Quick Exercise... “I Am . . .

Write down as many statement as you can starting with the words “I Am”

I am smart, I am driven, I am caring, I am witty, I am a good writer

I am …

...Surprisingly enough, for most people, this gets hard at about 10, I "am's"...

Now, how many of the descriptive words you listed do you actually use in your career pursuit? How many of them resonate with your core beliefs? How many of them are fulfilled in your day to day activity (please, yes, include home too).

As you look to 2017 (and you should be looking to 2017) take these core beliefs, the "I am's" of who you are and incorporate the changes that will include more of them to reach greater fulfillment and happiness.  How? Well, read on...

I was having lunch with a friend of over 25 years.  Newly retired, a 44 year career and an amazing leader of a fortune 1000 organization. I asked what was, I thought, a fairly innocent question.  So, now what? The answer I heard shocked me into that awkward silence that makes everyone uncomfortable. I don’t know. I guess I’ll fish a little, travel a little, but really, I don’t know.

This is from a man that spent his entire life, business life and home life too, planning for the success of his company, his career, his shareholders and saved the money he made for “retirement”. How could he not know? He asked what I thought he should do. Silence, uncomfortable silence…I asked him to do this exercise.

We created this as an introductory exercise to personal coaching.  We found that the key to career satisfaction and fulfillment revolve around matching the self-perception and the application of core beliefs to career and life paths. The exercise has been amazing in helping to display, career and life aspirations to people who thought they knew and also those that didn’t know, what next.  Personal perception is the first step to self-awareness. Most quiz takers find that they incorporate only a small percentage of the things that qualify as part of "following their bliss", or their core beliefs.

I know, you're only doing what you do until you save up enough to retire so you can do what you really want to do.  I’ll accept that response with one caveat. If you are one of the few who have a financial and personal goal setting plan, a business plan of sorts for your life.  If you have done that, then you have already moved your life from existence to living. If you've been so bold as to have accomplished a life goal plan, have you shown it to anyone? Sometimes, the strongest commitment you can make to a goal or aspiration is to share it.  If you have or haven't created a plan, why not look to someone who guides people for a living.  Personal coaching has been core to professional success since the beginning of time. Engaging a coach to help reaffirm your choices, build a road map, help you look at ways to overcome personal and professional obstacles is a clear personal commitment to improving your life. It’s time to plan for 2017.  I encourage those who want more (and only you can define what you want more of) to make a plan that is more than just your workplace goals. Look at what you want.  We created categories for coaching. These categories overlap and are intertwined. Depending on where you are and what you want, look to these three categories to align your coaching with the benefit you want...

Transition
When you are ready to change. Work, life, locations; these times of transition often feel like they are coming at you. Transition planning provides structure and continuity to both your emotions and process to create managed change, rather than total chaos.

Leadership
As you mature in your chosen profession, the pressures to be driven rather than drive process improvement, skills acquisition, career and succession planning, and personal assessment can feel like they are not part of the daily grind.  Stepping out of the picture with a guide helps refocus energies and to position yourself and your skillset for the next steps.

Passion
When you’ve completed your “I am” assessment, you may find there is a complete disconnect between the way you see yourself and your passion. And you are ready to create the change in your life to "follow your bliss".  You need help to figure out what to do next.

If you choose to engage a coach or not, it's time to start setting goals, and building a strategy for 2017. Don't wait for January. Start now. It will pay huge dividends.

Robert Pappas is the Founder of Founder of SalesLinkage Consulting and Training, Author, Coach and Mentor.  For a free personal coaching assessment, send a request to [email protected] 

Robert Pappas

Principal Partner
SalesLinkage: The New Sales Continuum

Linking Product to Profit
Training to Communicate Value
Coaching to Improve Life

www.saleslinkage.com   |    562 547 9048   | Follow me on Twitter@robert_pappas