I help "lost" people get found. I was my first client, a long beta test, shall we say.

 

For 15 years I had jobs that were not right. Not the right position. Not the right company. Not the right boss. Not the right industry. Just. Not. Right.

 

I knew they were not right for me in my gut, but I didn’t know what WAS right, nor did I have any process for figuring it out. I had tried—taken multiple assessments (sometimes multiple times), had dozens of informational interviews, read career-type books, and talked to everyone I met about how they decided on their career. But nothing ever clicked for me.

 

So I started to tell myself this story: I must be too picky. Other people are happy with just a paycheck. I’m asking for too much – doing what I enjoy, am good at and get paid for it. What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I figure this out?

 

I was stumped and stuck. When someone asked, “If you won the lottery and could do anything, what would you do?” I couldn’t answer. I could only tell you what I didn’t want.

 

I felt hopeless and LAME. So I tried to prove to myself that I could be happy with a job that was good enough, one that used some of my skills and paid decent.  Maybe the commute wasn’t too bad or the mission was a good one, even if I didn’t particularly care about it. Maybe I could help people even if I was bored to tears with the actual work. I just needed to be realistic.

 

Finally—and fortunately—I had a job that was so wrong for me that it forced me to change my story and take a leap of faith. The job wasn’t bad; many people would’ve called it a “good” job. It simply didn’t reflect my values, real talents or interests. While my bank account was full, I was spiritually and emotionally bankrupt.

 

It was at that point I went on vacation. Waking up in a new landscape, the California redwoods, I said out loud, “Something has got to change. I can’t keep living like this.”

 

I meant it. I was finally ready make a break—to leave the bad job, even if though I did not have another one lined up. I had no idea how it would work out. I just knew I had to trust that inner voice and make the break. That was when coaching found me.  

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I found it because I finally said, “No” to my current life, not because all of a sudden I’d discovered coaching. I’d heard about life coaching ten years earlier and dismissed it, giving excuses like It wasn’t realistic. I just couldn’t afford it. It sounded lame to say you were a life coach.

 

I found it because I was in enough anguish that I was ready to consider other options. I had to get good and miserable before I listened to my inner voice. I had to stop listening to “society” and stop trying to make my life look like everyone else’s.

 

Being away from the daily grind provided a new landscape, a new perspective and a new story to emerge. By paying attention to that inner voice, I allowed myself to create a new story: I can do what I enjoy, use my real talents, learn more about what intrigues me, help people—and get paid for it!

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