Career Joy - Step Three in Aligning Body, Mind, and Work

Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.
- William Shakespeare

Step Three to Achieving Career Joy - Take Inventory

Now that you have spent some time living with the idea that you deserve more out of your job and your career and you committed to giving yourself some time each week to go back to the things you love, you are ready for the next step. Step number three is to take inventory.

Sometimes just the idea of making a change is scary and when you feel overwhelmed it is easy to forget all of the little pieces that could actually make this possible. Fear creates doubt and it clouds your vision so much that you can't see what you have done and even more importantly what you are capable of. Completing an inventory will help you get clear on the state of your life right now and what you need to do to get it where you want to be.

So, I suggest creating an inventory of the 7 key areas of your life: physical, mental, spiritual, social, financial, career, and family/relationships.

The following are some questions to help guide you:

1. On a scale of 1-10 how happy are you with this aspect of your life?

2. What are some recent successes you have had in this area of your life?

3. What have you struggled with in this area of your life?

4. If you could wave a realistic magic wand, how would you like this area of your life to be? How would you want it to feel? To Look?

5. What do you think has gotten in the way or is getting in the way of you getting everything you want in this area of your life?

6. Do you have any sort of plan to get you what you want?

7. How would you feel if you had this aspect of your life exactly how you wanted it?

8. How will you feel if you are in the same position with it 3 months from now? 6 months? a year?

9. What is it worth to you to get everything you want?

10. What support systems are in place to help you get there? If you can't identify one, what could you do to find one?

That should be a start and if you really pay attention, it will take you quite a while to complete your inventory. But, you will be amazed at how much you will learn about yourself if you take the time to do it and how much closer you will feel toward achieving your joy by the time you are finished. Stay tuned next week for step four.