How Do You Step Off The Work-For-Money, Never-Good-Enough, Confidence-Killing, Office-Life Treadmill?

Do you ever wake up feeling exhausted before the day starts, and wondering how on earth you will be able to muster up the strength to tackle your ever-growing to-do list?

Is stress piling high as you reach for elusive (and frankly unrealistic) goals?

Are you afraid of losing the income if you consider other work possibilities?

And what about the SUNDAY NIGHT DREAD of having to do it all over again after a small break called Saturday?

What happened to that time long ago when you knew you were good at your work and received great feedback from clients, colleagues and your boss?

Today, it doesn’t seem to matter how hard you work; it is never enough.

With your sliding confidence and your increasing exhaustion, you wonder how you could ever step off this hamster wheel into a life worth living.

But I am here to tell you that there is hope.  It is possible to break the cycle and step into a new life where you are free, confident and look forward to showing up at work.

Here are three tips to get you started:

ONE.  Start with the end in mind and ask yourself: What would a life free of regret look like for you?

No one wants to get to the end of their life and have regrets.  

Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, recorded the most common regrets of the dying:

• I wish I’d dared to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 
• I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. 
• I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings. 
• I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
• I wish I had let myself be happier.

A great motivator for making changes to your current situation is to consider the cost of keeping things the way they are.

TWO. Write down in a sentence what you want for your life and share it with a trusted friend.

This is an essential step because it forces you to start getting clear about your goal.  

Until you own your desire, it will be challenging to make the changes to attain it.

Write it down.  

It could be:

• I want to have my own business.  
• I want to be an actor.  
• I want to create unforgettable experiences for other people.
• I want to live in Australia.  
• I want to find work with purpose.

Suspend the how for now.  

And then tell one person.   Something powerful happens when we say out loud what we want.  

We start to own it.  

Our mind starts to work subconsciously towards the how, and before we know it, unexplained things begin to move us towards what we want.

I often witness this with my clients.  I know that if I can encourage them to say it out loud, that is one BIG STEP in the right direction.

One client, Joanna, was working in the civil service and desperately wanted to leave and do something abroad.  She told me in her first session that she wanted to go within six months. So we decided to pencil that date in her diary, and yes, you guessed it, she left her job within three days of that date!

THREE. Find the person or people who can help you get there.

Every hero has a guide.

There are people who have been where you are and have successfully made the change.

Find them and discover how they did it.  

Put to one side your pride, how much it will cost, or anything else that is stopping you and just start researching what you would need if you had the resources.  You’ll be surprised by what help comes.

When I wanted to give my career dream one last shot in 2011, I was in a confidence-killing role as an organisational development director.  I reached out to a coach I knew, not knowing how I could pay for his services.  By the end of our conversation, I was fired up enough to go out and get my first client to pay for my first session, and it was from that moment that my coaching business began.  I have never looked back.  

Even the smallest steps can get the ball rolling…

I see it time and time again. When people who are working too hard for too long hop on a call with me and ponder these items, you can see their whole being come alive:

Start with the end in mind by considering what a life free of regret would be like for you. Seriously ponder this. 

Get clear about what you want and say it out loud to a friend who you trust.

Then start the journey by exploring who could help you get there.

Before you know it, you will find the wheels are in motion, momentum is growing, and you are on your way to a fulfilling life, free of regret.

Do you feel trapped on the treadmill of pointless activity?  Has your confidence taken a hit?  Is jumping off just too daunting?

I feel your pain.  I remember it like yesterday.  I would have done anything to have someone by my side, hand-holding me through the process of making the break. But, as someone who has managed it and now lives the life I wanted all those years ago, I love to do the same for others.

If you need help to get off the hamster wheel, why not drop me a line, and let’s work out a plan to get the confident you back.

Private message me or visit MarianneWelshCoaching.com.