I decided that it was appropriate to write my first blog post about changing career, after all this is where Woofridges begins!
Like many other people I never had a calling in terms of my career path. I can remember the fear I felt when I finished university and realised that I was no clearer about what I wanted to do. The idea of doing one thing for the rest of my life was frightening to me. I like doing lots of different things, I thrive with new challenges, variety and change. I used to tell myself that I would have at least three careers but somewhere along the line that started to feel unrealistic. Life does not feel that simple, especially when you are from London and struggle with the continually rising costs of living. The idea that 10 or even 15 years into a career you decide to start again seems like masochism or maybe simply insanity!
It was about eight or nine years ago that I first considered starting a dog service but brushed it off as an indulgent idea. The real game changer happened when a well respected ex-colleague called Alison McCants asked for volunteers to fulfill the required number of practice hours needed on her life coaching course. Not liking to turn down a free offer, I put myself forward and in the summer of 2016 Alison and myself connected.
On the first session we set out clear objectives of what I wanted to achieve from the process, which would consist of six hourly sessions. The aim was to develop a 12 month career exit strategy but it also fundamentally required that I establish exactly what my new career would look like and in essence actually be! My ideal outcome was to work with animals and to spend more time outdoors being active. This would be a very different path to one I was currently on and therefore, I was skeptical of whether we could achieve this in just six short hours. Especially as I had failed to achieve this goal over many years of self reflection.
Alison is a fantastic active listener, she was able to reflect back to me the thoughts that may have be preventing me from taking steps forward. I was really impressed by the way she would follow up on these observations with activities: thinking about my personal values, helping me to list all the possible jobs that fitted into my initial ideal outcome and building a directional timeline. Alison advised me to read up on organisations such as Careershifters and to watch TED Talks such as Emilie Wapmick’s talk entitled ‘Why some of us don’t have one true calling’ (watch below). These were all extremely helpful and ultimately helped me gain confidence and become open to the possibility of living my life differently.
Alison broke down what I saw as an insurmountable problem into less scary smaller chunks. This allowed me to move past my fears and into an exciting space where moving forward and embracing change was the only choice. I now truly understand the power of coaching, it is a luxury to have the time and space to talk freely and be listened to in such a constructive manner. The kind of self exploration that took place would not have been possible by myself.
People say you should do something you are passionate about and I can truly say, I am and always have been passionate about dogs. I have no expectations of exactly what direction this new career will take but I am excited none the less. My intention is to submerge myself in every aspect to do with our canine friends, I want to learn as much as I possibly can and in an ideal world, I will find myself naturally drawn in a particular direction.
I high recommend Alison, so if you are looking for a life/career coach, you can email Alison on alisonmccants@hotmail.com, or get in contact with me and I will connect you.
A few links to articles/blog posts I found useful:
Career Shifters – Why Focusing On Your Career Is Making Your Career Change Harder – And What To Do Instead
Career Shifters – What To Do When You Want To Do Everything: Could A Portfolio Career Be Right For You?
The Career Psychologist – The Essential 5 Point Checklist Before Embarking on a Portfolio Career