How Can My Dreams...
I love welcoming folks on whatever level they are. When I greet them, I’ll ask, “What work are you looking for?” and they’ll say, “I don’t know.”
I’ll respond “Cool. Not knowing is a good thing. You get to not know here and yet I’ll never leave you there without resources.”
Many times, folks come after a ‘break’, a ‘gap’ in their employment history and they often carry a belief that they are missing something valuable…because they were not continuously employed. That somehow what they did ‘in between’ was unimportant.
Interesting.
One time, I listened to my client’s work goals and frustration with the challenges and blocks they were facing upon attempting to re-enter the work force. “I had been working in a highly technical field and want to re-enter after having a family and I feel left behind. “
I listened and I asked questions. “Where did your energy rise during your work experiences, how satisfying was that work site/experience? And I’d ask, “Tell me more about what you were doing in your time away?”
I watched/witnessed her face light up as she discussed the joy, she had in building a life for her family, raising her kids with values she believed in and being part of her community.
I broke down the skill sets in Transferable skills such as project management/ co-ordination. I watched her in action before me in present time, noticing how empathetic, practical and resourceful she was in guiding other folks, both friends and strangers to be able to connect with resources and opportunities. I supported her with tools and techniques to organize her stories of success and to notice opportunities that were appearing right before her very eyes.
I said, “You are a proactive learner and devoted to whatever you put your mind to. However, look to include the changes you have made in your lifestyle and have maintained. Perhaps an opportunity will present itself in the form of a ‘dream’ job you will invent yourself.”
We parted ways…still not knowing what the results would reveal, how her story would turn out.
It takes consistent practice. It takes time.
She took the time and she put into practice the steps needed. Over a 6-month period she bloomed. She worked diligently with the tools required and began the journey of the next phase of her life.
She was hired by a company to do a job that supported her lifestyle needs for herself and her community commitments. It was a small job, easily within her skill sets. Then, not too long, that it expanded into the Dream Job.
She kept in touch with me, because we could.
She gave me credit for my keen intuition, stellar coaching skills and giving her the tools, she needed to begin the journey of the next phase of her life.
I know that it was the consistent practices of the strengths and habits and actions that we identified that gave her everything she wanted: to love more, the work of her dreams and to make those actions enjoyable.
It can be fun, to not know, and to do something about that.
Have a fabulous week.
Watch Episode 17 in The Change Zone
Change Yourself, Then Watch Others Change