I started working recently on trying to find what it is that really fulfills me.  I have always known that mentoring and coaching people is my passion, but I’ve never known how to turn that into a career.  I thought it came about by managing people. However, I have found that, in and of itself, is not enough.  My current job requires so much paperwork, change management, and politics that, while I’m mentoring every day, I don’t get to spend the kind of time focused on it that I would like. 

As I’ve read through books, articles and blogs about following your dreams, it always seems to be presented in such a way that the risk is high, but that payout is higher.  While I firmly believe this to be true, the risk of quitting what I’m doing and just laying it all on the line, is scary.  I have been a single mom for a long time.  I am happy in my house that  I built.  I’m weeks away from marrying an amazing man.  Adding CAREER RISK to this has just seemed scary.  So, I’ve made lists of things I love, things I want to do, and things I’m willing to give up.  But I’ve failed to find a way to just dive in and do it.

Enter semi-annual department meeting.  It’s frequently my job to help my boss put this week long meeting agenda together.  As I sat, staring at the blinking cursor, trying to brainstorm new ideas for discussion topics, it hit me.  This is my chance.  I can set up my topics of discussion based on anything I want to do.  And so I set up the agenda to allow ME to kick off each day’s meetings.  I chose topics that center around positive culture change, employee morale, and leadership.  I chose for my topics to be motivational learning opportunities for all the people involved in our meetings, not just my direct reports.  And then I did a little soft shoe routine, to sell my boss on the agenda.  I convinced him that we needed to move forward from just process and procedure discussion to help the team develop to the next level.  AND HE AGREED!

For now, I’m borrowing a lot of ideas from other people.  But I’m taking the first step to step in front of a room full of people and deliver a message of hope, continuous improvement and personal development.  I found a way to test the waters of what I determine my passion to be.  I found a way to start developing my skills slowly and with minimal immediate risk.  I also found a way to breathe new life into our commercial team meetings.  Pass or fail, I’m stepping out there and giving it a shot and I couldn’t be more excited about it.