I think one of the biggest career limiters, if not a complete killer, is a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence can come from any number of areas in your life, anything from childhood trauma to an abusive boss, but far be it from me to try to explain your particular situation. The point is that you must attempt to overcome that lack of confidence if you do suffer from it.
There is a country singer named Keith Urban who sings a song called “Who Wouldn’t Want to be Me?” When I first heard the title, I remember thinking how self-centered this guy must be to sing a song so obviously self-congratulating. But, that is not what the lyrics mean, nor is it what I mean with my title.
If you think about all of things in your career for which you can be proud and grateful, you might be able to start the process of over coming some professional lack of confidence. You have educated yourself to become able to be hired. You’ve come to work everyday with as bright as outlook as possible. You are reliable and have accomplished significant things in your career. But, you cannot move up until you feel you are ready to do so. That lack of confidence will affect how others perceive you and your value. People smell fear.
If you have flown much, you might recall that when the flight attendants are giving their pre-flight safety instructions, they tell you how put on your seat belt, where the emergency exits are, and then say something like: “In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above. Place the mask over your nose and mouth and breathe normally. Please put on your own mask before attempting to assist others.”That last line “Please put on your own mask before attempting to assist others” always struck me. It basically means you can’t help anyone if you haven’t taken care of yourself. Interesting concept, don’t you think?
Have ever heard similar statements. How about “no one can love you until you can love yourself”? or “You can’t give away what you don’t have.”
The point is that before you can help anyone, you must take control of your own life. If you have a healthy, positive outlook on life, no matter what your situation, then you will attract that back into your life including the people, places and things that you need!!
Let me know what you think!!!
A Huge Career Success Component
You can’t get or keep your career on track if your home life is unhappy and distracting you; it can shake your self-esteem to the bone and make you hesitate when opportunity knocks. Learn from relationship and marriage counselor and personal coach David Cunningham how to set things right and enjoy doing so at
www.makingherhappy.com and check out his blog at blog.makingherhappy.com.
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Feel free to email me at mike@directyourcareer.com
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