Welcome to the third installment of the Classy Career Girl Foundations podcast series! Today, we are talking about career fulfillment. What does it feel like? How do you know when you’ve reached it? This is what our mission is here at Classy Career Girl, so this is super important to us.
If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend listening to episodes 1 and episode 2 of our foundations series!
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What Does Career Fulfillment Feel Like?
This is a question I was recently asked on Instagram, and it really gets to the core of what we do here at Classy Career Girl.
It feels like you are doing what you were born to do.
Relief of stress.
Inspired and happy.
Doesn’t feel like work.
You’d do it without getting paid.
Reduced anxiety.
A better, more peaceful life.
Feeling of completeness.
It’s not easy to get there, but it is easy when you find it. (blogging and teaching)
You can do it for hours and hours and not get bored.
Your brain can’t stop thinking about work because it’s so you. You think about it when you are not working. It keeps you up at night (in a good way), and you want to do it on the weekends and in your spare time. Like instead of watching Netflix, you want to work.
Career Fulfillment is For Everyone
Yes, everyone can find this! Not just entrepreneurs. Not only employees. Not just “certain” people. You can find this too!
You HAVE permission to love your job!! You have permission to find your calling and your passion. You don’t have to work for just a paycheck. You don’t have to do something just because others want you to do it. You don’t have to be bored at work. You have permission to find your dream career and be 100% you in your role.
I also didn’t always know what my path was. When I graduated from college, I took the first job. And then I got stuck. I took the major that my counselor said I should take. Even as a business owner, my path has changed a lot. Am I happy? I am constantly asking myself that.
You have permission to change careers! You have permission to change business models. Our world changes so fast these days.
I want to be the person to lead you to your ideal career. I firmly believe there is a purpose and calling for every single person listening. I’ve found my ideal career multiple times, and you can, too.
You have a purpose. You have a calling. You have an ideal career path. There was something you were born to do.
You can get your dream job.
You can love Mondays. You can love your work.
You can launch your dream career.
There’s more to life than a paycheck. There’s more to a career than a paycheck.
I want to encourage you to find fulfillment and start the path of finding your dream career. Your dream career is waiting for you.
What About Failure?
If you have failed before trying to find career fulfillment and happiness, it’s ok!! I failed so many times on my way to get here. I’ve tried the wrong jobs. I’ve tried the wrong business models. I’ve interviewed and been turned away while on the interview.
I once wanted a job and thought it was my dream job, and I was so disappointed when I didn’t get it. I thought my life was over. I’ve been rejected from business schools and colleges. I’ve not gotten the promotion and raise that I thought I should get. I’ve gotten bad feedback on my speaking events. I’ve had to close many courses and membership sites. One of my first entrepreneurial failures was when I pitched a startup idea and didn’t even make the first round. I was gutted. Guess I couldn’t be an entrepreneur.
Wrong! Failure is part of this journey. You will fail!
Maybe you didn’t get your needs met with prior career coaches or online courses you have taken. It’s ok. Blame me! Don’t blame yourself. Take that weight off your shoulders of blaming yourself for being too far behind and not doing anything about your stupid job earlier. It’s not too late. The career coaching industry is changing a lot. It’s not just about resumes and interviews. It goes far deeper than that. Most career coaches aren’t starting at the beginning and helping you figure out the career you were born to do. That’s what I want you to begin with. Forget the resume and forget that online job search. Who loves those yucky applications anyway!
There’s hope for you friend!! I want you to know that. There’s a world of possibility waiting for you and so many jobs open. You might think there are no openings but I am here to tell you there are so many jobs out there just not where you are looking and doing what you are currently doing.
Same with clients. If you are trying to get a biz off the ground, there are so many clients out there waiting for you. Your dream business is waiting for you, your dream clients are waiting for you. People are there to serve you. Hundreds of clients need what you have.
I know you are suspicious that you can find your dream job. I know you are suspicious that you might be able to make your dream career happen. I was suspicious, too, because I needed a paycheck to pay my bills. I never thought I would be able to make as much money as I was making in a corporate job doing something I love. But I realized that I didn’t need to make that much. I worked hard to pay off debt so that I could go part-time and devote my other part-time to learning and growing and chasing a side passion. Now, this was over a span of a few years. It doesn’t happen overnight.
It’s a domino effect of many, many baby steps to get to your dream career. But you can get there just like I did. My dream career has evolved. Initially, it was a professor, and I got there. And then my dream career grew again, and I changed to reach that next growth area. Instead of helping 10 people in my class, I wanted to help 10,000 in my class.
I care. This is the work I am passionate about. And that’s why I am doing this miniseries to go back the beginning. Our mission is helping all women to find career fulfillment. We are not factory workers that show up and do the boring work and go home. We deserve to be paid well and learn at work. We deserve to be respected and encouraged to pursue our strengths and goals at work. We deserve to be challenged and not given stupid jobs.
Now don’t get me wrong. You have to start somewhere! You might have to do stupid jobs to prove that you are an incredible person that should be promoted. We all start somewhere. But there is a dream that you are working for. Don’t stay stuck — at my old job, people had retirement clocks and countdown calculators at their desk. I don’t want to work just to countdown to retirement! Yuck! I want to enjoy my work and life NOW!
I genuinely believe that work and life aren’t separate. Bad job. Bad life. Great job. Great life. Work effects so much of your day to day and personal life. I was miserable in life when I was miserable at work.
Did this episode help you? Do you have questions about career fulfillment or any other topic we’ve covered? I would love to hear your thoughts and answer your questions! Reach out on Instagram!
