Page 125 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

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he ideal combination is to find a natu-
ral talent or ability that is also a match
to your passions, values, and interests.
TIn practice, this doesn’t always work
out so neatly. You may have an absolute passion for golf, but if you
aren’t a natural athlete, then you may need to consider golf a fun
hobby and not a serious profession. Alternatively, if your brain is
wired to do higher mathematics, but you aren’t interested in math,
you probably aren’t going to sign up for
that advanced calculus class. Whatever
the circumstances, I would certainly Choose a job you love
encourage a client to pursue any of his and you’ll never have
or her top ten abilities, because often to work a day in your
once we try something that is one of our life.
natural talents (even if we didn’t know it
at the time), it ends up being a reward- —CONFUCIUS
ing and successful career. The process
is fairly obvious: if we have a natural tal-
ent, then with a bit of study and practice, we can become masterful
relatively quickly. And mastery is often rewarding financially as
well as personally. No mystery there.
The big problem is that most people aren’t aware of their own
natural talents and abilities or even of their core values. I had no
idea that coaching was one of my natural talents. I was working in
the bank, and although I easily developed relationships with my
clients, I certainly wasn’t coaching them to have a better life. I was
limited to helping them sort out their financial lives or choose the
best loan product. With a certain amount of skepticism, I signed
up for professional coaching classes and started working with my
first clients while still working at the bank. Being a coach was
so much fun and so easy that it has never felt like work. Before
I had finished the curriculum, I was teaching coaching skills to
the other students at Coach U. In contrast, after a day at the bank
I’d come home drained. I’d collapse on the sofa and take a short
nap, and then I’d get up and start coaching clients. By the time I