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All right - I'm all about clarity. It is all over what I do.
One aspect of my work with others is that this clarity is more than simply picking a job you can tolerate or an interesting major that will pay off. No, the clarity I provide is a roadmap for the rest of your life.
The more I work with others late in their careers, the more I run into people who feel stuck in their current roles and want out. I am not working with people chasing paychecks, promotions, titles, or prestige. I am working with people who want their work to make a difference. I am working with creative people who feel mismatched in their positions. I am working with people who did not end up where they thought they would be.
What is great is that they are asking for help! However, they all think the answer is hiding in the job market or returning to school. The reality is it is not. You see, most issues that come up when we struggle with being down about our life, whether in everyday existence or our career journey, come down to a misalignment with who we are. This experience is what clarity actually means. It is understanding who YOU are and designing your life around that person.
So many people come to me lost in the overwhelming possibility of opportunity before them. They are ready to find answers in new job titles or new companies, and they are surprised when the first thing I do with them is ask them to turn inward. What are your values? What is your personality? What fills you with a sense of joy even if you don't think you can make money from it? Carl Jung referred to this as Shadow Work or looking at the parts of us we have either decided to push down or forgot were there.
The first step in this work to find clarity always results in an amazing, eye-opening experience for everyone I work with, no matter their age. Through the Myers-Briggs assessment, I start going over what their strengths actually mean, and you can see the excitement on their faces. I will dive into a personal values assessment, and they will realize that they had something there all along that they could have used as a guide. When we break out the Enneagram and talk about motivations and behavior, they feel seen and understood. We look at character strengths, and they suddenly understand that their value in the world is more than what a paycheck says they are worth. We dive into personal strengths, and they realize there is a place in the world for what they thought was a quirk. Or I guide them through the Simon Sinek exercise, and they come back blown away by the strengths others see in them.
This experience is clarity. It is understanding who we are and using that self-knowledge to inform our decision-making processes. It is a framework that guides you through life because it is you. It is also amazing because it is not a one-and-done process for a current decision. The clarity we discover guides us through every step of our lives. When something feels out of place, we return to our self-knowledge and use it to guide our decisions. Knowing this, my work boils down to two things - helping others realize who they are and then giving them permission to use that to guide their lives. It is pretty awesome.
Thanks for stopping by today. This work gets me so excited! Ugh!
We'll talk to you again soon.
With love,
Tom Chapman, TruePath Discovery Coaching
From Overwhelmed to Empowered: The Science of Making Great Career Decisions
But I'm An Ambivert! Clearing Up The Introvert/Extrovert Confusion
Setting Yourself Apart: Developing and Tapping Into Your Creativity
Career Decision Model: Setting Yourself Up For Great Life Decisions
Career Decision Model: Setting Yourself Up For Great Life Decisions
clarity school career
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