25-Apr-2024

Individuals in Transition

Seven jobs, two careers - in the last decade, this has become the norm. It used to be you had a job for life. Nowadays, that's a rarity.

The world is changing ever more rapidly, and this places increasing burdens on people. Sooner or later every one of us has to change, or become irrelevant. Who wants to be pushed out on the ice, food for the wolves?

At school we were trained for stability, to follow instructions and to work for someone else's goals. It was fine at the time and made some sense - at least we had security. But today all that is gone. Not because everyone wanted things to change. The world simply changed.

No matter why it happened, we must simply accept that the old skill sets are becoming irrelevant. Rightsizing, downsizing, mergers, divestments, market competition, bankruptcies, privatization and the inability of companies to support lifetime employment - all of these are destabilizing our social and economic environment. And they require us to work in ways totally different to before.

Increasingly we are being asked to organize our own lives. Discover what it is that we do well, and turn this into a value proposition. Find out where we fit, and then make sure that we fit with those around us. We must find our own area of brilliance and turn it into something meaningful.

Changing what we do brings many risks and enormous opportunities. Perhaps for the first time ever, you have a chance to do what you really love AND get paid for it. You could even achieve financial freedom and become what you always wanted to be.

For the last twenty years, Chris Lonsdale has been doing what he loves, and getting paid for it. It wasn't easy, especially in the beginning. There were many lessons to learn on the way and new lessons are still being learned. However, all this makes Chris uniquely qualified as a guide for people who have realized that the time has come to make changes, and begin designing their own lives.

CASE STUDY

The situation

John met Chris Lonsdale for lunch one day and spoke of how he was feeling increasingly alienated in his job. He no longer enjoyed what he was doing and his colleagues were beginning to question whether he was adding value. John was in a state of shock because he really loved his job.

He had reached a point where he was seriously thinking about what to do with his life - whether to continue in his job or go off and do something totally different…even becoming a golf pro, a dream of his for many years.

The process

John began intense personal coaching with Chris Lonsdale. The goal was to identify the organizational, intellectual, and emotional drivers that had created John's current situation. Together, they discovered some important insights:

  • Being promoted had taken John away from what he really loved to do, what he was best at - he had fallen victim to the 'Peter Principle.'
  • His dream of becoming a golf pro would conflict with important family commitments.
  • John's disaffection in his job was due in part to a deep rooted emotional pattern making it difficult for him to connect with others.
  • John had little idea what he wanted to create with his life because he had never properly thought about it before.

The process moved to dealing with the underlying emotional patterns, and to helping John identify his true goals in life.

The result

Six months later, John was offered a job with a long term client of his current company. The new position offered a similar salary. More importantly, it matched his idea of a dream job. He moved cities, thereby helping his wife attain one of her dreams as well.

Today he is well on the way to creating his ideal life.

Reached a transition point in your career and interested in professional guidance? The first step is to sign up as a FREE CLA member today.