“I talked to a friend of mine about his business.”
“I thought about going back to school but I didn’t know for what.”
I do my very best to be understanding. But I want to shake some of my career counseling clients. Many had just finished telling me that they have been unhappy in their careers for years. Yet, they had done – what I view – as next to nothing to change their careers. The career “counselor” part of me is very sympathetic. I know the variety of emotional challenges that freeze people. Thinking about a potentially happier career can, oddly enough, seem more stressful in the short term than staying in an unhappy career. This is strange from an intellectual perspective. But part of our emotional wiring is to desire security. And, staying in place is secure.
The career “coach” part of me feels the need to inspire, energize, push and do whatever I can to ensure that my clients move forward effectively. The aforementioned statements indicate single, semi-random, actions that almost always lead to nowhere. Clients who come to our programs leave with a distinct process to follow. That makes all the difference.