When a promotion is not just a promotion

That promotion, job title or salary that you’ve been striving for... how long will it be enough?

?

How long will you ride off that feeling of recognition or pride?

?

And, when the attention comes and it's finally your name on that announcement, how many of us are embarrassed at all the attention it attracts anyway?

?

Then all that attention dies down, and very little has changed.

?

For a lot of people that strive hard for promotions, the good feelings don't last all that long.

?

It's soon onto, OK what's next? Where is my next challenge coming from?

?

I mean, how long did you dine out on your last promotion before you started looking ahead again?

?

If you are intrinsically driven to achieve, it’s never enough.

?

If you’re placing your self-worth on a job, or anything outside of yourself, it will never be enough. If you are looking for an identity in a job (especially for mothers), eventually it won't be enough.

?

Think about it, what job title, salary, grade or size of team really is the pinnacle for you?

?

For a few people there is a clear vision of what success looks like, but more often that’s not the case - it’s just a vague feeling of needing to be more and achieve more.

?

I spent 20+ years building a career, driven by that intense feeling of wanting to be more. ?Around 10 years ago I remember talking to a career coach and saying that I wanted to be an HR Director…And even then, as I said the words, there was another part of me that knew it wasn’t really true. Almost like I was saying what I thought I SHOULD say, but wasn’t really true for me. A very odd feeling!

?

In more recent years, each promotion felt hollow. In fact, each promotion made things worse, as I started to realise none of them were going to make it better.

?

None of them would ever be enough. I got more and more exhausted from pushing myself on.

?

Nowadays, I meet lots of people that are doing the same thing.

?

We’ve been conditioned to strive, to work hard and achieve for all kinds of different reasons. Family influences, cultural influences – our company’s ethos.? And also striving because...what else are we, if not THAT?!

?

Many are so blinkered on the job title, grade or promotion that they've stopped noticing all of the amazing things they’ve already got.?

?

The beauty of the world around them.

?

Their kids faces... How all their child wants in the world is their undivided attention, yet they don’t often get it because of the striving to be more and do more keeps them so busy.

?

I mean, are your kids really less important than that job you want? Of course they aren't, so why do they sometimes feel like they are?

?

And, how would it feel if they were able to tell you that they feel less important than your job? GUT WRENCHING!!

?

Recently, I saw such pain on the face of a talented woman who had AGAIN been overlooked for promotion. While others celebrated, she sank deeper into self-questioning and criticism.

?

“WHY AREN'T I ENOUGH?”

?I've been there. It hurts!

?

But that question really needs to be asked inside, not to the people making the promotion decisions.

?

“WHY AREN'T I ENOUGH – for me?”

?

Before my last promotion came, I became aware that it wasn't even about the job. It was about the fact that someone, somewhere was deciding if I was GOOD ENOUGH. The sickening fear that someone, somewhere might be sitting in a room saying 'she's good, but NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH' was overwhelming.

?

Why am I sharing this?

Because I see LOTS of women experiencing the same thing.

It’s so clear to see in others, but often a blind spot for the women concerned.

?

When my last promotion finally came, it wasn't a celebration, it was a relief from that torture of not being good enough. And, none of it made any difference to that hollowness, because the thing I was searching for, I now realise, could never come from outside.

?

It breaks my heart that so many people believe that a job is going to fulfil them, when they feel that way. Just like I did...

?

If you just got the big promotion you have been striving for… CONGRATULATIONS!!

?Celebrate, and then notice how long that feeling lasts.

?Notice how quickly?something inside says ‘okay great, what’s next?’

It’s pretty quick, I bet.

?

And….If you’ve been striving hard for something, have you asked yourself why it’s so important?

?

Many of us spend our lives buying new cars, houses, searching for more, changing jobs, another child, a different relationship….A pet?

?

We could save ourselves thousands of pounds, so much energy and years of disappointment, if we just stopped looking externally and worked on really understanding ourselves.

?

If you’re a woman reading this with that sense of never being enough, I’m so sorry – but you won’t fulfil that from outside of yourself.

?

When you change your approach, you get brave enough to look inside, you’re likely to be delighted at how easy it is to feel enough. To feel good enough, to feel proud, grateful… and to feel joy and happiness at what you already have, because as we know,?happiness is an inside job.?

?

Then, from that place of being enough, if you want a bigger job or have a vision to fulfil… it becomes purposeful and joyful – not soul sucking and exhausting!

?

If striving has begun to feel exhausting, I urge you to get curious about what is making it so important, and so hard.

?

You may be looking at others that are less qualified than you, less experienced, and wondering why they get recognised and not you. If that’s you, your mindset needs to shift if you are ever going to get what you want and feel fulfilled by it.

?

If you want that confidence, clarity, and access to that calmer, happier sense of purpose AND the job of your dreams, I can help you explore it.

?

Time to TAKE CHARGE!

?

Making yourself your biggest project for 2024 is an investment that will keep paying you back for the rest of your life.

Comment TAKE CHARGE below or in a DM and let's have a free, no commitment chat about what could be possible for you when you bring the power back to yourself.