Are you living your purpose?
This is an essential question to ask yourself at some point in your career. It usually pops up when you are not feeling very happy in your job. (I have an exciting offer to share with you on how to completely align with YOUR purpose so read to the end.)
I remember first pondering this question in my late 20’s. It probably happened earlier in my life but I wouldn’t allow myself to “go there” because I didn’t believe it was an option for me. I had a belief that I had to “pay my dues” and do the dirty work before I could really gain any credibility in business.
So I just took the next-best-job for a while and in each position I grew more and I applied what I learned.
By the time I was in my late 20’s I had a good corporate job that had growth possibilities. I also fell in love, got married and had a baby shortly before turning 30. I was on track but I still didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I also began changing my beliefs about myself.
Life was very good in my 30’s. I changed jobs about every 2 years (still within the same company) because once I learned a job I usually became somewhat bored and wanted to learn something new. I wasn’t happy if I wasn’t growing. I believed I could do more. So I expanded into the next best version of myself.
Mentors Can Help
I asked a woman to mentor me at work, someone I really admired, and she helped me to integrate the lessons I was learning in each job, and to process how I felt so I could target my next move.
At one point I remember having a dream that I would leave the company one day and begin a professional speaking career. I finally had a dream! A vision of more. And even though it didn’t manifest exactly when I envisioned it would happen, the vision kept me pointed in a direction that fed my passion. And I started to believe much more in my dream.
I am currently writing a book on so much of what I learned as I grew up in the corporate environment. I had many excellent bosses and some really poor ones too. Many of these stories became fodder for examples I use in my leadership training classes today.
Midlife Transformation
When I hit 40, I felt my career really take off because I got involved in Human Resources and felt that I had totally found my niche.
I absolutely loved my job for about 3 years! It was awesome. My boss was an excellent coach and he saw the potential in me. I soared! I was so happy. I created, managed and implemented the first ever women’s leadership conference at my company. That was only one of many successful projects I had the opportunity of managing.
I went back to school and began working on my degree in psychology. I got a promotion and everything was going great. And then I got laid off.
What the hay? Really Universe? You’re kidding right? Nope.
Now it was time to put all my life values, beliefs and principles into action, pull up my big girl panties and trust. And have faith. It was scary at first but then it wasn’t.
Within 3 months I was back at work in the same company doing a business analyst job I totally DID NOT want to do. I took it because it was the next best thing.
And it was! Even though I didn’t like it, I learned to do more critical thinking in that job than I ever did before and I stretched myself in ways I never thought possible. It helped me in my career, in school and increased my belief in myself. I could do deep, hard work. During that time I got my BA in psychology too (while working full time). Now I was a critical thinker. Wow!
Along the Way
I continued to ask myself the question “Am I living my purpose?”
I had good assignments and bad assignments. Good bosses and bad bosses. Complicated years and simple years. I got my Masters in Education because learning is one of my highest values.
Then I took a leap of faith in myself.
I left the company and started my own business. I was now training leaders, coaching high achievers and using my business skills in ways that made my head spin. Lot’s of big life lessons too. Another transition and transformation was happening as I became the next greatest version of myself.
And it occurred to me that living my purpose actually had almost nothing to do with my actual circumstances. It had everything to do with my attitude and how I dealt with my challenges.
When I live in gratitude, I’m on purpose. When I follow my heart, I’m on purpose. When I am helping, giving, and being of service, I’m on purpose.
When I’m in alignment with my values and opening my heart to others and forgiving myself for mistakes I’ve made, I feel really good and I know I’m living my purpose.
As a leadership/life coach and trainer it makes my heart soar when I witness incredible break-throughs, healing moments, new discoveries and transformations.
I think I was using these skills for many years but I was just in a smaller more controlled environment. It’s like being an eagle in an enclosed arena. I could still fly but I was so limited. Now that I’m running my own business, I can go in any direction I want to if I have the courage to fly there.
The newest upgrade to my purpose is teaching others to fly.
An Opportunity Revealed
I recently became a Certified Partner with Wiley’s Everything DiSC program.
The Everything DiSC assessment uses a research-validated tool to create a highly personalized profile. The profile includes in-depth information all about YOU, your personality in the workplace, including tips, strategies and action plans to help managers and individual contributors to become more effective with motivating self and others. This includes how to work better with your peers and your manager.
The Everything DiSC profile, coupled with a personalized session with me, will give you fantastic insights on how to improve your work environment and your life on the job immediately.
I’ve been running these training programs for 3 years and here are a few comments from participants in my classes right after they read their profile:
“This is absolutely amazing how accurate a description this is of me.”
“Oh my God this is scary how right on this is. I would love for my husband to take it.”
“I’m going to share this with my boss so he can see what I’m capable of and learn to work with me better.”
“I feel so validated about seeing my strengths on paper and know exactly what my next steps are to grow even stronger into who I am and what I have to offer.”
Can you imagine what you are capable of if given the right environment, a shift in attitude, and knowing what your super powers are? Want to find out?
Emerge Leadership Academy Presents . . .
The Work Personality SuperPower Breakthrough Session
$199
Book a 2 hour coaching session with me to more clearly understand your profile, how you can use that knowledge to create your next career move, fix rocky relationships at work and create an action plan to create the work-life of your dreams. It’s time to be HAPPY at work and in every area of your life. For only $199!
To take advantage of this opportunity, here’s what you do:
- Send an email to info@emergeleadershipacademy.com and say you want in!
- We’ll send you an invoice on PayPal and once paid, you’ll receive a call to book our Work Personality SuperPower Breakthrough Session at a mutually convenient time.
- You will also receive an email with a link to take the assessment survey which will take about 15 minutes to complete. When you are taking the test, think of yourself at work and how you operate there. This must be taken before we meet.
- Then we’ll meet on a zoom call to review your results together, have a deep discussion about what you want in your work life and create a powerful plan of action for you to capitalize on your strengths. This call will be recorded so you can listen to it again.
Each of us has unique skills and a personal calling of how you can show up on purpose in the world and at work. And when you align with that you will have more peace, abundance and happiness than you can imagine.
All my best,
Maureen
P.S. If you are a leader in an organization that has high turnover, and lower employee engagement than you would like, contact me: https://maureenrg.youcanbook.me. I offer a training solution for your management team that I’m confident will improve engagement, productivity, commitment and lower turnover. Not to mention the fact that you’ll look like a superhero for bringing in this cost effective solution.
