How to Find Work that You LOVE

It might feel unrealistic at first, figuring out how to find work you love. Especially if you’re secure and comfortable in your current job. Finding work that feels purposeful and impactful might feel like a luxury or unrealistic; particularly for someone that just relocated to a new country (and culture) without a network.

But there’s a nagging. I know this nagging first-hand. It says things like, “You can do more than this, you have big potential, you aren’t using all of your talents, you aren’t being recognized for all of your hard work and, YOU AREN’T HAPPY!” You’d think the nagging would get quieter the longer you ignored it. I ignored it for a long time. But once you finally admit that you aren’t happy, that nagging constantly reflects and judges everything that’s going on around you.

When that nagging was following me around, I had a comfortable, secure job and was living in a new country. I had no network, no connections, and no leads or understanding of the job market in the Netherlands. I didn’t see any options for leaving my job. I had no idea that career coaching existed, as a way to get myself unstuck, so I just put my head down and slogged forward, commuting to work three hours a day, and losing myself along the way.

I wasn’t letting my brain focus on my accomplishments, or my passions, because my brain was protecting me. It was convincing me not to look for something bigger because at the moment I was safe. But sometimes we have to take risks to be happier, those risks should be calculated and not spontaneous, but doing new things and pushing ourselves is how we grow. We can’t elevate when we’re stagnant living in our Zone of Excellence instead of our Zone of Genius (thank you Gay Hendricks, the author of The Big Leap).

And then, thanks to a friend, I discovered a coaching podcast: The Life Coach School podcast. I listened diligently on my train rides. Brooke Castillo, the host of the show, a master coach instructor, talked about the power of your thoughts and how they affect your feelings. I started to see that if I wasn’t happy, that it was up to me, not my work environment, my colleagues or my boss, to change it. I needed to work on the thoughts that were making me feel stressed and anxious. Thoughts like: “I don’t have the skills to start something new. I’m too old to change careers. I could fail and my family would go hungry. I’m too tired to take on the work of starting a business.” Those thoughts weren’t true but they were major roadblocks to me finding work that I love.

What I was forgetting while I was busy beating myself up, was the courage it took to uproot my family and move them to the Netherlands. I was forgetting the talents I had cultivated throughout my career. All of the mentoring and coaching I had done as a manager, and the amazing potential I helped foster in my teams. All of that self-sabotage and imposter syndrome wasn’t helping me own what was mine, what I had worked hard for and what made me unique.

It took a few months of recognizing the self-sabotaging thoughts and really hearing them to understand the pain the were causing me. Sometimes we can see we are in pain but still feel scared about taking a first step. And even after I did all of the work and reflection, that first step was still absolutely frightening. I signed up for online coaching. But I didn’t go small, I went all in and straight for the 12-month certification process. It was expensive, like really expensive. It would also be time-consuming. And all of this for something I knew nothing about. But when I explored the coaching program, I got butterflies. The nagging stopped. I watched all of the promotional videos, read all of the testimonials, did my research and it was only making me more and more excited. There were no guarantees this could be a new career and I didn’t know anyone that had done something similar. It felt a little ‘beneath’ the trajectory I had been building for myself thus far.

I had to keep all of those thoughts in check, constantly. The doubt and fear and worry hit me hard some days, but I knew they were being fueled by thoughts that I had the power to change. And when I focused on the butterflies and the energy I got when I read the program materials, I knew this first step was important, scary as hell, but a way of getting myself out of the quicksand of the rat race.

All I needed was one step. And that step led me here. Full time career coaching, start-up coaching and business growth consulting. I have finally found work that I love. Whole-heartedly. I have purpose, I make an impact, it gives me joy, I adore my clients and get the chance to help them see their potential and live into it, I honestly can’t imagine doing anything else.

So how do you find work you love? Notice your thoughts? Are they helping you get closer to that first step? Pay attention. Choose the emotion that will help propel you towards that first step. For me it was courage. Find all of the evidence to support the times you were thriving in that emotion. Write a list of all of your accomplishments. Find support. It’s critical to have voices around you that believe in what you’re doing. For me it was my husband and the colleagues in my coaching program, my coaches.

And follow your heart. Where it leads you might feel scary, and that means you are on the right path.

Jaime from Practica Consulting is a career coach who loves working with expats to help them have the belief and confidence to go after jobs that feel purposeful and impactful. She’s helped many new arrivals to the Netherlands find jobs (or start businesses) that align with their values. Set up a free call to learn how coaching may be able to help you through your career transition.