So often we focus on goals that reflect a change we’d like: lose weight, stop smoking, change jobs, plan a vacation. How often is the same degree of planning applied to the very ‘big picture’ concepts, the kind that don’t often come up in conversation? Concepts like: What do you want for yourself, personally? How do you imagine your life’s ‘theme’? How do you shift gears after a lifetime of traveling a comfortable, well-known path? If you’ve reached a ‘fork in the road’ moment, perhaps resulting from the wisdom of age or the results of a severe economy, you’ll find that answering these questions can help. And they’ll help with more than the circumstance of today or the coming months. They represent the kind of thinking and planning that can direct a lifetime of small decisions, making sure we continue to follow our own compass toward a destination and destiny of personal fulfillment, pride and success (however you choose to define that word).

Here’s an example of what I mean. About 20 years ago, I walked away from a truly great job to begin my first entrepreneurial venture. In the months after this change, I noticed a tremendous shift in my sense of self. All the external elements of my former life were gone. The suits, the private office, the secretary and staff, the support employees who handled everything, the paid health insurance and vacations, the expense account meals at great restaurants, the glamor and credibility conferred on me by my famous employer – all gone.

In my new business, I’d traveled a 180-degree departure from my prior career. I was in a new industry in which I had no experience, no influence, no  track record. Now, I thought I’d handled all the right ingredients before making this life-changing shift:

- I knew that my business idea met my analytical side’s criteria for being good

- I knew how to expertly craft my product

- I had 12 year’s excellent business experience as a manager of a multi million-dollar division

- I was secure with my MBA in marketing

Never the less, there were some critical things I didn’t have. It took me a long time to recognize the value of all those environmental and intangible elements I’d left behind – how fundamental they were to my sense of self and how they’d provided a sense of ‘place’ – where I fit in the working world’s hierarchy. I’d never really thought about these things before. As I later understood, professional pride, accomplishment and credibility had been conferred on me with a business card and a title. Where would I find these resources again in a start up with no name recognition?

This experience taught me a lot about transitions. It has since become the common element in thousands of coaching conversations with clients. While we often consider the logistical element of making a change, it’s not the most significant aspect of ensuring a planned change is the right one for us; the one that will enrich our lives rather than cause stress at having left the familiar for the unknown. The facet that’s often left out of our deliberations is self-awareness: understanding our strengths, priorities and the personal needs we must fulfill to know the shift was the right one for us.

Another aspect we tend to ignore when moving on is the environment or context of the situation we’re leaving behind. We often don’t consider these environmental features because we fit into them as much as craft them, almost unconsciously. How you personally respond to the stimulus of a new environment, whether due to a changed job, industry, level of responsibility or authority, or a move to a new community with a different local culture, a different way or pace of interacting – all those things that helped to shape your former familiar day may now be gone.

These sensations and changes can have an enormous impact on how you start to adapt and get comfortable with your new situation. How you feel will control the enthusiasm with which you undertake your new life and will affect your ability to believe this was the right change for you. Obviously then, there’s a huge emotional component that goes into considering and executing a life change. The key is to acknowledge and address the ‘hidden’, intangible elements that are important to us. Include them in your deliberation of ‘what’s next?’ to determine how critical they are as you step toward what’s next in your life.

Posted in life coaching Tagged: creating vision, goal setting, life purpose, life vision, living with purpose, living with vision, vision, visioning