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Opening The Door to Your Future
~~ Terri Levine

Enjoy the Journey

Throughout our lives we continue to make many new discoveries about ourselves and the world. We may find that we change and want different things or our view of the world changes or the world may actually have changed. When faced with a changing healthcare reimbursement system we can experience so many emotions. If we are laid off or our hours, salary and benefits cut or if our colleagues are suffering these things and we see our patients receiving less care, our first reaction may be that the future of our profession is in question. What if we began to view that door as the door of opportunity? The door that we can select and choose and that we have complete control of designing the career that fits who we are now, where we are at now and works with the world? That is an exciting prospect!

When we begin to see what we really want from ourselves and our careers, then we can explore what the world has to offer. Because so much of our lives is spent at work, or thinking about work, or preparing for work, career decisions are one of the most important decisions for us to make. Take this time of change to begin to discover more about yourself and the world around you. This process of self-discovery can be joyful and relieve the stress you are feeling about not being in control of your destiny.

The Journey Begins

The first step is to discover who you are and what you really want to do. Begin thinking about the things you do that bring you delight. What are your favorite hobbies? What would you like to do every day even if no one paid you for it? Your true passion lies in this answer. It may be buried down deep by the things you tell yourself like, "I should be a PT forever – that is what I went to school for".

I give you permission to put these types of myths aside and begin to enjoy finding what you really want to do. So stop telling yourself that your career choice is a life time commitment – it certainly isn't unless you choose it to be. It is also unfair to believe that the career you selected when you were 17 or 20 is the one that fits you and brings you personal fulfillment when you are 30, 40 or 50. What about the message you give yourself when you tell yourself that you should have selected the perfect career that was guaranteed into the future? I don't have a crystal ball and neither do you. You made the best choice at the time, with the information you had. Now you have the opportunity to make another choice if you want to.

The final myth I want you to push aside is the one that says a career is a linear process and an upward process. Is certainly doesn't have to be. What if you were the President of a company and then found you didn't like it? Do you think it is wrong for someone to find it doesn't suit them and take a job further down the ladder? Career satisfaction is personal satisfaction. It is not about moving up the ladder to please others. Begin making yourself happy.

The realities of careers is that opportunity and change is a constant. You can't control it. All you can do is make a long-term commitment to life long learning and understand that change is essential. You can also begin to see that your value and who you are as a person is separate from your career. Paid employment of any type at any level is only one small aspect of your personal fulfillment. It is not your life. Just as there are no guarantees in life there are also no assurances in careers. We are living in a time of tremendous restructuring in the workplace and we can choose to accept this and see our careers as cyclical, sometimes lateral and always evolving but never predictable.

Here are the top messages that will help you keep your career development process in perspective. First, realize that change is constant. As humans we have a wonderful ability to adapt and to keep gaining knowledge. It is up to us to search for and to create our own opportunities. We need to move away from the belief in stable jobs and companies and realize we can continue to evolve.

It is critical that we listen to our own inner voices, hear our own passions and follow our own hearts. Our dreams and our wishes are what brings guidance to our careers. Stating our needs, values, our interests and beliefs and fully realizing them and acknowledging them will allow us to create the vision for where we want to go. It is up to us where to go. We no longer get pulled along.

Embrace the Magic

Embrace the magic of this journey. Every time you listen to your heart, put aside a myth, or make a choice, you are becoming empowered. This is a wonderful journey to be enjoyed. You now have the opportunity to really get to know the "you" inside. The one that has a vision but wasn't willing to share it because of the myths that were believed. This is the time to remember how to dream and how to use your creativity to fulfill tour vision.

As you take this journey, open your eyes and your heart to your assets and search for how they can transfer to a career that you love. The goal of the journey is find the work you love and love the work you do so that doing it is something you would choose even without a pay check. Instead of feeling helpless and finning it difficult to accept what the present has become, take control and then assure yourself that change is a way of learning and of taking responsibility for learning. The message is that we need to be aware and we need to be ready for change. It is up to you to take action and to move yourself forward.

During this journey, reach out and ask for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness but a sign of inner strength. Seek new resources, make new contacts and use them. You have many allies in your life. If you need help with the tools and strategies for making the career journey, seek the help of a career coach to help you create the initiative.

Work Yourself Happy

Finding a career that matches your own personal interests and abilities is a wonderful process. When one knows themselves and understands their own interest, values, needs and abilities, then work becomes a way to express yourself and offer yourself to the world. It becomes a way to share your interests and your talents. While you now realized that your interests and skills can change over time, you can now begin to understand that when they do you can move on to another occupation that will again fulfill you. If work is not about a job but about doing something that makes you happy, then it is easy to understand that having different careers over the course of a lifetime is perfectly acceptable.

When you went to PT school had you considered your interests, abilities, and values? Did you explore the alternatives thoroughly? Many times people come to a career coach with out knowing how or why they ended up in a given career or unaware of what to do when their field changes or they change. If your goal is to be happy doing what you enjoy and work is just one way of expressing yourself, then you will expect work to be a place and wonderful, exciting place where you can be happy.

Begin living your life and not the one that has been expected of you. Do the work that matches your values and the work that brings you energy and fulfillment. People who work happy are people who are drawn to their work naturally. It brings them delight and they have enthusiasm for what they do. Don't just let your fantasies slip away...open the door... discover the journey.... your interests and skills can change over time, you can now begin to understand that when they do you can move on to another occupation that will again fulfill you. If work is not about a job but about doing something that makes you happy, then it is easy to understand that having different careers over the course of a lifetime is perfectly acceptable.

When you went to PT school had you considered your interests, abilities, and values? Did you explore the alternatives thoroughly? Many times people come to a career coach with out knowing how or why they ended up in a given career or unaware of what to do when their field changes or they change. If your goal is to be happy doing what you enjoy and work is just one way of expressing yourself, then you will expect work to be a place and wonderful, exciting place where you can be happy.

Begin living your life and not the one that has been expected of you. Do the work that matches your values and the work that brings you energy and fulfillment. People who work happy are people who are drawn to their work naturally. It brings them delight and they have enthusiasm for what they do. Don't just let your fantasies slip away... open the door... discover the journey... embrace the magic and work yourself happy.

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Author info:
Terri Levine, The Guru of Coaching SM, Ph.D., MCC, is the best selling author of several books including the international bestseller Work Yourself Happy, Coaching for an Extraordinary Life, Create Your Ideal Body, the international bestseller Stop Managing, Start Coaching! and her newly released book The Successful Coach co-authored with Larina Kase and Joe Vitale was just released by Wiley. She is the founder the international coach training program: The Coaching Institute, www.CoachInstitute.com. She can be contacted through the web at www.CoachInstitute.com/contactus.html or by phone 877-401-6165.