Page 89 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

STEP 3: DESIGN YOUR IDEAL LIFE 77

coffee, don’t let it bother you if you don’t have the butler yet—start
with the croissants and coffee.

MY IDEAL DAY

One of my clients who performed this exercise realized that
the perfect way to start the day was to go outside on her deck over-
looking beautiful woods with a hot cup of tea and a fresh-baked
blueberry muffin and write in her journal. She baked a batch of muf-
fins and put them in the freezer, bought a journal, and got started!
This fabulous beginning to her day led to a wonderful new career
opportunity. She discovered a passion for writing, started writing
articles for publication in magazines, and is now working on a book.
Even if you can’t put all the elements in place right now, start with
the ones you can and you’ll soon be adding in the missing bits.
We often get so wrapped up in our careers that they consume
our entire lives. This may be just fine if you love what you do, but it
certainly isn’t fine if you don’t. Start with your ideal life, and then
look for the career that supports that life. This approach will save
you a lot of hassle down the line. If pursuing this course means
you need to downsize dramatically, then start downsizing. Your
life is more important than any lifestyle, and although there may
be some initial flack from your family, after a period of adjust-
ment, your whole family will be happier when you are happy.
Another client was a high-powered, six-figure earning execu-
tive who used to travel all the time for his work and rarely had
time for his family. He packed it all in for a job as a policeman,
which was something he’d always wanted to do, but felt he would
disappoint his family if he took a much lower-paying job. It meant
selling the big house, getting rid of the third car, and moving into