Originally published on May 6, 2020 We’re our own harshest critic. That’s a fact. Sometimes the...
It's All Invented
Do you ever sit and think about the advice you’ve just given yourself? Have you ever wondered where that came from? Why you would tell yourself something so irrational and stupid?
Have you ever tried writing your fears down on a piece of paper? Do that today and let me know how it felt. Did it sound even more irrational and ludicrous now that it’s out of your head and could be shared with the world?
Chances are it probably did.
Every day we tell give ourselves self-limiting advice. Advice that would get us fired if we were a coach and giving it to anyone else.
Sometimes it goes beyond advice. Sometimes, actually, a lot of times we tell ourselves a narrative. A story that we start to believe.
It often sounds like this when it comes to our career: I can’t make this move because someone somewhere in the future may ask me about it and it may not fit perfectly into the linear career path that some unknown recruiter and hiring manager at some company I don’t know about in some month and year I’ve never been to will not approve of - because they wouldn’t have done it.
Regardless of the fact that making this move would make me happy or expose me to new skills and experience.
Regardless of what it means to me. I’m worried more about how someone else will feel - someone I’ve never met, that doesn’t know me and is only judging me.
The fact of the matter is that it’s all invented. All of it.
The narrative hiring managers tell themselves about who could do the job (HINT: in their subconscious - or conscious - mind, it’s someone just like them).
The narrative you tell yourself.
The jobs you think you may want to apply for.
The companies with open jobs.
The products or services they sell.
It’s ALL invented. No one knew shit about any of this when they were 5. No one. Elon Musk didn’t think about electric cars. He may have thought about going into space, but he didn’t know how to do it.
To think that your career could be derailed because you choose to try something new, to gain a new perspective, to learn something new is absolute horse shit.
There are a lot of people in the world, a lot of people in your country. Hell, there are probably close to a million people in your city that you’ve NEVER met.
There are more companies than you could ever imagine. Opportunity is all around you. You just can’t see it because your narrative and the voice in your head is blocking your view.
Stop focusing on the few that don’t want you because you’re brave and have a vision for what you want your life to be like.
Stop focusing on the people that only want to know about the gap in your resume. Or why you did what they wouldn’t do - which was likely to take a risk and go in a different direction. To learn and experience life in a different way.
They’re not like you. They’re not like us. They’re not for you. They’re not for us.
They’re like others like them.
We’re not like them.
We’re not for them.
And that’s OK.
Because it’s all invented.
Interested in hiring me as a career coach?
Email me at travis@maukacareercoaching.com and tell me more about what you're looking for.