Why I Chose to be a Life Coach
After 20 years in my career, trying various employers, roles and career paths, I found that I have gained useful skills and experience in communication, marketing, project management, organizational development, but hadn’t yet found a feeling of purpose. I took a long hard look at who I am at my core, what I want from my career and how I can better align my career choices to my life purpose.
I learned that I am most satisfied when I am supporting others. Whether it is getting to know themselves more, addressing a challenge, or working to achieve their dreams, if I can enhance their journey, I feel fulfilled.
Once I discovered my purpose all I had to do was figure out what I wanted to do with it. I also had to take into consideration other factors like:
What do I want my day-to-day to look like?
What am I drawn towards to learn more about?
What besides helping others thrive am I passionate about?
To decide how I wanted to apply my new sense of purpose I went back to my core values, beliefs and interests.
Connection
Responsibility
Creativity
Inquisitiveness
Equity
Enthusiasm
Self-Expression
Mindfulness
Drive
Service
Connection Responsibility Creativity Inquisitiveness Equity Enthusiasm Self-Expression Mindfulness Drive Service
I learned a couple things about myself:
I need my career to fit within my overall values. I don’t want to compartmentalize what I do 9 to 5
I really enjoy learning about how humans operate, both internally and how they engage with each other and the world around them
I enjoy wearing many hats
If I want to help others work on themselves, I need to make sure I do the same for myself ongoing
I want the skills that I build in my career to be able to also serve me in my overall life
I want to spend some time at a desk but I also want to interact with people
I want to teach, write, coach, counsel, and be a successful business owner
Coaching ticks all the boxes and allows me the capacity to engage in my other interests as well. Once I had the idea that coaching was for me, I began my research. I Googled, I met with successful life coaches and researched what training was available to learn the craft. I tried out a couple of courses that would lead to a certification. In these classes I felt like I had finally found my people. Imagine, a whole group of people that are interested in nerding out about the exact thing you want to nerd out about!
And then I knew. As I work to build my business out, learn new skills or enhance current ones, network, coach, and research the many fields that feed into this expertise, I reflect to see how it continues to feel. It feels great!
If you’d like to learn more about potentially hiring Living with Gusto, check out our About Us page, or follow us on Facebook or Instagram. Or contact us to set up a consultation, or share with us a challenge you are facing that you might want coaching support with. We’ll respond with a couple ideas for free.