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On reaching 50, I opted to take voluntary redundancy from my long-term job as a Human Resources Manager for Royal Mail. I found myself in the enviable position of having choices available to me for the first time in my working career. For over 30 years I'd worked in full time positions and the redundancy package finally allowed me the freedom to explore what I really wanted to do. But what exactly was that? Finding the answer to this question became a real burden. It all sounds great, but the reality was, in fact, very daunting. When faced with so many choices, even the fundamentals seemed insurmountable, such as how many hours I would like to work and what balance time-wise I wanted to spend pursuing other interests. However, that's where the skills of Nicola's life coaching became truly invaluable. With her help and guidance and throughout many of her patient telephone calls, I was awarded the precious time I needed to mull over options, which I had either never even considered, or which I had initially dismissed without affording them due consideration. Nicola's continuing professional support and caring attitude cushioned me so that the transition from full-time employment to working part-time in a role at a local college was almost seamless! With her help I came to realise that my main motivator was not a salary, although I also came to understand that my mindset was so steeped in the history of having a steady income coming in, that this was an important factor to take into account. Nicola's guidance gave me the confidence to explore various ways of making this happen. With Nicola's empathic guidance, I questioned my ability to work on an ad hoc, flexible basis and decided that this was outweighed by the fact that I felt I needed to have some form of income coming in on a regular basis. Believe me, this was a big step for me in moving forward but I needed Nicola to help me explore this and to eventually enable me to articulate this need. I am really grateful that I found Nicola at exactly the time when I needed to explore all these new and different avenues. Without her help I would probably still be directionless or hopping from one mode of work to the next, worrying about when the next payment would hit my bank account. In addition to this knowledge and with Nicola's invaluable support I also had the confidence to explore a very different career move. Far removed from what I had ever done in the past and having never ever worked for myself or set up a business, I found myself, with Nicola's marvellously supportive exploration, well on the path to becoming a successful Image Consultant and Stylist. Nicola and I discussed the steps I needed to take to make this happen and I happily adopted a structured approach to put this in motion. At each turn Nicola was there to help and her wonderfully objective, yet personal approach, meant that I could rely upon her to help me keep on track. It's early days yet but I'm confident that I can make it happen - something I couldn't have done without Nicola's true professional integrity and careful exploration. The focus that Nicola's life coaching gave me has proved invaluable and I now know exactly where to turn should I need help in areas other than the work dilemma I initially faced. Very many thanks for helping turn a dream into a reality! Try out a life coaching exercise at home for £2.99. Work out what you want from life and sort out your priorities with a copy of "What do I want from my life?" emailed to you within 24 hours. This costs £2.99 and is redeemable against the cost of your first fee-paying coaching session. You can also sign up for a free introductory half hour telephone coaching session. Click here for free taster session. |
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