Were you ever in love with your career? Do you wonder where your enthusiasm went? Have you felt sad, puzzled, or guilty? When we lose that passion for a career we once loved, we frequently blame ourselves. Am I too demanding? Too fickle?
Probably not!
Recently Laurie Ann Goldman, former CEO of SPANX, spoke in Nashville. Although I didn’t hear her talk, I saw her quote in The Tennessean newspaper.
“Even doing what you love is no guarantee that you will love it forever. You have to keep growing. When you start to realize one vision, it’s time to stretch and start another.” – Laurie Ann Goldman, (former) CEO of SPANX
That’s what Heather Rowan did. Her story was another feature in The Tennessean. Heather is now CEO of Centennial Tri-Star Hospital in Nashville. A large hospital with 2500 employees. She started her career as a bedside nurse, certainly a noble career and one that she loved. She had been inspired as a girl when her father had a heart attack and she saw the critical role nurses played in his recovery and care. There came a time when she wanted to make a bigger impact on patients and moved into nursing leadership positions. Eventually she became interested in management. She pursued additional education, took advantage of opportunities and now here she is – CEO of a large hospital.
Over the years I have worked with more people than I can count. There are people who are searching for work that will turn on their enthusiasm and make their eyes sparkle. They are driven to make a change. Some are deeply unhappy where they are, but many aren’t. They are quietly dissatisfied, wishing they had something more or something different, but what?
I’m talking about people in their 30’s and 40’s. You folks who have had life and work experience and are asking yourselves, Is THIS what I want to be doing, or is it just a means to an end?
It’s the forty-something CEO who’s grown a successful business services company, but who wants to explore writing and speaking. The stockbroker who leaves that to open a gelato store. The landscape designer who trades in the tools of her trade for paint brushes. The commercial painting contractor who becomes a novelist The glamorous model who lived in Paris in her twenties but at thirty-something builds a very successful business importing art pieces from France. The coffee shop owner who launches a singing/recording career. The engineer who enters politics and gets elected! The young investment banker who starts a brewery.
It can happen in any industry. Sometimes it’s a change of roles within the same general field, like Heather Rowen. Sometime a dramatic shift, investment banking for brewing! All the people I mentioned are pursuing what will make them say YIPPEE!
So what keeps people, maybe you, from doing the NEXT thing?
- Not knowing what the next thing is?
- Believing you don’t have choices?
- Underestimating the “cost” of doing something you don’t love.
- Believing that changing direction is too risky.
- Not having a plan to actually get where you want to go.
If you are itching for a change? Longing for something different?
THEN consider coming to Nashville for a Discover Your YIPPEE Retreat!
If you’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, what’s holding you back?
YIPPEE!
Elizabeth