The Missing Ingredient in Your Career
When I was a young professional a few years ago and struggling to get hired and achieve my career goals, I used to wonder why other young professionals in my industry seemed to have better control of their careers than I did.
They had more impact, influence and income than me. And I wanted to know how to have the same control over my career like them.
I knew I needed help and someone suggested I get a personal coach to help me figure this out. I was skeptical at first, but I tried it. I knew I wasn’t just dealing with career development challenges, I also had personal issues that I needed to confront and personal coaching was the answer. In her 2005 study, Personal coaching: A model for effective learning, Kerryn Griffiths points out that coaching has the potential to impact your life positively long-term and, if sustained, can help in the pursuit of a better quality of life.
In her 2010 study in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education titled Coaching younger practitioners and students using components of the co-active coaching model, Toyin Tofade found that coaching can help individuals clarify and accomplish career goals.
Personal coaching taught me the power of growing your leadership and building a high-performance team around you. And I have come to believe that the key to growing your career and becoming who you want to be at work and in your life is growing your leadership and building a high-performance team around you that you can do life with.
Growing your leadership and building a high-performance team around you starts with leading you. This means leading yourself to a better quality of life first before you can lead anyone else there. It’s the quality of your thoughts, words and actions that determine how much you succeed in your career. Authentic high-performance and true leadership is in how you think, speak and act even when no one is looking.
I have said it before in previous blog posts. I will say it again. Growing your career and becoming who you want to be in your life is not about being smarter. It’s not about being more talented. It’s not even about being better in any way than everyone around you. It’s about learning to lead yourself first before you can lead anyone else. It’s about building a high-performance team around you that you can leverage anytime you want to.
You need a personal coach to help you do this well. I believe personal coaching is one of the missing ingredients in young leaders who are struggling to grow their careers and become who they want to be. I say this because personal coaching is more than just how to achieve your goals, it is a process that emphasizes learning and the integration of changes into all areas of your life. It’s been my experience that when you are struggling to grow your career and become who you want to be in your life, there are usually other issues involved that go beyond your career goals and need to be addressed, and coaching can help you find out what those issues are. And if you are honest, you may realize it is a personal leadership issue not a high-performance issue.
In the study I mentioned above by Kerryn Griffiths which appeared in the Journal of Learning Design, she notes that the learning that occurs through coaching is important and lasting and can affect the duration of a lifetime. According to Griffiths, not only is the learning that occurs through personal coaching immediate, it is informal, skills-based, and experiential and has positive effects on your mental health and well-being.
I believe personal coaching is the best learning there is. The type of learning that personal coaching provides is about how to create the best version of you.
What happens when you become the best version of you?
You become a better leader. You start to attract the right people around you.
You get results through other people. You achieve your goals through other people. You get what you want through the people you surround yourself with. These people become your team. If you are not the best you, you are likely surrounded by people who are limiting you.
Your employer, your customers, your clients, your suppliers, your colleagues, and your friends, are part of your team. These people are your partners, whether you know it or not.
Are they the best people for the goals you have?
Are they the right people to help you get to where you are going?
Are they the best team for the mission you have for your life?
Yes, they are cute. Yes, they are lovely. Yes, they are adorable. And yes, they help pay your bills. Cute, lovely and adorable is good. Getting paid is cool. It’s not enough to help you become who you want to be. It’s not enough to achieve your goals. It’s not enough to create your best life. You need the best people around you. You need the best team. You need your ideal partners.
I am not suggesting that you cut people from your life. I am suggesting you raise your standards of what you expect for yourself and from yourself. I am suggesting you get a personal coach.
The best personal coaching gives you more confidence and allows you to operate more efficiently. The right personal coach gives you more mental strength, clarity and consistency.
Do you want to become more effective in your career and in your life?
Do you want to take control of your career, the right way?
Get a personal coach so you can start building the right team and surrounding yourself with the best people.
If you are ready for more at work and in your career and want help building the joyful, passionate, and profitable career you deserve, book a free consultation call with me. You’ll know how it feels to build your career differently and pursue the right goals. You’ll stop wasting your time on people who don’t value you or people you can’t make a difference to.