My little business turned 1 this week. The freedom of working for myself, the incredible fulfilling sensation I get from helping others through hypnotherapy are still blowing my mind on a daily basis. However, my working life did not always feel that way!
If you are feeling a bit stuck on the corporate hamster wheel, unfulfilled in your work and maybe wanting a change but not knowing what the thing you should "do" instead is I feel you.
Because that's exactly where I was, stuck and frustrated as hell. I'm a super capable person and yet I couldn't figure out what it was I wanted to do or be!
The early months of the year can often be a time of reflection, when that desire for change bubbles up again. Particularly when employees of companies everywhere are completing their annual reviews (appraisals, PDR's call them what you will). They often have the same format, a form to complete, some kind of scoring system and a meeting with your manager to discuss.
Having done these as an employee and a manager I can tell you they are rarely beneficial. Probably the best I had was with a boss who had judged my interest levels in the situation perfectly and took me to the pub! The worst comprised a manager who literally copy and pasted their targets onto my form a fairly transparent mechanism for me to make them look good!
My point being that these sorts of reviews are designed to keep you where you are, not to help you figure out what you really want to do. But there is hope on the horizon. If you are looking to find work that gives you a sense of purpose and meaning but just don't know what that is - you may already have the answers within your subconscious memories. In fact I'm going to suggest that to figure this out you look back to your childhood. Specifically to the ages if 7-14 and the sort of things you enjoyed doing then because the clues likely lie there.
I'll give you an example from my own experience. I knew with crystal clarity that I was frustrated with construction, with bad managers and being a small part of a massive machine. I wanted to be my own boss. Just as I always had when I was child, but it went a little deeper than that.
Let me tell you about "Inchy's" Cider Factory
Now I know there is a cider brand with a similar name this is not connected to them. Inchy was a childhood nickname (because I'm really tall ok!) the cider factory a business I had created when I was about 8 or 9 years old. Inspired when visiting a Great Aunt in Cornwall I sat at her kitchen table using scraps of card and paper to create this business. There were flyers, posters and business cards. Amazing plans for taking visitors on tours of the factory I even designed a train with carriages in the shape of apples to transport visitors around.
Now it may not be literally what I'm doing now, but at that young age the clues were there. I wanted to be my own boss, to have an element of creativity and experimentation, to have a business that gave its customers an experience. And that's exactly what the aims were when I set up my hypnotherapy business.
So I would urge you if you are feeling stuck to look back on what you enjoyed as a child. I'm not saying its as easy as if you used to like the moon when you were a kid that you can go and become an astronaut now. But a bit of detective work will quickly show up clues.
And if you would like help exploring your career choices and tapping into your desires why not consider hypnotherapy. It works with the subconscious mind, where we carry all our memories and may just help tap into those clues to help you find more meaningful work or connect with your purpose.
Liz x