Guest Blog: Career Renovation with Louise Neil
October is Guest Blog Month!
Recently, I sat down with my Canadian friend, fellow podcaster and career renovation specialist, Louise Neil. We discussed ways to take care of yourself and to keep moving forward as you navigate your career. Hear what she had to say below!
1. What would you tell a client who feels stuck in a career that is not making them happy?
Stop. Take a breath. And know this place you are in is not permanent. It is temporary and you have the resources to move from this place. And just because you aren’t happy right now, it doesn’t mean you weren’t ever happy. All the training, money and education you have has not been wasted. It’s time to remodel a career that doesn’t fit you anymore, much like we remodel a house. It just time for something that fits who you are, not who you were. You don’t start over, you just start.
2. How do you encourage your clients to include themselves and their self care when it comes to choosing a new path or adjusting the path they are on?
Self care is so important when you are discovering a new path. It can take time and energy to find your way and there is a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to overcoming obstacles and unpacking old stories. There is time in the day to do the actionable things like crafting a crucial conversation, researching a new industry, or applying for a promotion or new job. We can often forget to put time in our day to look after ourselves. When you aren’t looking after you energy, it’s really hard to put your best foot forward when you want to move forward. Find the self-care routine that works for you and make yourself a priority. I like to think of it as energy in and energy out – and when you are stepping out of your comfort zone, you require a lot more energy so make sure your filling the tank. Eat well. Sleep well. Move more.
3. How do you help a client to keep moving forward in their career?
Everyone moves at a different pace and has different obstacles and road blocks. The key to continuing to move forward in your career change is to recognize..it isn’t always forward movement and it isn’t always movement. It is you being in charge of you own intentional choices. Nine times out of ten, the reason you are where you are is because you got on auto-pilot and just drove through your career (and often your life) and now you wonder where you are and what you’re doing. The key is to stay present and know where you’re headed.
4. How can you help a client work on a holistic approach to their career?
There are many things we often don’t think about when we are looking to change careers or looking to up our game and get a promotion. Talking about what you want and what you are doing with supportive friends and family can provide you with that stability you are going to need. It’s a roller coaster so you want to be prepared. Consider all your relationships. Your Important people. Yourself. Your money. Your relationship with time. Your relationship with your health. What are your values and is this move bring more of what’s important to you into your life? If you aren’t looking at the whole picture, it’s going to be really hard to get the puzzle pieces to fit.
5. What are a few tools that you provide your clients in navigating their career?
The actual tools vary because we all come at this from a different starting place with a different perspective and with different skills and strengths. My programs are personalized to each individual but the framework we follow are (ironically enough) the TOOLS framework. Of course, as a Career Renovation Specialist and Leadership Redevelopment coach, I want to make sure each person has the tools (and knows how to use them) to get where they want to go.
T – Take the time to connect – Clarify what it means to you and what is important. What is it you are really going after.
O – Open up and reveal – Getting to the core of your strengths and skills to discover your resources and what you might need to reinforce.
O – Optimize the Design – Crafting clear goals and vision and a blueprint to get you there.
L – Land the plan and take action – Taking what you know and applying it – start doing and seeing results.
S – Set-up for future success – This isn’t a one and done. Knowing how to be flexible sets you up for continued success.
About Louise:
A career renovation is no different than a home renovation...sometimes it takes a bit to get started and seems like you plan way too long and spin in circles wondering where to start. Then you get to this place that’s the messy middle where you can’t see what it used to be and you can’t quite see how it’s going to end up. Then at last, there is the end...when you can stand back and pause for a minute and say, “Holy crap!! Look what I did??” Finding work that fits and feels good isn’t easy but when you are focused and connected to what it is that you want most, it is full of rewards that you never would have imagined. With an individual, made-just-for-you plan, your renovation can go smoothly and you end up with something your can be proud of creating.
You can find Louise at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-neil/
email: louise@louiseneil.com