Scrolling through LinkedIn this week, it’s exciting to see how many people are posting celebratory announcements of their new roles and appointments!
In coaching leaders, I have come to see that good fortune may also triggering or be causing some worry.
- Are you actively searching for a job? You may be questioning when or if the right match will ever be found, and thus wondering if a new (less exciting?) plan is needed.
- Are you one of the people celebrating your new appointment and planning how to be successful in your first 90 days? You may be excited and nervous as you think about the strategies you’ve heard “good leaders” use when starting a new job.
- Are the career moves of others creating questions about whether it is time for you to make a change of some kind? You may be feeling a sense of urgency of being left behind or the paralization that comes from so many options and conflicting advice on what to do.
These are all valid feelings.
However, how you choose to REact to those feelings and the assumptions you are making about what is and is not possible, determines your ACTIONS.
Therefore, it is critical to mindfully and with curiosity:
- Identify your feelings. Write them down. (worried, stressed, deflated, tired, etc.)
- What are you worried about, specifically? Speak to your fear! (I don’t yet have enough experience, I’m not good at selling myself, what I want just isn’t possible, I want my new team to like/respect me, I’m feeling like an imposter, I’m too old/I’m not old enough)
- Test the assumptions those worries are based upon!
- “Says who?!” Where are your assumptions coming from? Be specific.
- “What if…?!” What is true for others simply may not be true for you, in your current scenario. Ask yourself: What if… my dream job/salary IS possible? What if I DO have enough experience? What if taking big, bold action in my first 90 days IS needed vs only listening? What if I DO have what is needed, what if I’m NOT an imposter? Etc.
- “Reverse-Engineer!” Updating resumes and social media profiles, networking, Interview techniques, negotiating, leading meetings, being quoted in the press, prioritizing time, etc. – all need specific, personalized, tailored strategies and actions that create the possibility for you to get what you (really) want.
You are not like everyone else, so the goal, focus and strategy must be to:
- KNOW why and how you have the impact you do. For so many, this is the missing piece, and what The Career (Life!) Breakthrough Academy teaches and helps you reveal. I invite you to invest in being an expert on yourself!
- SPEAK your Impact so that those who need you can FIND you!
When you show up fully (in person & in your writing), leveraging your uniqueness, having the impact that you are meant to have, using your superpowers to benefit the very organization that NEEDS what you offer… sparks fly, goosebumps happen, and lives of impact, purpose, ease, financial and personal sustainability and joy occur.
Let’s DO this!
As always, let me know what thoughts this blog brings up, and if you’d like a guide as you search for your next job, decide what to do next, etc. I invite you to lean in and invest in a coaching process that reveals your unique impact and informs how to mindfully and strategically curate your next chapter. I am here for you!
To your success!
Kathryn
Next Chapter Coach
Creator of The Career (Life!) Breakthrough AcademyTM