The Career Life Coaching Newsletter

Greetings! It has been a very long winter here in Wisconsin. It's April and just last week we still had a bit of snow in the yard. I feel like my inner writer has been hibernating since fall (co-incidentally the last time I sent you a newsletter…hope you had a nice holiday season). The thaw has begun and I am sensing the newness and rejuvenation that spring brings with the budding of the trees and greening of the landscape. So here goes-

Easter weekend I found myself remembering my children at 3 and 5 excitedly exploring the house for the colorful eggs and other goodies (plastic wind-up chicks, jelly beans in pink plastic wrap and the like) left by the elusive bunny. I loved watching the kids dash from place to place excitedly shrieking with glee when their moving a curtain or a couch cushion produced a discovery to add to their baskets. The joy in their little faces at uncovering an unexpected goodie was truly a wondrous thing. Once the more obvious eggs had been located, the process evolved into a more serious hunt. My son would diligently follow our suggestions to check behind the door or look into the pots of the plants on the window ledge. He was most proud of the eggs he discovered quite on his own however.

Finding one's authentic vocation is sort of like an Easter egg hunt. First you look at your most notable skills, your educational achievements, and your experience. Package these up into a resume and float it out on the internet and viola' the perfect job appears! (Or more likely NOT) If we are inventive, sometimes we craft the resume to qualify us for a position we think we want and if we are lucky enough to get an interview, we try to impress the interviewer and express how well we would fit into the job/company/culture. This is the popular method most people adhere to in contemporary American society.

Let's look at this from another perspective. Instead of searching for eggs, we search for insight as to how our particular package of gifts and abilities might benefit others. What talents do you possess that the world needs? We often discount our knacks, things that come easily to us as not being marketable skills. Do you have a green thumb with plants? Are you creative in the kitchen? Do you tinker with cars or motorcycles on the weekends? Are you a movie buff that enjoys critiquing new films? How might your interests (in which your talents are often demonstrated) be applicable to the workplace?

The challenge is to first identify your unique package of goodies-the basket full of treasures that is YOU. There are lots of assessments, exercises and workbooks you can engage in to gather this information. That is like discovering the obvious eggs. Friends and family are usually brimming with suggestions about what jobs they think you should do or what careers you should pursue. These are less obvious eggs-sometimes others recognize talents in us that we do not see. Think about the last time someone paid you a compliment. Did you dismiss the moment with a shrug? Did you feel embarrassed? Or did you thank the person and acknowledge the compliment as an affirmation that you possess a particular gift? We miss clues to our talents all the time.
Do a little excavation work and see what glorious gems are hiding inside YOU.

Traditionally, we look externally to determine our vocational path asking questions like: "which jobs pay the most?", "where are there openings?" and "who do I know that can get me in the door?" There is another approach: looking at career development from the inside out. Consider these questions: "What gifts and talents do I possess and how can they be of service to the world?" "Do I have a life purpose or destiny to fulfill?" "Is the universe nudging me toward my true calling and am I just missing the signals?"

This is an introduction to an upcoming program, Developing Your True Calling. Stay tuned for details!

Presented by Dee Relyea, M.Ed, Career Life Coaching, Madison, WI

Dee has 20+ years in the employment field. Her background includes career and personal counseling, interviewing and recruiting for the staffing industry, labor market and occupational research, managing employment and training programs for non-profit organizations, and providing career transition services. She has a Masters degree in Counseling and is a qualified administrator of the Myers Briggs Type Inventory® (based on Jung's theories).

Dee encompasses both Eastern wisdom traditions and contemporary American career development methods in her coaching. She has trained with Rick Jarrow, Ph.d, who uses the chakra system as a model to examine right livelihood and draws from Laurence Boldt's Zen and the Art of Making a Living. In addition to her private practice, she works part time at the Small Business Development Center at the UW-Madison helping entrepreneurs turn their dreams into business.