Stop Feeling Stuck In Your Career
As a leader, there are many transitions that you make. Probably the first is the move into a leadership position, followed by transitions into larger, broader roles or new industries, functions or career paths.
Think back to your last transition. When did it begin? If you are like most people, it began immediately before you stepped into the new role.
In reality, the transition process actually started with that first thought you had about making a change. Your mental energy shifted at that point and you started thinking about and weighing up the options.
If the change was external, caused by restructuring, business or market change, the transition started way earlier. I bet there was a small voice inside telling you that it was time for you to move on but, again, if you are like most people, you would have ignored that voice. The comfort of the familiar probably made you question that voice.
So where does this voice come from?
It’s your awareness, your deep-seated intelligence that lies beyond the mind. Our awareness is always present, sometimes as a whisper when something doesn’t feel right or as a roar when every fibre of your being is screaming for you to make a change.
So why do we ignore this voice?
I think there are a few reasons:
- We are taught not to trust our “gut feelings”.
- We value the mind above all of our other capacities. Whilst the mind is extremely important to help leaders to function effectively, it’s not the only resource we can leverage.
- Sometimes the mind is so loud and busy that the voice of our awareness is just a faint sound.
- Research shows that, when making a change, the work involved in doing so feels too hard so we choose to remain stuck.
When we ignore our awareness, we usually pay a price and therein in lies rich learning, if we are able to hold ourselves in compassion to reflect and adjust.
When have you used your awareness, intuition or gut feeling to make a change?
What was the result?