Wherever you are in your career right now, chances are you’re already looking for what comes next. But to build a successful career you must nurture it in much the same way you would a child. Children grow and careers need to do the same. They need constant attention and evaluation. It also helps to explore your career choice(s) through a multigenerational lens.

Our career choices are often the result of an event, a calling, or inspiration. But it can also be the result of unconscious patterns/programs we picked up from our family system. The family system has more influence on our lives than anything else. If we were fish, the family system would be the water we swim in. Which means we often don’t have the awareness to look beyond it or avoid repeating its influence

So, if you’re currently trying to level-up, the first insightful piece of work to do is to sit down and think about what sparked your career. Is there a limiting or a liberating pattern behind your career choice? For example, let’s say growing up you heard: “In our family we’re all academics.” Or maybe, “This whole family is blue collar and proud of it!” There’s nothing wrong with being an academic and nothing wrong with working a blue-collar job. But both of these sentences set a limiting pattern in motion that can result in you unconsciously limiting your career choices.

And if you think hearing “We are a family of entrepreneurs” opens the door to more possibilities than the two sentences above, you’re right. It does—to a degree. But what if you yearn to be a librarian? Or work in marketing? Not so much. If you grew up hearing “We just want our children to be happy. It doesn’t matter what they choose to do,” lucky you!

Another thing to do is ask yourself “What do I tell myself about my career?” Do you have thoughts like “I wish I were doing something else.” Or “This feels like a dead-end road I’m on.” What do you make this mean about you and about others?  Does anybody else in your family have similar thoughts? Also reflect on whether you’re proactive in your life or not. It makes a huge difference! If you want to level up, you’ve got to take charge of your life. You can’t afford to sit around passively accepting a dead-end career path that’s not for you!

But being passive and proactive are also patterns we pick up from our family system. When did that pattern begin for you?  What was happening in your life at the time?  Who else in your family is an active go-getter? Who is passive? Who has hopelessly accepted their fate?

Now for the good news. You are NOT limited by your history! Leveling up means moving past family patterns and programs. It means not settling for a career you don’t enjoy. It means actively engaging in an adventure to find out what YOU want and what suits you. And that journey begins with allowing yourself to imagine what it is that you REALLY want. 

Don’t censor your thoughts and feelings. Just be willing to look. And if you’re struggling with that first step, ask yourself, “Am I even allowed to have wants and desires of my own?”  (Is there a pattern of self-denial and guilt or fear in your family?) Once you get in touch with your desire(s), ask yourself, “What might happen if I invested in these wants and desires?” Imagine yourself soaring into a whole new life of your own design.

Desire is the gateway to a new experience. Until we imagine new possibilities they can’t exist. This isn’t just leveling up. It’s transformation. And it’s okay to do that! (Listen out for that little voice that tells you that you can’t have this or don’t deserve it. That’s just another thought pattern!

Come join me at one of my live events where you’ll have the opportunity to experience personal breakthroughs that are swift and lasting.