I’m totally overwhelmed,”
said Karen, one of my coaching clients. “Now that I know
what I really want, I can’t find
the time to pursue it.”
A successful partner in a
law firm as well as a devoted
wife and mother, Karen had
originally come to me because
she felt an unsettling longing
that something was missing
from her life.
Through a powerful coaching exercise, she uncovered a
passion that had been buried
for years — the desire to be a
writer. Although Karen was a
successful lawyer, often using
her writing skills to prepare
compelling legal documents,
she realized she was longing
to write fantastically imaginative stories for children. It
was a dream she held as a
teenager but had abandoned for a more financially rewarding career as
an attorney.
Like so many others,
Karen’s challenge wasn’t
only discovering her passion; it was finding time to
pursue it.
Start small
After years of postponing
her dream, Karen’s first
impulse was to write for an
hour a day, but a closer look
at her calendar revealed that
even an hour a week would be
a challenge — a conclusion
that left her discouraged.
To combat this, I had her
make a list of actions that
would move her forward,
while requiring no longer than
10 minutes each to complete.
Her list included more than 20
simple ideas, such as brainstorming two different titles,
writing a one-paragraph summary of her main character,
creating three possible
names for this character and
asking her children which
name they liked best.
Because each item on the
list was so easy to do, Karen’s
confidence was quickly
restored, and she was anxious to get started.
Are you longing to pursue a
passion but overwhelmed by
the whirlwind of your life? If
so, then make a list like
Karen’s and do just one thing
this week to begin. Although
each task may seem insignificant by itself, starting small
will enable you to take the
critical first steps.
Remember, whatever you’ve
dreamed of being cannot happen until you begin.
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