dreaming and exploring is simply a brain-dumping process that helps stimulate new ideas and connections. Start with an open, playful attitude—you can always get serious about your choices later.

Here is one of my favourite exercises to help you unleash a sense of possibility and generate possible career options.

 

Clone yourself

Imagine you’ve just been cloned. You are now five people! Each of you has gone in a completely different career direction. There are no constraints—money is not an issue. You can get any job you want and you’re getting all the experience you need.

What would each person be doing or willing to try? Isolate and list the key elements —the skills, the values, the interests, the purpose, and other factors—that make each of the five careers listed below satisfying to each clone.

Carol a disillusioned counsellor whose role was made redundant, wanted to get away from always hearing about people’s problems. She came to me for coaching as she was finding it hard to identify roles which would excite her.

Before coaching, she wrote, “I’m starting to question whether I’m doing the right thing applying for jobs at the moment. It’s stressful and I’m afraid I may end up in a role that I don’t want. I’m feeling quite conflicted at the moment.”

I thought the cloning exercise would be a great way to stimulate her sense of possibility and remind her of the things that gave her joy. Joy, one of my other clients reminded me recently, is the fruit of your spirit.

At first, Carol was skeptical. It all sounded very impractical. I encouraged her to let go of her rational mind and play with possibilities. Once we had a few ideas down, I reassured her, we could look at ‘concrete’ career options then.

Her clones included: being a financially successful global coach; a non-fiction writer; an artist travelling the world; a creative educator; and the creator of a thriving community.

We then isolated all the elements that made these roles fulfilling to each clone and stretched the boundaries further by exploring how these clones could combine into what I call a ‘career combo’—a combination of careers strengthened by a core theme and united under one umbrella.

“I’m feeling excited,” she said, as together we set about planning how she could make her career combo a reality.

If you identified a role that combines many jobs or you have just invented a new job title, begin to think about where you could find a market or outlet for it. It may be that you do what I call a ‘career combo’—a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a splash of side-hustle!

 

GRAB YOUR COPY OF HAPPY AT WORK NOW FOR THE REDUCED PRICE of $3.99 USD (eBook). Available for pre-orders and purchases prior to midnight 9 April.

To purchase on Amazon, click here>>getbook.at/HappyAtWork

To purchase on iBooks, Barnes & Noble and other great bookstores, click here>>

 https://books2read.com/u/31G55D

To purchase on Kobo, click here>>https://www.kobo.com/ebook/happy-at-work-for-mid-lifers

AUDIO COMING SOON!

P.S.

I read a book once, it changed my life. But if you’re so stressed or overwhelmed reading a book right now may feel taxing. Other clients have said the same thing and found there was nothing better than a good old-fashioned personalised coaching session.

Remember, I’m here to help.

“If I hadn’t been having my sessions with you I don’t think I would have coped. What you have done for me is mind-blowing.”

For personalized help schedule a session with Cassandra here >>

Posted in: Achieving goals, Blog, Career & Happiness, Career Change, Counseling, Happy at Work

Tags: Finding Joy, mid-life career change, mindset, motivation, overcoming obstacles, personal transformation, Reinvention Stories, stress less