If you’ve ever felt trapped in a soulless job, (you may be in that very same situation right now), you belong to a growing number of people who share the dream of living a meaningful life of freedom, passion and contribution.

And yet, you may still be stuck because you lack clarity about what that thing you’d love to do really is. Or you already have an idea, even if still is a bit vague, but you are paralized by doubts and concerns about the question: “If I follow my dream, will I still be able to pay my bills?”

If you are in any of these two situations, where do you start?

Should you start finding your passions, your purpose?, should you start by discovering your gifts and strengths? or should you start by researching which one of your business ideas will be able to create the income you need?

Those are all important steps of the process, but if you ask me, none of those are the most important one. You better start somewhere else: by finding a piece of the puzzle, that most people ignore until it is too late.

The most important piece of the career clarity puzzle

Want to know what that foundational piece is?
This part of my life story will reveal it to you:

I still wasn’t clear about my true path, at that time. But after leaving my Soulless job in the building industry, the next “logical” step for me was to create a Healthy Homes Consulting Service. And so “Hogar Holistico” (Holistic Home) was born.

There were somethings I loved about that work. I was helping people and the Earth by transforming toxic houses into healthy homes, something much more aligned with my values.

And yet, there was something terribly wrong with my business.
I hated visiting houses of total strangers.  I hated the long drives. And I also hated the feeling I had in my body when I visited some of those places, (hey, being sensitive has its downside too), and those things were totally draining my energy.
Without knowing it, I had created a trap many career change seekers fall into.

On my free time, I was on a personal quest. I was enrolling into personal growth courses, reading books, attending seminars…everything else you can imagine. And it was in one of those classes that I found the answer to my problems.

I had enrolled in an online class with Valerie Young called “Work @ what you love”. And one of the very first steps Valerie helped me with was to identify what my ideal lifestyle was.

She calls this approach: “Life first, work second”, and since then it  too has become one of the foundational steps of my work.

Valerie’s mindset is this: Any kind of business or work you do, no matter how much you enjoy it or how passionate you are about doing it, needs to be in service of your ideal lifestyle, not the other way around.

And this is the key piece I want you to take a look today:
Way before you do any inquiry about a new career path, get crystal clear about what’s the ideal lifestyle you want to enjoy.
By doing that you’ll avoid creating a trap for yourself, and changing careers only to find yourself as frustrated as you were before.

After all, you want to create a wonderful life. don’t you?

Charo’s Coaching tip for you:

Step 1: Please pick pen and paper, and spend a few minutes of uninterrupted time with this. Give yourself permission to daydream about your ideal life. These questions will inspire you in your search:

• What would your ideal day be like?
• Where would you live?
• What would you be doing?
• Who would you be with?

Step 2: Describe it with as many details as possible, from the very beginning of your day until your head hits the pillow at night.  Don’t edit yourself, allow your imagination to run free.
This is just for you.
This is your life.
And it’s the wonderful canvas upon which you will later build a fulfilling and meaningful career or business.

Step 3: Focusing too much in work and too little in life is only one of the career change traps you can fall into, but it’s not the only one.
If you want to avoid the rest, my “5 Career Change Traps that are keeping you stuck in a meaningless job (and how to avoit them)” ebook will help you.

Get your FREE free copy now by visting this link: 5 Career Change Traps E-book

P.S. What insights about your ideal lifestyle have you found with this exercise?
Let’s keep this conversation going by leaving your comments below.

To your Fulfillment, Fun and Freedom.
Charo X