By: Yuliya LaRoe, Happy Transitions
Finding work you love and making money at the same time may seem like a distant dream, reachable only by a few lucky ones. We are so used to living in the world where hating one’s job is the norm. You know what I am talking about – when someone complains how much they dislike their job, we sympathetically nod in support and with understanding. But when someone shares how much they love what they do, we look at them suspiciously, wondering how true that really is. After all, it’s these annoying happy people that make the rest of us question our choices in work and in life, right?
The truth is anyone can successfully choose work that not only provides them with financial security but also fulfillment, happiness and a sense of meaning and purpose. So why is it that so many people are unhappy in their work lives? The answer is actually quite simple – because we are taught to look for a job, and not for fulfilling, meaningful work that we’d love and that would love us back!
After spending many years as an attorney in a large law firm, I became obsessed about figuring out what my true calling was. It’s not that I hated being a lawyer – there were many aspects of my work that I really enjoyed. But I certainly didn’t love it; I wasn’t fulfilled and often felt energetically drained and exhausted.
So I read books, did extensive research, traveled to exotic destinations like India, China, Thailand, attended personal development workshops and seminars, participated in meditation retreats, completed a yoga certification course, and more – all in the hope of uncovering the secrets to finding an occupation, just the thought of which would get me energized and excited.
Well, all my hard work eventually paid off – after years of searching I’ve discovered a process, following which anyone can be successful at finding work you love and uncovering your true professional calling. Here it is:
Step 1. Decode Your Inner Drive – uncover what really(!) drives you & makes you tick
This goes beyond the things that we may be passionate about or what we may love to do. The trick here is to go as deep as possible to uncover our core motivating factors. At this step, we dive deep into exploring our core values.
Our values are the guideposts we live by and we use them to create a blueprint or vision of what our life should be. How well our life aligns with our core values determines how happy, fulfilled and satisfied we feel. It is at this step where the source of any external and/or internal conflict usually becomes obvious.
Step 2. Clear The Roadblocks – reveal and breakthrough any hidden internal blocks
Here we work on identifying which of our beliefs and personal rules, created to guide us in this world, work for us and which ones work against us. This step is key as it helps us understand why we feel stuck or self-sabotage our own success in certain situations or why we are unable to break through negative patterns of behavior.
For example, depending on whether I believe that “life is tough and I have to fight to get ahead” or that “life is filled with opportunities and I naturally attract the ones that serve me best,” my life will look very different. We also focus on understanding what our current Automatic Abundance Attraction factor is – i.e., since everything is energy (and this is no longer a metaphysical theory but a scientific fact), we are always attracting that on which most of our energy is concentrated. So depending on what we choose to focus on, we attract an abundance of good or an abundance of crap(!).
Step 3. Pack Your Gear – take stock of your natural talents and skills & connect with your intuition
This is where we finally get to explore all the things we love to do and are naturally good at. We explore our passions, our talents and special skills and see how they align with our core values.
Nobody can deny that spending the day doing something that we love and naturally excel at is physically and emotionally more productive and fulfilling than working hard on trying to fix any shortcomings. Which is what we tend to spend the majority of our time on when we choose a profession or career that does not utilize our natural-born talents.
The other major component of this step is connecting to our intuition, our gut feeling, the sixth sense, the Universal Mind, God, or whatever you want to call it. How well we can decipher our intuitive messages and follow them determines how easily we accomplish that which is in our best interests.
Step 4. Envision Your Destination – crystallize your vision
Now that we know what our core values and motivating factors are, have clarity around which of our core beliefs and personal rules work for us, and have connected with our natural-born talents and passions, it is time to create a new vision of our life. I like to call it your Ideal Happy Place.
We use a Holographic Visioning Tool to create a vision not just of your ideal job, but of your ideal life, taking into account all four Dimensions of Success: Emotional, Mental, Financial and Physical. What we end up with is a clear map of your personal and professional life that is in complete alignment with your highest values, your core beliefs and your major life goals.
At this step, everything becomes clear, you no longer feel stuck or blind-sighted, and instead feel in complete control of where you are heading and the choices you make in life. A pretty awesome place to be, if you ask me!
So I just shared with you my four-step Signature System of uncovering your true professional calling, which as you can see goes well beyond your work life. In the next issue, I will explore in more detail the first step of my System and give a couple of powerful exercises to help you connect deeper to your core values and reveal any existing conflicts that may be keeping you stuck.
Until then, wishing you much success, happiness and fulfillment!
Yuliya LaRoe is the founder and CEO of www.HappyTransitions.com, www.LifeBeyondBigLaw.com, and www.ConfidentEntrepreneurMastermind.com, where she helps professional women (attorneys, bankers, accountants, financial advisors, corporate managers and executives), who are ready to discover the work they were born to do (whether it’s a new career or business), design a step-by–step transition plan and successfully implement it, so that they finally can invest their talents into work they love, make money, have fun and enjoy the freedom and the lifestyle that they always wanted. As a “recovering” attorney, Yuliya knows the challenges professionals face and has the tools and strategies to get them moving in the direction of a truly fulfilling career and a great life. For free expert advice check out Yuliya’s blog at www.HappyTransitions.com/Blog. You may reach Yuliya directly at (310) 754-9224 or Yuliya@HappyTransitions.com.