MONEY & POWER : CAREER ADVICE When it’s time to move up in your career, many experts and mentors suggest enlisting a business coach to help you push past blind spots and notions that can keep you from being your best self. And for good reason: Outside counsel can assist in strategically navigating your road to success, whether it’s climbing the corporate ladder or striking out on your own. It all starts with knowing your worth: “You have a set of phenomenal traits that make up who you are authentically,” says Lenore Champagne Beirne, founder of Bright Coaching. She’s spent ten-plus years working with start-up creators. “You can harness those good things in you to produce any result you desire. If you can focus more on what isfantasticaboutyouandlesson the thingsthatholdyouback,youwillbe able to access a level of peace and power that may feel inaccessible right now.” While that may seem easier said than done, we’ve asked five coaches what’s worked for their clients. Get ready to put the advice into practice and see big payoffs. Let’s get started. Ditch the five-year plan. Instead figure out what you’re really trying to achieve—beyond just a title. “Oftentimes people aren’t chasing a job as much as they’re chasing a feeling,” says Pauleanna Reid, cofounder of New Girl on the Block, a mentorship program and consultancy for female entrepreneurs. “So based on what that feeling is, you can reverse-engineer it. What kind of funding or resources do you require? Do you need additional education? Should you grow your list of mentors? Or do more informational interviews?” Homing in on the feeling you’re seeking will make it easier for you to reach your potential. And you’ll be more satisfied when you get there. Stop treating networking like a transaction. “A lot of people go into networking events like hunters,” says Reid. “They’re trying to close the deal. They’re trying to make the big pitch. What about just saying, ‘Hi. How are you?’ Don’t treat people like an ATM. Get to know their interests— what they love, what they hate. Ask yourself, How do I nurture this relationship? How do I turn this stranger into a genuine friend? Don’t try to close the deal right away. I teach my clients to play the long game. Plant the seeds today for a relationship that you’ll still have years from now.” If you see someone out there you want to be like, call them or investigate what they did, and model it. —COURTNEY A. SEARD Limit your backup strategy. For Beirne, the number one question people come to her with is, “What’s next?” She says: “That’s what they say the question is, but what they mean is, ‘How can I most effectively align my career with who I am?’ First narrow your consideration set. I find that many people have ruled out the possibility of the thing they really want before they’ve even articulated what that is. Say you want A. Most of the time when I ask people, ‘Will you tell me what’s next?’ they respond with A, B, C, D and F. It’s a laundry list. In having such a wide consideration set, they’ve set themselves up not to get what they want.” But Beirne isn’t saying you shouldn’t have a plan B—it just has to be something you could see yourself doing as well. “If you have a backup because you don’t think you can get the thing you want, you’re taking power out of your pursuit before you even get started.” Imagine your perfect day. “Most people look at the things that aren’t working,” says Courtney A. Seard, who has spent more than 15 years consulting with and coaching corporate execs and professional athletes. “It’s all about what they don’t want and don’t have.” Seard says the way to concentrate on the positive stuff is to start each morning by imagining your ideal day. When you wake up, write in a journal as if it were the end of the day and chronicle all the amazing things that happened. It could be something like this: “I had a meeting, and it went the way I wanted it to. I navigated a tough client, and we had some ups and downs, but we ended up seeing eye to eye, and everything is working well. Traffic was a mess, but I was able to get an audiobook and sit through it effortlessly.” She says, “Focus on what you want because you get what you focus on,” she says. Prioritize your well-being. There will always be more work to do, so quit thinking, I just need to get this done and then I can rest. Beirne tries to get clients who fixate on their output to understand that they can accomplish more at work through practicing self-care. So how can you do that when you feel as if you don’t have the time? “Think about someone you love a lot—maybe it’s a child, a sibling, your mother,” she says. » 76 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY <strong>2018</strong>
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