True Career Freedom

Ever since July 4th, I’ve been thinking a lot about freedom regarding our career.

We’re blessed in the United States to have so many options — we can change our job, career employer, industry or start a business. When I speak with clients in career or business transition, they share they are overwhelmed regarding their options.

In reality, the career options are not the problem, almost every one of my clients finds a better fit in the long run. The problem is the overwhelm they experience from their negative thoughts about their career options. I call these thoughts 'The Binding Mindset' because they are the opposite of thoughts that are positive and freeing. It’s the difference of thinking, "I'm not qualified for the options I want" versus, "there are a multitude of career opportunities that could be a good fit and leverage my strengths."

Interestingly, the binding mindset is not novel to career transition — it’s like an old frenemy because we’ve all experienced it before and put up with its sh*t. For many of us, the negative thoughts experienced during a career transition will often mirror the core negative thoughts we experienced when we were children. Let's go back to the example I used above:

Adult thought- Do I have enough experience to get hired for these roles?

Childhood core thought- Am I good enough?

On the flip side, my clients will often rediscover those times where they've felt truly free in their career, and that positive thoughts experienced in those memories will often mirror the positive thoughts in childhood memories. Referencing the previous example:

 Adult thought- I have lead a team through a rough business transition and we thrived, so I'm qualified for these roles. Not only am I going to apply, I'm going to reach out to someone I know to pass my resume along to the hiring manager.

Childhood core thought- I'm good at (fill in the blank).

We have learned through neuroscience and modern psychology that negative thought patterns can be reprogrammed to something positive. That’s why if we want to achieve true career freedom, it helps to reflect on where we’ve been in a bind previously, and also where we’ve experienced freedom. With that information, we can make a conscious effort to let go of the thoughts that no longer serve us, and to repeat the thoughts and choose opportunities where we feel free.

If you're looking for a summer read, and you want to explore how your childhood stories can help you experience more career freedom, check out my book The Inner Compass Process: Using Childhood Memories to Guide Your Career Change, which can be found on major online booksellers such as Amazon.

Cheers to more career freedom!

Danielle