The Two Primary Challenges of Life

“THE TWO PRIMARY challenges of life are to support yourself and to express yourself. When you support yourself you become an adult. When you express yourself you become a person. The ideal, of course, is to combine vocation and avocation, to derive your income from work that you love. In fact, most people seldom try to do this. They get sucked into unsatisfying jobs in order to appease their parents or pay the bills. Once trapped, they never escape—and never become what they might have been.

This is why a job promotion can be a curse, and getting fired a blessing. A promotion will usually increase your responsibility and income but carry you along the same career path, which in many cases is not what you want. A firing, on the other hand, often reflects a deep unconscious desire to quit your job and start living your own life in a truly satisfying role.”


– John Wareham, from The New Secrets of a Corporate Headhunter


Wow! Does that resonate with you as much as it does with me?

If you’ve been thrust smack-dab into a “forced” career transition, it’s not unusual if you feel “cursed” and wish you’d gotten the promotion “blessing” instead. Especially if you are looking into a future that seems to hold nothing but “Scare City” thoughts about how the heck you are going to pay the bills, keep a roof over your head, and hang onto your retirement funds.

But I invite you to shift your focus and consider how getting laid off or fired might truly be a stroke of luck.  If you don’t love what you’ve been doing, where you’ve been doing it, or who you’ve been doing it with, your career transition is exactly what the Doctor (or Universe) ordered to help you escape the rat race.

What if you thought of this as your opportunity to transform your career from one that supports you to survive into one that allows you to express yourself creatively? What if you thought of designing a “second act” or “encore” career that calls you to finally follow your heartsong and live a life of passion and purpose? What might be possible for you from that perspective?


What if you considered that this is the grandest time in history to pursue the Encore Career you dream of…one that combines Passion, Purpose, and a Paycheck ™? Get started exploring by scheduling a complimentary “get acquainted” coaching session. Call Coach Sue at 949-212-4345 or fill out the Contact Form.