Guest Blogger: Rebecca writes about making changes

Meet Rebecca Martin, the founder and CEO of dear jane Inc., a career services company. Her mission isn’t simply to get people hired but to help them discover their calling and turn it into a career they can be passionate about. She has helped newcomers to retirees find meaningful work and has coached successful business owners through career-changing transitions.

  

Hope Springs Eternal!

A Time to Rediscover, Renew & Change

Do you ever stop and take an inventory of your life? Or are you on auto pilot? We rarely step back and reflect on how we operate in our daily lives.

We just keep plugging away and sometimes wake after five years and ask ourselves, “Who am I? What am I doing with my life and career?” Sometimes we might even ask ourselves, “Do I even like my life?”

We can get into a rut, and lose our passion and joy.   

I recommend to all my clients to rediscover their passion and joy. How to do this? By conducting an assessment about what they like and dislike about their jobs, careers, relationships and lives. Once they find this out, they can make changes and get themselves back on the right track. 

If someone wants to improve a skill, change a negative behavior pattern, or just get another job, this exercise will also help them get back on track. 

It’s your turn.

Take a moment to think about what you like and dislike about your current relationships, job, career or even your life in general. Now, imagine YOU are the BOSS of your own life. How can you change your dislikes into likes? What are the next steps you have to take in order to make those changes? 

 

Once you define what you need to do to make the changes in your life, CAN YOU?

Let’s talk about what motivates people to change.

It could be a number of things. Everyone is different. 

However, in general there are two things that motivate people to change.

1) You’re either in a lot of pain and/or fear.

2) You’re passionate about a goal and have a vision about doing something.

Most people don’t make changes easily; they usually go along with the status quo.

Change can be challenging! Stepping outside of your comfort zone and standing outside of the crowd isn’t always easy. But if you want to be true to yourself, you have to!

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD!

Individuals feel that they can’t make changes because it comes down to taking care of their basic needs: food, water and shelter. It’s overwhelming just to take care of the basics, so they ask how they can do more. Some people feel trapped in their lives because of their responsibilities, i.e., paying the mortgage or rent, taking care of children or spouses, or taking care of elderly parents.

It is easy to get overwhelmed. Figuring out where to begin to make the changes is sometimes too hard for people.  It’s really an internal struggle. But individuals need to know that they can make changes. 

But how?

They need to imagine themselves in other roles. Open their minds up to other possibilities. For example, if you have been a stay at home mom for the past twenty years, you might not feel like you can go back to school to get your teaching credential. Or you might feel that if you have been a Realtor your entire life that you are meant to stay in that profession until you retire. This is not true.

“All meaningful and lasting change starts first in your imagination and then works its way out. Imagination is more important than knowledge.” 

Albert Einstein

Learning to daydream is so important. Don’t give up on your own dreams. 

Take the first step.  Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. 

Satisfaction and joy come to those people who figure out who they really are (their true selves) and not who they project themselves to be (their ideal personality, which puts a lot of stress on the individual). Find out about WHO YOU REALLY ARE. 

Life is a Marathon.

Think about a marathon. It is a grueling, 26.2-mile race. It takes a lot of preparation and work, and most people cannot run a marathon at a sprint pace. It is slow and challenging, but really owning it is a rewarding experience. Just think about all those months of preparation, and then the final moment of crossing the finish line.

Life is a marathon. It’s challenging at times. Gaining control one day at a time in your life is so important so that you, too, can cross a rewarding finish line.  Let’s say you are ready to look in your new field of vision, about yourself. Focus on are your core competencies, skills, personality traits, core values, aptitudes, etc.

Build a Foundation based on your core values, i.e. family, security, challenges, and lifestyle. 

In a world of constant change, building a foundation based on your core values is more important than ever.

“In this era of dramatic change, we’re hit from all sides with lopsided perspectives that urge us to hold nothing sacred, to fight chaos with chaos, to battle a crazy world with total, unfettered craziness. Everybody knows that the transformations facing us—social, political, technological, economic—render obsolete the lessons of the past.”

Jim Collins, Author

Change Is a Choice.

The secret to an innovative life and career is to first recognize that you are in control of your destiny! You are the master of your ship. You are making the decisions, and no one else is in charge of You! Isn’t that refreshing? You are in the driver’s seat. 

Accept a new way of life for you. Accept that change is inevitable. Set new goals. Believe that CHANGE EQUALS OPPORTUNITY.

Change doesn’t have to be a crisis. 

However, some of us may go through change and some of us may see it as a crisis, but I can guarantee you it will be for the betterment of you and your life. 

You Have to Let Go to Change.

As human beings, we have all feared change as negative.  Just like the earth revolves around the sun, just as humans continue to evolve, it is part of life.

Just change.

You may think, "I made a change and got this promotion I asked for, and now I am scared and don’t think I can really do the job." Take a breath. It’s ok, it’s part of life, and everyone goes through what you are going through. Give it time, and allow change to come into your life.

Amazing things will happen when you welcome change.

Change is an opportunity for growth. Everyone I have ever worked with has told me that it might have taken them three, six or nine months, or maybe even years, to overcome the fear, anger or resentment that came with changing. But they pressed on anyway. And whatever the obstacle or adversity they faced while changing, in the end it was the best thing that ever happened to them.

Hope for a better way, which leads to change which leads to excitement and growth. 

Enjoy your new journey!

Rebecca Jane Martin, CDF

Catch up with Rebecca at Dear Jane Inc. www.dearjane.info

Visit my Guest Blogger Page to get to know all my blogging friends!

 

Happy Running!