Changing a career is often one of the hardest decisions we have to make and I know that for me, it took me a long time to finally decide to go it alone and set up my own business. I had worked for the same company for nearly 20 years and there were lots of reasons why I was still there – I had built some fantastic working relationships, loved the company culture, loved my team and felt incredibly loyal to a company and leaders who had given me lots of opportunities to continue to learn, grow and develop.
However, I often sat with a niggling feeling that there was something missing. Like I was missing out on doing something that I was meant to do. I ignored the feeling for a long time; pushing it away and telling myself that leaving was way to scary. My first step in exploring my new career had started with me completing a motivational map and discovering what really motivated me. My highest motivator was “Searcher” – seeking to make a difference for people which was pretty satisfied in my current role. However, my “spirit” motivator which is my second highest was less satisfied – I wanted to have even greater autonomy and independence. I also have the “creator” motivator quite high and this is all about being innovative, creating new things and problem solving in a creative way.
When the company I was working with got acquired by a much bigger company, I started to realise how important it was for me to listen to my feelings. By then I was starting to get frustrated with the speed of change and how much I was able to influence and I realised that my top 3 motivators are all very change friendly – no wonder I was feeling the way I was.
Eventually, I had the discussion with my boss at the time and let her know that it was time for me to move on and then it was like everything just fell in to place to allow me to leave and feel at peace with that decision. Out of no where, I got a job opportunity, literally the day after I left and I interviewed for and took a maternity leave cover role for Connor as Head of People Development. 9 months later, I started on my dream of owning my own business and have not looked back as now all 3 of my top motivators are being fulfilled.
When I look back, though I also realise that the time for the change had to be right. Every time I had thought about leaving previously there was another opportunity that came my way, another opportunity to learn something knew or develop my experience. However, I also learnt to pay attention to what really motivates me and how to listen to my feelings.
Now what I love to do it to help people explored the right career choices for them and discover what motivates them using the Motivational Map questionnaire and exploring this in a 1:1 coaching conversation. We are all different and knowing what motivates us can be incredibly enlightening and the first step towards finding joy in your working life.
