Open the gate to happiness at work-Step 1

OK-now that you have decided to ditch being bitter and twisted as part of your 2010 resolutions/or as result of post Christmas miserable family or holiday experience / or spurred on by a sad and reluctant return to the same old miserable job/workplace- read on to embrace happiness at work-Yes -it does exist and it is possible.You too,can look like little Coco!!( I lie- maybe not as unlined and hopefully with more hair)

The first step is to work out exactly what you want from life.It is time to ask yourself some searching questions- where are you headed ? what sort of life would you like to be leading? where do you want to be in terms of career and life in 2 years, in 5 years?How do you want to be earning your living?

In the coaching trade this is known as a visioning exercise- and always conducted at the the beginning of a coaching program.Before you all switch off ( or blog off is probably the correct term) in resistance to such questions let me remind you that most people put more time and effort into planning their holidays than they do in planning and managing their careers and lives-If you skip the important step of truly examining your goals and dreams you will skip getting anywhere near where you really want to be.

It can be very illuminating,surprising and even comforting to spend some time doing some visioning. One of my 2009 clients rediscovered that he had really deep down and years before life( uni, job,wife,kids,family and self expectations etc ) took over- wanted to be a writer- not the stressed out CE that he was- This does not mean he automatically ditched the 6 figure income and headed for a room of his own to write -but it did spur him to do a creative writing workshop and start write some articles. Another client, reported the following:-

"Thank you for our session yesterday ,Jan. I found the visualisation exercise quite comforting - maybe because there seems to be so much uncertainty in the world at the moment. It made me feel that everything will pan out OK in the long run."

This client discovered from our visioning session that she was doing exactly what she wanted , yet needed to stay brave and focused on her plan, due to the GFC .A very common reality for 2009 clients.

So get out the diary/journal and put on some relaxing music-find your most comfortable spot and wave your magic wand ( your pencil or pen) and write or draw how you want your life to look .There are no constraints ( not yet anyway-reality will be addressed in the next blog) .

What have you come up with?