Sunday, March 30, 2008

Comfortable Misery

The story goes that a salesman walked up to the front porch of an old customer to find him sitting on his porch. Next to him was an old dog that moaned once about every 10 seconds. When the salesman asked the man why his dog was moaning, the man replied that he’d been lying on a rusty nail all morning. When asked why the dog would not get up to move, the old man replied simply “I guess it doesn’t hurt enough yet.”

Is there some pain in your life that causes you strife, anguish and stress? What is it that makes you uncomfortable? Now that you have identified that, why are you still doing it? The pain of our situation has to be great enough to set us free from the things that we don’t like in life.

Far too many people are working at jobs they despise. If you let yourself get too comfortable in your misery you will never be able to do anything about it but complain. Do yourself, your spouse and your family a favor and make a change today!

First, start by taking a look inside and discover who you truly are. You cannot expect to simply change jobs and be happy. Find our how you are uniquely gifted and how your values, dreams and passions align with your life’s calling. The personality profile is our most popular product and is an invaluable tool in discovering your unique gifts as well as career matches. I use it with every Career & Life Coaching client.

Second, develop a plan to move into the work that you love. Whether that involves developing or fine-tuning your resume to work for another company, or creating your own business, do it with a plan. You have to have a strong amount of faith through the entire process, but without a clearly written plan, you are only asking for trouble.

Do not simply quit what you are doing now. I am not a fan of burning bridges and leaving everything behind. There may be a strong transition period in your life that involves doing a few things all at once. With a strong plan in place, I know your can meet and exceed your goal of doing the work you love!