As a young women, embarking on a career in the early eighties, I had a moment that defined how I approached the next 30 years in the workforce.
I was working with a young woman, who was the same age as myself. Her husband had been diagnosed with cancer and died at the age of 26. Whilst this in itself was tragic, I remember thinking that I always had to be financially independent, in case something similar were to happen to my partner.
This mantra has driven me to become educated and take risks, all whilst raising 3 children.
It hasn’t been easy – the juggling, the head lice, school assignments, an Aspergers son, business traveling, all whilst raising good human beings. I have been lucky, my partner is still with me and we have shared the workload and responsibilities along the way. However, on the days when it was all too hard and I wanted to throw the career towel in, I would go back to why I was doing all of this.
I often reflected on why I pushed myself. It always came back to one thing – I craved my independence; initially financially, but over time this morphed into “identity independence”. The love for my children is over powering, but my need for identity independence has continued to drive me to invest in my career and become an active mentor to many younger people striving to reach their potential.
If you haven’t defined your career mantra, now is the time to do it. Work out what drives you, what is going to be the one thing that will make you get up, put work clothes on and get out the door.
If you don’t have this simple thing sorted, you will give up too easily, lose focus and waiver in the blur of “why?”.
My career mantra is sorted and has served me well for 30+ years; do you know what yours is?
About Pam
Pam Dell is a founding member of the FlexCoach panel of career and executive coaches. She has been on a 30 year journey that encompassed a constant juggle between corporate life and raising 3 children. Her background covers HR, Business, IT, Mentoring, Career coaching, Outplacement consulting, Learning and Development. She coaches people every day to help them be better at what they do, land their dream role, crystalise their goals and achieve their potential. Her passion is seeing people gain confidence to do what they were meant to do (and more!)
You can connect with Pam through her FlexCoach profile here
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