These are anxious times...

If you’re still committed to reading newspapers and listening/watching the news, or even if you’re just eavesdropping on other people’s conversations, you may well be feeling anxious.  

We know it all only too well: climate emergency, politics, ineptitude, over-reaching personal ambition in public life with a lack of the ambition for social change, Trump on a second term, Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, uncertainty about the mid term future… it seems to go on and on..  This is all against a media backdrop which encourages us to be happier, more frugal, more mindful, less avaricious for materialism.  We want to be good, do the right thing and make people happy but it’s all so very … unsettling.  

And the fact is that we all need to pay the bills and keep the whole machine going.  Not for everybody is the possibility of “getting out” and getting off the cycle of work/pay/work.  

How can we make a difference in the context of our own lives, make our work more meaningful and more fulfilling so that living with the anxiety feels less … anxious?  

There’s no one answer to that of course.  It’s a question of stepping-stones in the right direction.  But supposing you don’t even know which is the right direction?  And frankly how could we all know the right direction for the way that we lead our lives, the way that we carry out our work, the way that we behave and get on in our career?  We rarely stand still for long enough to think about those questions.  

So I’m going to suggest a simple step to help.  Start saving the world by saving yourself.  

If you’re not fit for purpose, if you’re burnt out, not happy and not seeing the best of yourself in your work, you’re not going to be able to help those immediately around you, let alone the rest of the world.   Spend some time finding out what would make you more fit for purpose, less burnt out, happier and bringing the best of yourself to work and to life in general.  

I’m a Career Coach with particular expertise of working with people from across the creative industries and at all levels of seniority and maturity to be the best they can be.    I’d be happy to have an initial no-obligation telephone conversation with you to see if I could help you to help yourself.  

A recent Coaching client said

“I can’t recommend Madelaine enough: going in I thought I had a pretty good understanding of myself and where I wanted to be.  But Madelaine added that extra light, she had answers when I didn’t and pushed me further when I needed it.  Understanding what is right in your career can sometimes feel like a lonely journey but with Madelaine, it was a different story.  She was reassuring, knowledgeable and connected.  Thank you Madelaine.”