3 Most Important Mistakes to Avoid BEFORE Creating Your Encore Career
So what exactly is an encore career? In a nutshell,
it's a new stage of work, post-retirement, that’s purposeful,
meaningful, and joyful. It's work on your own terms. Work that matters.
Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and get started creating your
“ideal” encore career?
Before getting into the nuts and bolts of the process, there’s internal
work to be done—work that will assure you end up doing what you really
want to be doing. Not to worry if financially you need to get a job now.
That doesn’t preclude you from embarking on the journey while you’re
working.
Mistake #1: Failing to Follow Your Heart's Desire
Think about how you’ve gone about navigating your career in the past.
What percentage of the time were you looking outside yourself for the
answer to what was next? How often did you take the path of least
resistance or do what was expected of you, rather than following your
heart to what you really wanted to be doing?
This time can be different. But, only if you’re willing to put the
external tasks of creating your ideal encore career on hold while you
take a look inside yourself and discover what’s in your heart. You might
want to use my example to guide you.
Type “A” personality that I was, I flew into my first “retirement”
giving myself five weeks between my career as a television and special
events producer and the beginning of what I thought should be my encore
career.
Now, while I enjoyed the work that I did, and I was really good at it,
it wasn’t what I really wanted to be doing. I didn’t know that at the
time, because I flung myself into my next career as a documentary film
producer. It wasn’t what I was being called to do; it just seemed to be
the next logical step, and what everyone said I’d be great at.
It took about six weeks for me to hit the brick wall and realize that
documentaries weren’t “it” for me. Next, I leaped into becoming a
financial wizard, fired our financial advisor, and took over our entire
family’s finances. Don’t ask me what I was thinking. Finance is about as
far away from what my heart desired as I could get. But, again I was
grasping at whatever seemed like a good idea at the time, instead of
slowing down, taking a look inside, and discovering what I really
wanted.
Mistake #2: Designing Your Career Before Designing Your Life
Finally, after hitting several more painful, proverbial brick walls, I
hired a terrific life coach who helped me design the life I wanted to be
living, and then create work that fit in with that life. Always before,
I would create the work, and then try to squeeze some life in around the
edges.
Mistake #3: Ignoring Your Values
Through a series of reflective processes, I discovered the “real” me: my
values, my dreams, and my desires. I learned that just because I was
good at something didn’t mean I should be doing it, and that I really
wanted to enjoy the freedom having my own business would afford.
Happily, coaching and speaking ended up being the perfect encore career
for my wonderful encore life.
I’ve never been happier.
Once I knew in my heart what I wanted to do, it was so much easier to
create a nuts-and-bolts plan to get me where I wanted to go. Don't make
the same mistakes I made in creating my encore career. Take an adequate
amount of time to get out of your head and into your heart. Without this
all-important step, you'll be wasting your precious time.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Encore Career Coach
Coach Lin Schreiber, author of the popular ABC's of Revolutionizing
Retirement, helps self-reliant women reinvent themselves in the next
stage of life, formerly known as "retirement," by designing a new encore
life that includes a fulfilling
encore
career. To claim your free Encore Career Starter Kit,
visit her site at =====>
http://www.EncoreCareerStarterKit.com
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