The Search for Opportunity

I know a woman who's been struggling for years to launch a satisfying career. Like many people in their twenties and thirties, she's looking for her first big break. While she waits for that opportunity, she's been taking short-term contracts to keep her foot in the door. Most of these opportunities are due to permanent staff members taking a leave of absence. Once they return, the opportunity is no longer open.

There's no question that it's challenging to launch a career in today's competitive job market. But it's about more than the number of jobs ads a person sees, the interviews they attend, or even the short-term contracts they complete. Finding the right fit is not only about outside influences. Finding the right fit is about knowing yourself.

The woman I've been telling you about has a degree in a specific area. She completed that degree with the intention of getting a specific job. All of this is good, but it can be limiting. Until we spoke, she was only thinking of a narrow pathway for her career. I've been challenging her to look deeper, to seek to understand her dreams. As a result, she's beginning to see more options and she's started to focus on what she could accomplish with her life.

First Know Yourself

Mark Twain said, "I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want."

Many people need both time and effort to uncover their true dreams. It's too easy to let life happen to you and we can find ourselves so busy we miss what's important. I encourage you to be more and to make a greater impact with your life.

Whether you're launching a career or want to continue making the work you do meaningful, the key question is: "What do you truly desire to do with your life?" This is a bigger question. You could say it's a question as big as the sky, but it needs to be answered.

To get to the answer of this big question, you'll have to commit to a lifetime of exploring your strengths, attitudes and values. Use the "Four Tips for Self-Awareness" provided below to start. The benefits you experience will convince you to continue. Self-awareness improves your leadership skills, your work life and your personal life too. As we like to say at the Up Close Team, you can't give what you don't know you have.

Call to Action:

1. Think back on a recent career decision you made. How did your self-awareness at that time affect the decision?
2. At every stage of our lives, it is helpful to explore ourselves. What will you do to increase your self-awareness this week?
   
   

 Four Tips for Self-Awareness

1. Put yourself into a variety of situations and experiences. Life is filled with options. It doesn't matter what age you are, try as many of the options as possible. The more you experience, the better you will understand yourself.
2. Trust your gut instincts. We all have an inner voice that tells us truths about ourselves. The key is to stop long enough to listen to that voice.
3. Write down your thoughts and feelings in a journal. The advantage of a journal is that you do not have to share it with anyone you don't want to. If you give yourself permission to jot down ideas, you will be surprised by how much you discover about yourself.

Learn how to meditate. Mediation is a powerful tool for discovering who you are. There are many ways to meditate. One of the simplest is to simply relax in a quiet place and listen to your thoughts. You might be surprised by what you discover. 

It starts with you. You've got this!
Your friends,
UpCloseTeam