This week in Experience You I challenged our online community to consider if the role they played at work was a Career for them or purely an Income Stream.
You see I had been having conversations over the previous 2 weeks with some of my one to one clients….and there was a theme coming up.
Emma, help me find my next step to my desired Career
Show me how to build a network to get to this role in my Career
Do I need a Career Coach?
I found that with all of the conversations I was drawing a model over and over and over again…..
I was Asking my clients to PARK their desire to get that dream role for one moment. I wanted to see if their Dream ROLE was really that or IF there was a deeper question they hadn’t yet asked themselves…..like
Although I am AWESOME at this role….. do I actually ENJOY the tasks I do within that role?
And this brought up some pretty interesting conversation.
And yep most of the time there was an Aha moment – this is what I am supposed to do…everyone tells me this is who I am…..e.t.c e.t.c
And yep all of them decided that actually…..Career as a word wasn’t serving them right now.
Why did they have this change in understanding?
Because I asked them these simple questions…….
Why are you earning money? What is it enabling you to do?
This led them to a much deeper conversation with themselves about their own lives, their loved ones…..the things that MATTER to them.
Now, I am not saying that You right now are NOT in a role you LOVE or in an area of work that you have been privileged to be in for a number of years…..but would you call it a Career?
Careers are the things that we were told you had to make choices and decisions about when you were at school…….
‘The decision you make now about your chosen subjects will define the type of career open to you!”
Ring any bells??????
BUT….the world has changed since we were at school, college, university…………
Through new technologies even stalwart careers are changing…..more new players (Tech Savvy players) are entering the marketplace. And they don’t need hundreds or thousands of people working for them…..there are more opportunities for anyone, anywhere in the world than there was 20 years ago.
So…….I Asked my clients to drop the word Career from their language……and instead insert
Income Stream(s)
You see……..Money is purely an exchange of Value…….we all live in a world that for many…..Money is the intrinsic Value that has to be exchanged to create what we want e.g House, Car, Holiday, Food, Electricity, Gas, Clothes…….the list goes on….
You are purely exchanging your Value (your expertise, your time) for the Value (Money) that is required to purchase those things you want/need.
And yes….before I receive hundreds of emails saying
“But Emma, I LOVE my job, I have been there for 20-30 years…..they have been really good to me…..”
I am NOT saying that you are being disloyal to your employer(s) you are merely shifting your OWN perception.
Ultimately you are giving your Value willingly or unwillingly, to achieve in exchange, the Value that enables you to create the environment you want to live in for yourself and for those you love.
And yes there are many humbling and rewarding roles that I say Thank You to everyone for being involved in….Nurses, Doctors, Teachers, Firemen & Firewomen, Policeforce, Lifeboat crew, SES,
And then there are roles that not many people think of, but are so equally important and needed…..Rubbish Collectors, water treatment plant operators …..the list goes on….
And yes….you will say…you forgot xxxx
The key I want to share is that your perception of what you are doing really needs to include for at least 70% of the working day SOMETHING you LOVE doing…..
Otherwise your LIFE will be filled with resentment, apathy, jealousy ……sounds rubbish right?
So….instead I gave our online community the Task of finding what they really really LOVED to do….then asked them to find ways of CREATING income stream(s) doing what they LOVED….which in turn provided a Value exchange to enable them to have FUN with those they LOVED.
And here is the model I shared…..
I would love your thoughts on how this is now Feeling for you about your ‘work’. Are you DOING what you LOVE? did you decide years ago you had taken a path based on what someone else had said to you? Do you yearn to do something different but not sure how to change so late?
I can honestly say that NEVER is a strong word and anyone who uses it hasn’t Dreamt big enough or bold enough for themselves and their future happiness.
So Career or Income stream(s)…
You decide
