The Professional Stretch
As a career coach I pride myself on keeping up with my own professional development. I feel like it would be pretty rich of me to ask any coachee to do something that I do not have the guts to do myself. This means that I too need to be on my toes with my own career and with challenging my own fears and learning my lessons.
I have to keep asking and trusting that I shall receive, or if I don’t get that thing, I will instead be the recipient of a nugget of information, without which, the next step, may not be possible ….
So this year I have: invited two of my business heroines for coffee. I have met with them and had riotous laughter.
I have taken my business through a dragons-den process that taught me a huge amount about the impact of a working environment on an individual’s professional identity and efficacy.
I have sought and worked intensely with clients who have huge Authority in their field, whilst simultaneously holding onto the knowing that I am an expert in mine.
I have asked for help over and over, in a multitude of different ways. Some paid help, some skill swap, some in good faith, and always having to step over my flipping great ego in order to get humble enough to do so.
I have risked speaking my truth and honouring my hunches and sharing my unquantifiable but important ‘seeing’ in service of helping those who sit before me, in order to strengthen their career pathway.
I have done 16 or 18 hour days in a variety of roles, with a multitude of different hats on and been really present in each and every moment so that I can make really good decisions.
So once again my blog with has an ‘ask and you shall receive’. If we are to go forward we need to keep taking risks. If we keep asking for what we need, it does appear, albeit in its own unique way.
And I have loved every minute of it. This work is true and joyous, rewarding and purposeful. The Professional stretch will only enrich us, whether the outcome is as we had anticipated or not!
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