One of my life coaching clients this week, we’ll call him Jim, told me that he had been promoted. I congratulated him. He then went on to explain that the person previously occupying that position in the organization had left because of the unrealistic expectations of the job. As soon as Jim took over that position, he analyzed the current work load—and backlog of work—and determined that it would take three people—not one—to adequately do that job. He approached management with his numbers, and they said, “We know, and we’re hoping to address that by the end of the year.” I warned Jim of “management speak” (telling people what they want to hear to temporarily placate them while continuing to kick the can down the road). I asked him if he was willing to continue working extra hours—never getting the work done, and living with the attendant stress. I suggested that he might want to consider a change, and I assured him that there were other opportunities for people with his considerable abilities.
To give Jim courage, I shared one of my own stories—how I once walked away from a six-figure-salary job when management decided to disrespect me with unrealistic workloads and timeframes. Rather than spreading those burdens among my colleagues, they actually assigned one of them to “supervise” my efforts rather than help with the workload. I explained to Jim that life is way too short…
Another of my clients this week, we’ll call her Linda, wondered aloud to me if she should follow in the footsteps of her mother and start her own business. Her mother is a very successful entrepreneur. I asked her if she felt a passion to do so. She sat thinking. Then I asked if she might be trying to please her mother by following in her footsteps instead of following her own path. Linda is currently trying to answer those two questions.
Also, this week (it’s been a very interesting week), a friend shared how her mother, who I respected greatly (she worked in professional development as do I), experienced two nervous breakdowns during her life from trying to be “perfect” in so many areas. I hadn’t known about those episodes, but my heart filled with empathy, because I have also dealt with perfectionism at times during my life. Through my coaching work, I have found that many people deal with such tendencies. We all have been conditioned to various degrees by family, friends, and societal institutions to compete, achieve, excel, multi-task—to do it all! But perfectionism leads to procrastination, and procrastination leads to paralysis. There is a better way…
In my work as a life coach, I encourage people to listen to their hearts when deciding how they want to live their unique lives—in all areas. I invite people to own and develop their personal greatness—whatever that may consist of—and to find joy in shining their greatness brightly into this world through their unique creations and contributions.