When a force breaks an egg from the outside, life ends. When a force breaks an egg from the inside, life begins. It was a joy to open the graduation ceremony for my beautiful client Eleni’s inclusive cohort of incredible women from Europe and Africa who were reclaiming their power to create and contribute to the world. I shared the stage with Sharath Jeevan OBE who is one of the world's leading experts on re-igniting inner drive and I emceed the evening to celebrate these powerful women and the products they had created from scratch in a mere 10 weeks. Together, they grew in harnessing their inner-force and overcoming challenging outer-forces. But how did this come about in the first place? Well, if you think that taking a career leap is impossible, how about taking two? Legend in the making: Eleni hired me as her coach 3 years ago. Over this period of working together, she took 2 big career leaps. First, leaving a 10-year corporate role to step into a new leadership role with a global publisher. Then, less than 2 years later, she took another leap, this time fully embracing her entrepreneurial spirit. Her energy and creativity – her life force - were unlocked and she exceeded all expectations in terms of impact and income over her first quarter. Not everyone will create such rapid results and that’s OK. Her personal secret? Staying connected to her source, trusting her intuition and managing her energy wisely i.e. mastering her inner-force. She also nurtured her dreams while in her corporate role, learning about entrepreneurship and laying the ground for the Kimolian Academy while navigating the outer-forces of a busy job. The Kimolian Academy eventually was the home for designing a programme which empowers women to create tech-enabled products with a positive impact as well as offering product consultancy to start ups and scale ups as another service. Today, she wrote to me from a workshop in Athens and is on her way to Madrid. Congratulations on turning an entrepreneurial dream into reality, Eleni! The graduation was also the first time Eleni and I met in person.
Last week, someone asked me whether a career leap is always towards entrepreneurship. The answer is no. A career leap simply means leaving an old identity behind and expanding into something new. I have clients who stay in their role because they love their work, they just want it to be less stressful. They experience a career leap through coaching because they learn how to show up differently and therefore transform the current role into a completely different experience with new opportunities and more balance. The positive aspects of any career leap often spill over into other aspects of life like health and relationships because of the radical shifts in their approach rather than changes in circumstance.
Sometimes, a career leap involves a period of dissolution and a sense that things are falling apart. You enter a phase where you’re not sure what you want, you feel unmotivated and it’s not clear what to do. It’s called ‘the void’ or ‘the space between stories’. You can read more about it in a previous Wise Wednesdays on Why Confusion Isn’t Always a Bad Thing.
With the increase in the average number of careers people have, I believe knowledge of this phase of dissolution needs to be incorporated in education and training so that it is normalised and people are prepared rather than traumatised. To me, this is about bringing the sacred back into the corporate and celebrating the creative cycles of life. For today, if you’re in that place of not knowing, remember that it’s all going to work out one way or another. Rest, take care of yourself, enjoy whatever simple joys are available without giving in to external pressure. Know that the life force within will break through confusion to clarity with perfect timing. Trust me, I’m a doctor 😊 Have a great week, Dr. Amina Your Transformational Coach.
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