[Happy Eid if you are celebrating this week! May the fruit of your spiritual work nourish the world.]
It was the summer of 2014. I was sitting in a wooden cabin in the middle of Alaska when it struck me: of course, I’m going to take a leap! This was the pivotal moment when I felt a break from the expected path and that my life and career trajectory transformed.
This moment was preceded by two others that week:
1) Feeling paralysed on a mountain peak in Arctic Valley, then realising that if I just took one step at a time, it was easy and even fun.
2) Seeing a receding, crumbling glacier in the Kenai Fjords and feeling a deep desire to align my work with bigger facts of life on our planet.
That week, I decided to let go of the ‘safe path’ of local public health and took a risk to work on the UN Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction at the intersection of health, climate change and sustainable development. Global Health had been a dream since university and this was my chance.
This mini-leap set me up for a bigger leap in 2016. I took an ‘open-ended sabbatical’ and started working as a coach while taking a lot of time to slow down and breathe.
This spring, it’s 8 years later.
Fewer than 40% of businesses make it past 3 years and I’ve never had a business plan. But I’ve worked with many excellent coaches and mentors.
Here are 8 milestones and insights from my longest career experiment so far:
2016: Starting Wise Wednesdays and working with my first 1:1 clients (I tried one consulting gig but it was the coaching that took off – #1: Experiment then focus.
2017: Creating my first webinars, collaborations and the Leaders Circle (I was so shy on one webinar that the host stepped in to support me – #2: Accept help when you feel vulnerable.
2018: A year of consolidation…
2019: Wise Wednesdays goes viral on LinkedIn reaching millions of people (“People don’t leave jobs they leave toxic work cultures”). It took me 4 years to read the comments due to fear of visibility and criticism. #3: It’s OK to have boundaries while also being visible.
2020: Launching my first group coaching mastermind (Presence, Power, Possibility). Memorably, the first person to sign up left her 15-year corporate career to start medical school during the programme. I almost cancelled the launch event due to anxiety and self-doubt – #4: “Confidence is not a requirement. It’s a result of doing scary things.”
2021: Winning Business Book of the Year in Personal Development and Wellbeing of the UK Business Book Awards (writing the book was a 6-month daily battle with an imposter demon – #5: Your creative power lives with your deepest fear.
2022: Helping my parents become fitness enthusiasts! (This may be the most personally rewarding impact of all from my coaching skills – #6: You are more powerful than you think!
2023: Launching The Sanctuary and offering a space to relax, reflect and uplevel with an impressive number of social impact CEO roles being landed by resting and gardening…#7: The more you relax, the clearer you can see, and the further you can leap.
2024: Receiving the WIM Top 50 Women Award in Education and Coaching at the House of Lords and being featured in the Daily Mirror. At the awards dinner, I had a Déjà vu and realised that I had sat in that room years before as a government public health adviser. #8: Life works in mysterious ways. Trust it...
I’ve reached a stage where people no longer ask me why I’m not married or don’t have children. Any legacy I create is through the relationships and impacts on people and spaces that I have the privilege of touching.
[Photo] Planet.Health Unconference, Chateau du Fey.
While I don’t know what the future holds and I still don’t have a business plan, I continue to trust the intuition and inspiration that comes in alignment with this motto: to liberate others as I liberate myself.
Or as a dear client used as his motto in embracing his own path, paraphrasing St Thomas: If you bring forward what is within you, it will save you. Otherwise, it will consume you…
Bring forward the truth within you sooner rather than later. And if I can help you on your path, reach out.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Have a great week,
Amina
p.s. I still work with only a limited number of people. If you’d like to have a Career Clarity Call and co-create a flexible roadmap for your next steps, book a call with me here >>. If you can’t find a time that works for you, let me know.
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