Articles
Role Models
Having role models in our lives starts very early - with our parents and family. As children, we are very observant, and most of what we observe and learn at a young age stays with us throughout our lives. For example, one client said recently:
"When my father came home from work, I saw a hard working man who was not happy. He was a role model, a role model that showed me how to NOT be happy in my career. Work for me was equated with long hours with no real rewards other than paying the bills."
Many of you might read this, and remember similar circumstances in your own life. You have seen how you don't want to feel about your work, and yet somehow wind up behaving and feeling the exact same way - being unhappy and unfulfilled. Your early role models have a powerful effect on you. You may believe that you have to work 50 or more hours each week, you may believe that you have to have a certain job title, you may believe that you have to stay at an unfulfilling job because it pays the bills. You may not even realize that these are long held beliefs, because they have been with you your whole life.
Take some time, and review your early role models.
- What attitudes and beliefs did they have about work that you still have today?
- Make a list.
- Once you've written them out, split them into two categories: those beliefs that are positive have encouraged you and brought you fulfillment, and those beliefs that are negative, limiting and have held you back from satisfaction at your job.
If fundamentally, you believe that work = unhappiness, chances are that you aren't going to enjoy any job you work at. That thought will always be in your mind, coloring your experiences and restraining you from fulfillment.
- Look at the limiting beliefs you have. How can you change them and expand them so that you open yourself up to more possibilities?
- Take time each day to focus on the positive. How can work be happier? What can you take control of and change so that it leads to satisfaction instead of frustration?
Just because family role models approached work in one way, you don't have to continue the trend. Set a new trend, become a role model for future generations, and break the pattern of negative beliefs. You can create work that comes from the core of who you are. You can act in an authentic and genuine manner, bringing the person you most want to be to your work and enjoying the fulfillment that accompanies it.
Copyright 2007, Joel Garfinkle, All Rights Reserved.
Joel Garfinkle leads managers and executives to higher levels of professional and personal achievement. Partial client list includes: BofA, HP, GAP, Citigroup, and Eli Lilly. Visit Joel online at Garfinkle Executive Coaching.
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