How a little niggle led to great things

When do you feel most alive?

Take a moment to process this. Does your career make you feel like you want to catch on fire? If not think about:

• What you’re denying yourself.
• What you’re denying the world.

We’ve been taught that it’s OK to just be OK. Adrift on the prevailing wind, we’re happy to keep our heads down and carry on like everyone else.

But something just doesn’t feel right.

Where are you now?

On track for making partner with a City law firm, Steph was living a story of success. Earning great money, and working with prestigious clients she had a fantastic team behind her and a glittering future ahead.

But she was frustrated. Her demanding but financially rewarding work grated against her principles. A niggle that wouldn’t go away, it was draining and confusing her – after all, she’d chosen this career path and invested years of blood sweat and tears into it.

She began to question whether her skills and insight could be used in a more expansive way to change lives and even transform the system.

It’s something I see all the time. The mental and emotional loops that we get stuck in because we’ve grown up through an establishment. Promotion after promotion takes us through a world that becomes comfortable and familiar. It’s all we’ve ever known.

It’s safe but it’s stifling.

Does this sound familiar?

Can you even see where you want to go?

Steph now has a reputation for shaking up the world of private wealth. Armed with radical ideas that have inspired her she talks to some of the world’s wealthiest about equity, fairness and taking care of the planet. She asks awkward questions about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

She asks why our economic systems don’t work for everyone.

This isn’t empty talk. She brings the weight of her career with her but now she’s also armed with her passions and heart’s desire.

These are not things that she saw herself doing at the start of her coaching journey. She had wild, radical seeds of ideas with no clue of how she was going to enact them. They are ideas that have the potential to change the world.

What concepts do you have burning a hole in your head? What do you wish would change if only you could get the shackles off your feet? What issue seems close to your heart but a world away in terms of solutions?

What would you change?

It starts with discovery

When someone dares you to speak your dream, it’s no longer internal. You bring it into the light, an important first step in its journey to becoming real.

I’m happy that Steph reached out to me for help. Over our sessions, she went from knowing what she didn’t want to developing a picture of what she did. She made space to think, interact and take stock.

By reevaluating her beliefs about abundance, risk-taking and financial security, she figured out how to take on the system that was holding her back. This would end up taking her to some unimaginable places.

We don’t know what we don’t know but until we explore those lines of enquiry how will we get there? I get it. Opening the door can be scary because you don’t know what’s behind it and you’ve no idea whether you can close it again.

What if you knew you had what it takes to deal with both issues with competence? What if you knew you could be scared and do it anyway?

It builds momentum

I’m reminded of another client who started her first session with me saying that she was a bit frustrated in her career. By session four she was fully owning how thoroughly bored she was. This is never a trivial matter but she’s in a senior position so think of the impact this must be having on her team and the rest of the organisation.

When you don’t think things can change, resignation sets in. You tolerate it and convince yourself that you can endure it a little bit longer.

You’ve worked your socks off to get to where you are but in the struggle to get to the top, you’ve forgotten why you’re doing it. Your purpose got lost along the way.

Now the prospect of pulling off the sticking plaster is terrifying but when you’ve done it, the feeling is exhilarating.

Before long, your journey takes on a will of its own. Fueled by desire and purpose, it becomes about more than you.

How are you feeling now?

I know you think it’s not for you or you can’t do it.

Well let me tell you, you can.

What bold, audacious ideas are you withholding from the world? What are you keeping under wraps that’s dying to be let out? Those niggling doubts? They’re nudging you, waking you up. Poking you towards greater impact. They’re telling you that you were put here to do something and your challenge is to find out what that is.

So I ask you again, what makes you feel most alive?

At the moment you have no idea who you could be but this might be your first clue.

Let’s go on this journey together. If you have a crazy idea or you’re at the I don’t know what I want but it’s not this stage then please get in touch.

And catch up with Steph’s audacious story on the podcast as we talk about how a little niggle drove her to reach for greater things. Listen here or search ‘Marianne Welsh Unlock More’ on your favourite podcast platform.