People come to me every day feeling stuck and powerless, without the job they love. Every single time, I find that they are living a LIE. The TRUTH is you are trapped in your own thinking and indecision. I call this type of thinking “TOILET BOWL THINKING” because it can make your mind feel like it is spinning and spinning. It is draining and leads to crappy results…(Pun intended).
Here is how it starts…Take note if this sounds familiar. You are not happy in your current career and you have an idea, a vision for what you would like your work life to look like. GREAT! Then, you start to doubt yourself, negative thoughts creep in….You start thinking, re-thinking and over-thinking. You even share your idea and ask other people what they think…Soon your mind is noisily spinning with too many thoughts and you don’t know what to do or which direction to turn. You stop even before you get started, because of the LIE that it isn’t worth the risk or you are not worth the risk….or one hundred other LIES that your brain tells you to keep you comfortable, keep things the same and keep you in familiar, safe territory!
Here are some common “TOILET BOWL THINKING” examples:
“I want a new job, but first I need to lose weight, then I will be ready to put on my best suit and search for that job, or even start my own business. Right now I just don’t look or feel professional; maybe I should join the gym.” Joining the gym is a good idea, but not a direct and DeLiberate step towards a new job.
“If I had the perfect resume, then I could really launch my job search and get somewhere with my career, but my resume is not perfect and that is the first step of a job search. As a matter of fact, there are a couple of sections that I don’t know what to do with at all. One day I will have a perfect resume, but today is not that day.” This is more of a Default mode of operation, where you really don’t have to do anything, but then again you don’t get anything either.
“I would really like a promotion and if my boss really got how hard I worked, he would give me a raise or promotion, right? So, maybe my boss is a jerk or maybe I am not as good as I think I am. I guess there just aren’t any choices at all. I’m stuck.” This is such a great example of relying on assumptions instead of evidence to make a decision to blame someone else or yourself for your current career. Blaming is a great drain on your life and career. You can check out my thoughts about blame here….
There are lots of ways to get stuck! You have just gotten things out of order. We all have a vision and
dreams….but we start thinking backwards….As Larry Winget says, “What I see in my clients who are stuck in a career that they don’t love is ‘TOILET BOWL THINKING’“. Well, guess what?! I am the CAREER PLUMBER. There is nothing I love more than getting a person unstuck, out of their thinking, and moving forward toward TRUE CAREER HAPPINESS in a way that they stay unstuck. Is it scary? Sometimes. Is it worth it? Yes. But I have been through it myself and I will be there with you all the way.
I love helping people rethink, redefine and renew their own success.