I was thinking yesterday about my career and which part of it had been by luck or by design.

It got me to reflect back on what I wanted to do when I grew up as a child and in all honesty I had no idea…. it wasn’t even something like a teacher or a fireman. There was nothing……

 It felt like I’m almost missing something because I didn’t have a big dream or goal to work towards.

School and university were things I did because everyone else did. I never questioned not doing a-levels and a degree as there was never any other thought into a different option.

My degree was in event management, not something I had great passion for and the best thing that came out of it was the friends I made.

When I had to find my first job my first thought was ‘working in sport might be fun and I might even get a nice boyfriend’ 😂 I mean…. seriously!!

Career by Luck

I got a lucky break and one of my few letters to local sports clubs got answered and I ended up working at Northants Cricket. First in conference and events and then in marketing and pr.

I ended up working in cricket for about 13yrs and I can safely say it was a lot of fun. I met some amazing people, got to be a part of some incredible events and experiences and thoroughly enjoyed myself… but I had never really planned any of it, apart from my first ever thought about working in sport, the rest just kind of happened.

Then the realisation that even though my career was successful and fun it still felt like there was something missing. I had no idea what was missing but I just knew something was.

This experience hit me quite hard and I’m not going to pretend that suddenly I knew what I needed and changed everything….

No no no

Firstly I ignored the feeling, drank more Sauv and partied a bit harder.

Then I dipped my toe into a bit of research around life coaching and whether that was for me…. way to scary, run away and ignore the feelings…

I did end up doing a crystal healing course to try and tap into my heart centre which was a great starting point…but that was all…. it didn’t go anywhere.

Fast forward 5 years and a number of seismic shifts in life including a move to the other side of the world and once again I started looking into doing something different.

You want to know the only thing I did differently this time…. talk to someone about it.

I was lucky that the someone I spoke to was my (not and the time but is now) husband who simply told me to go for, not to worry about the cost as he would stick it on his credit card and to start ASAP….

Career by Design

My career now is very much by design. I’ve done lots of personal development, I’ve invested a lot in myself, worked with coaches, done online courses, talked people, found a mentor and I now feel like I’m on the right path.

I guess what I’m saying is that a career by luck/accident can be heaps of fun, you can do amazing things, and have a fab life.

But when you actually take the time to understand yourself better and design your career around what’s really important, your core values and in alignment with your greater purposes it somehow just feels more ‘right’

It’s like when you are wearing exactly the right size shoes. The path isn’t always easy, there are ups and downs, winding and wiggling, smooth and rocky bits, but you know you can keep going because your base is strong.

If you want to find out more about creating a career by design, contact me today or join my Facebook group, Flourish – supporting women in career, business and wellbeing.

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