Page 17 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

INTRODUCTION 5

find work that not only pays well but also gives you that feeling of
fulfillment and enjoyment. Yes, you got that right: work does not
have to be a struggle. In fact, if you are struggling, that is a sure
sign that you haven’t discovered your natural talents or abilities.
Then we’ll take a look at your passions, interests, and values—
the things that you really love to do in life, the stuff that would
have you gleefully jumping out of bed in the morning to do. You
can retire the snooze alarm and those umpteen cups of coffee you
used to need to jump-start your day, because when you do some-
thing you are passionate about, you will be naturally motivated
and can wean yourself off the artificial stimulants you’ve been
using to get through the day.
Then we’ll look at where you are in life. If you are a recent grad-
uate, working eighty hours a week might sound like fun, whereas if
you are sixty-five and hoping to slow down a bit, that won’t sound
at all appealing. You’ll work on creating a life plan and career pro-
file that will help you define the right career or business at this
time.
Finally, we’ll explore how you actually make that transition to
your new career or business. What are the means to finding that
dream job you’ve now defined? How do you pay the mortgage and
start your own business? How do you manage your fears? What
are the practical steps to making your ideal career a reality? How
do you network your way to a new career? And as a bonus, after
Step 7 I’ve included a chapter with some extra tips that seem to
work like magic to speed up the whole career-change process.
As you read along, you’ll see there are extended personal
accounts at the end of some chapters in a section called “Success
Story.” This is where I share the nitty-gritty on how some of my
coaching clients have worked through this program to find or cre-
ate their new careers or businesses. Learn how actual clients have
used these seven steps to transition into an ideal career or start a
business. This feature concludes with me interviewing these cli-
ents; some have given me permission to use their real names. Feel
free to check out their websites or go to my website at Lifecoach
.com to read about additional client success stories. Many people