Five Steps to Career Satisfaction

How do you feel about your career? Do you truly get a charge out of what you do for a living? Or, are you like most people: dreading waking up each morning, hitting the snooze button several times... barely able to face another depressing day on the job?
Most of my life coaching clients express feeling stuck in a vocation that they altogether don’t enjoy, or worse, dread. This happens to many people. It happens to people who strike one as having "made it" just as often as it happens to those commencing their career planning. It happened to me.
For a very long time, I felt stuck in a career that came with a lot of financial reward and status, yet left me emotionally hungry. Fear kept me blocked. I feared that changing my profession would result in a loss of meaning. I wondered what people would think about me if I changed? Would they believe me to be a failure? I feared that I'd "never figure it out" and that eventually, I'd end up in the same place I yearned to escape from, for lack of a decision or solid plan.
Can you relate to the same career fears? Many people can. I believe it comes down to distrust and a lack of knowing what really fulfills us. And, the times when we think of some good solutions, trepidation kicks in. Fear reminds us that it’s not smart to take risks, that we need surety, that most people fail at "X" and we’ll have to work really, really hard if we expect to get somewhere.
One possible reason why you stay in the same job notwithstanding feeling unfulfilled: you're good at what you do. On the surface, your profession gives the illusion of an ideal fit. Yet deep inside, you may have a covert dream of being let go. Maybe you long for that miraculous opportunity. But then you consider, "Who's to say that my knowledge is enough?" And on the flip side you worry, "How can I possibly procure a new job that pays as well as my current one?" Indeed, it seems that fear has you in its embrace: you are afraid to break away and afraid to stay.
To be fulfilled, you must calm the fear. This requires awareness, risk, and determination.
Ask yourself: How did I arrive at career unhappiness?
· Did your career choose you instead of you choosing it? Perchance somewhere along the way you took a job that seemed right at the time, yet with time it lost its luster. Now you’re stuck because it’s all you think you know and changing now would be a idiot thing to do.
· Did someone else's expectations choose your profession for you? It’s what mom or someone else wanted. And you went a long with it so as to avoid argument?
· Did you go with what seemed the most comfortable? Maybe it was about a lack of trust? Or, perhaps you didn't feel talented enough to go after what you really wanted.
· Do you think "there's no looking back now?" You've spent your best years climbing the ladder - yet suddenly you fear you’ll give up before the getting gets really good. Perhaps its "too late" for you to make your real dream come true so you choose to live with apology and career unhappiness.
· Do you feel overwhelmed? Do your conflicting talents and interests pull you in many directions? Are you unable to make a commitment, and so you just do "whatever" to pay the bills?
Try this five step plan to open your mind to new career opportunities and eliminate the fear that immobilizes you.
Step one: Make a list of everything that you adore.
Step two: Make a list of your skills.
Step three: Make a list of your accomplishments.
Step four: Now look for the patterns. What do you see? For example, do what you love and enjoy involve the outdoors? Animals? People? Are your talents and skills related to using your hands, creating art, music, speaking, using your body? If your lists are long enough, you will see some patterns.
Step five: Now get busy and do some detective work:
Explore every possible career that embodies what you love, enjoy and are good at. Search the Internet, look in the yellow pages, go to the library, ask friends and family members for direction. Interview people, gather suggestions and information. Actually do activities related to your specific interests. Attend some networking organizations, career workshops, adventure groups, writing clubs… whatever intrigues You!
The key is to get into action! A major bummer about career dread is it tends to suck the life out of us. It can make us feel exhausted. Getting into action will not only help you know yourself more and identify a career path that is fulfilling for you, it will get you moving again! Get outside, connect with others, envelope yourself in your passions… engage in projects that stimulate you. This alone will revitalize you. And, who knows. Maybe you’ll meet someone along the way your shares your passion, can mentor you, or support you somehow.
Want evidence that you really can choose your career, versus letting your career choose you? Below is a list of people who chose their own career path:
Mary Kay Ash - Mary Kay Cosmetics
Nido Qubein
Queen Latifah
Billie Jean King
Rosanne Barr
Today get out of career dread and into empowerment. If you are living to work, then you’re not really living. You spend much of your life working in your career. Why not construct a life that includes loving what you do

Free Careers Articles: http://worthyarticles.com

Life Coach, Susan Liddy of Aspire Life Coaching, empowers women who have life dreams yet feel immobilized by fear. Her Passages to Empowerment program is a proven way to overpower your fear and reconnect with yourself so your inner confidence can emerge: www.AspireLifeCoaching.org

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