How to do what you love and get paid for it

It’s 7pm on a Sunday and you start to feel a twinkle in your chest. 

Hello low-level anxiety, you’re back again? Sweet. 

You start to think about work. Your boss. Your clients. That twinkle turns into a lump in your throat. 

You sigh. What once was your dream job, now induces feelings of dread. There must be more to life than this.

You start to envy people who love their jobs and are living out their passions and wonder:

“Why not me? I can do better than this”.

Keep reading for how you can for how you can turn that thought into your reality.

Current state of play

Recent statistics show that on average over 38% of employed people are burnt out. That is a shocking number and a noticeable increase from previous years; and it’s even higher when we look at women in isolation. The reasons? That’s a discussion for another day.

Just over half are dissatisfied with their jobs, or you might call it, “bored out” - unfulfilled, underutilised and nowhere near fulfilling their potential.

So wait; why do we stay in jobs that don't fullfill us and worse, cause us so much stress?

Conditioning

Back when our parents grew up, it was normal to pick a career path and that was what you did for the rest of your life. That was what you did until you retired, love it or hate it.

We were told to make such decisions solely from our heads, not our hearts. We let reasons such as perceived stability; what “the Jone’s” would think; typical career paths and what we have seen in our families define what we do as a career, not our strengths and passions. 

Such head based decision-making led to a whole bunch of people ending up in jobs that didn’t necessarily play to their strengths, excite them or align with their values, but because it seemed like the right thing to do.

We now have to go through a process of understanding our conditioning and choosing a career path that feels true to who we are today. 

Scarcity

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Often we don’t want to make a change because of feelings of scarcity and lack associated with money.

The idea that if we make a change, we will earn less, lose money and that it’s a big financial risk. 

Let’s face it - when it comes to career and money, often we think short-term, rather than investing in our long-term future. 

I often tell my clients - think about how productive and successful you could be if you were in a role that energises you, plays to your strengths and that you’re internally motivated by. 

This internal motivation, not driven by expectation of external reward, is known as intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is understood to be a much stronger influence on behaviour than extrinsic motivation, which is more externally motivated (for example finances or to please someone outside of ourselves). 

This is why intrinsic motivation is more sustainable and more positively associated with results in the long-term (Nicole Burton, Griffith University).

No matter how hard we try, if we are not in the right job for us, we are never going to be as financially prosperous as the person sitting next to us who loves their job. 

Don’t worry, your “money stuff” is not your fault. Our relationship with money is highly influenced by our upbringing and learned experiences. But these can be changed, we just have to first be conscious about our thoughts and whether or not they are serving us.

The truth about changing careers

These days, people can have multiple successful careers and hustles in their lives. It’s actually a strength to have more strings to our bow and actually, the skill of having multiple skills is a valuable skill in itself.

Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari recently said:

“For the first time in our lives, we have no idea what skills are going to be needed in 10 years. What we need more than anything is the skill of flexibility”

More than ever, we must harness the ability to shift careers with the constantly changing landscape.

But many of us still haven’t shifted the old school mentality of our parent’s generation. 

We are much more limited than we realise by what we see to be true by our upbringing, learned experiences and environment. 

We must go through a process of unlearning what we unconsciously believe to be true by rewiring our brains to open up possibilities.

Fear of failure and fear of the unknown are the biggest causes of resistance to changing jobs and the single biggest reason people stay in jobs that don’t make them happy.

We fear we are not capable, we fear uncertainty and we fear not knowing exactly how we’re going to get there.

The thing is, it’s impossible to know how to get there until we start putting one foot in front of the other. The beauty of doing something new, is learning as we go.

We must learn to revel in this uncertainty, lean into the resistance and trust ourselves to figure it out, step by step, bit by bit, in order to survive in this ever-evolving landscape.

And knowing that it isn’t the finished article, but who we become in the process of following our dreams is where the magic is.

In order to become who you want to be in five years, you must learn how to become them today.

We have more access than ever to information and tools that allow us to grow, but we must trust in ourselves and that we’ll figure it out along the way.

The recipe to uncover your ‘unique spice’* and thrive in your career

*Unique spice: a phrase I made up to describe your unique combination of your strengths, experiences and personal attributes. Together these make up your unique spice; your personal recipe for authentic success.

The Conscious Career Accelerator is a carefully designed, 1:1 coaching programme to give conscious, ambitious women the proven tools, strategies and confidence to create careers they love.

The structure focuses on transformation across four pillars - clarity, confidence, fullfillment and success.

There are a few mindset shifts that need to occur in order for us to access our greatness:

 1. Knowing that people who are successful and love their jobs, do so because at some point they made the decision to go after what they truly wanted. 

2. We are all made equal. We must first find our strengths and desires, then keep on nurturing them. Only then can we turn strengths into superpowers and realise our potential.

3. None of this is possible without self-belief and self-trust. Period. 

In the Conscious Career Accelerator, we work on these mindset shifts across four modules in four months of 1:1 coaching:

Month 1: Clarity

What is your unique spice? Understanding and nurturing your super powers

Month 2: Confidence

You without limits: Building unshakeable self-belief, confidence and the mindset to receive and succeed

Month 3: Fulfilment

Embodying your potential: Now you’ve done the inner work, it’s time to take aligned and supported practical steps towards your goals 

Month 4: Success

Kick-Action Plan: Creating an authentic personal brand & a roadmap for the future

Read more about it and register your interest to take one of five spots, here.