I am having a hard time calling what I do now “work”.

For 15 years of my life work meant receiving and sending a truly huge amount of emails every day, solving a really high number of issues varying in size from small to significant, having conference calls with people and groups within a multinational organization, exchanging piles of information around products & processes & projects, convincing or instructing people about how we will do things, sitting in meetings, and generally playing the game according to a defined framework. Fulfillment came from the actual numbers: x amount of emails read and acted upon, y amount of problems solved, z number of projects pushed forward or completed, x new products out in the markets, and the occasional tap on the shoulder from my management.

As a personal coach my job now is to support people in a defined way, however I also spend an awful lot of time reading and educating myself, building a professional network, seeking inspiration to be able to inspire others, participating in various professional networks and organizations, reading and writing articles to grow my social media presence, planning and holding workshops, seeking out new opportunities and partnerships that are aligned with my vision and values. A lot of this is actually done through THINKING and BEING, literally. Thinking about stuff and allowing new ideas to pop up randomly, and then letting them ‘cook’ before eventually sitting down to carve them out on paper and working on articulating them into a product that is sellable. I now find fulfillment in seeing my clients go through a transformation, articulating my thoughts and experiences “out loud” in writing in the hope that it will inspire others, finding new ways and ideas to grow my range and presence as a coach. The process itself is fulfilling and the result is only a tool to create further process.

You see how different the two manifestations of “work” are? Transitioning from one manifestation to the other is a great deal, it means a full paradigm shift that will impact everything in my life: the way I live every single day from waking up in the morning to going to bed, the way I handle financials, the way I feel and act about work-life balance, the way I spend my time and how I see my social relationships, the way I define and live by my inner leader.

How do I not get lost in this transition? How do I not cave under the pressure of doubt and fear that things may not be working out? How do I not spend too much time on Netflix? How do I measure my work? How do I motivate myself to achievement when there is no structure around me and nobody to say “+10% is this year’s can do target”?

What are the building blocks of my life’s transformation?

#1 Have a strong stake and sense of purpose, in other words know my WHY!

#2 Practice simple things such as gratitude, setting intentions, law of attraction.

#3 Feed the field that in return feeds and supports me with inspiration and vision.

#4 Develop a structure that works for me.

#5 Continuous self-reflection.

What I love most about the process of my transitioning is the amazing consciousness with which I catch myself seeing the process clearly from within as if I were on the outside. I have no better words to describe this almost overwhelming sense of awareness, which leads me into feeling, thinking and saying things like:

‘I feel the first phase of my transition has almost come to an end. I sense a new phase coming that is full of buzz, energy, and everything I have built and worked for so far is about to multiply.’ 

I believe this is when one senses the emerging future.

What is it that worked for you in your transition? To comment please visit my facebook page, I’d love to hear from you.

For a fresh perspective on work-life balance, that is currently actually shifting the paradigm of the framework we use to define ‘work’ and ‘life’, read this article by John Coleman.

Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash