True Balance

These is no doubt career transitions can be stressful.

If you’re facing a significant career transition, here are 10 ways to move gracefully through the experience.

• Take an honest look at yourself. What are your strengths, weaknesses and skills? How did these attributes influence your transition? How can you leverage your strengths?

• Increase your self-care. Major changes are physically and emotionally taxing. You need EXTREME self-care now more than ever.

• Engage your curiosity. What went wrong, or right? What could you have done better? What worked really well?

• Focus on what you want, and less on what you don’t want. Create a comparison and contrast T Chart with what you don’t want on the left and what you do want on the right.  What did you learn?

• Find support. Since your transition affects your family as well, it may be better to seek the outside support of friends, mentors or a professional life coach.

• Be Mindful of your thoughts. Calm your fears and reinforce your sense of gratitude, hope and happiness.

• Stay away from people who are threatened,  jealous or unwilling to support your change.

• Create your own rite of passage. Ceremony and ritual help with all transitions.

• Let go of how things were “supposed to be” and accept “how things are.”

• Keep things in perspective. Or try on a new perspective. The only constant in your life is change.

Allow yourself the time to work through a serious career transition, keep your family and close friends involved, allow for setbacks, work on a reasonable time line and find humor in the day to day journey.  Your life is so much more important than you can imagine.

Shann Vander Leek

Each week Marigold honors a woman business owner who has demonstrated outstanding business integrity and unwavering support for women in business.  I am honored to be the recipient of the prestigious award.

Each recipient is honored with:

• Special Marigold E-Mail Salute to 2,000 area business women
• Radio spots on 106.7 YOU-FM telling her story to all of northern Michigan
• Is the featured guest on Mary in the Morning
• Receive an engraved award at the Williams Honda Salute to Women in Business Luncheon at the Marigold Business Conference in September 2009.

Who is Marigold?

Marigold celebrates women’s economic opportunities through entrepreneurship and career development. Marigold’s passion is serving and supporting women in business, bringing together the talents of many professionals to offer high quality training programs, support groups, marketing opportunities, and technical assistance.

Tune to YOU-FM at 106.7FM or 105.5FM this Friday from 7:45-8:15 to join in the conversation with me and Mary Rogers, founder of Marigold.  For show information, click here.

Marigold Excerpt

Shann Vander Leek was a powerful sales manager in the television broadcasting industry.  After 16 years, the high stress levels of being a corporate creature was losing its appeal.   After thoughtful consideration, moving forward on the path of her dreams was the ONLY option. Shann’s leadership abilities that made her such a huge success in the business world were now affording her the opportunity to follow her passion to inspire women in transition. Congratulations Shann!

“I think too often we as women put everyone and everything first,” said Shann.  “We forget that we can give the most when we are living lives we love.  We can be the best mothers, wives, business owners or colleagues when we are feeling nurtured, fulfilled, inspired and self expressed.”

My Story

I became a certified professional coach and business owner because it gave me the chance to be completely independent and allowed me to reinvent my life on my terms.   A rich and full life dedicated to personal freedom, creative expression and the opportunity to deliver a meaningful coaching service.

After 16 successful years devoted to sales and sales management in the high powered,television broadcasting industry, it was time for a significant change. The high stress levels
of being a corporate creature and doing business in someone else’s boardroom was losing its appeal.  Even though my career path resulted in the realization of many of my goals and
dreams, I became completely disinterested in corporate culture and, unwilling to jump through any more flaming circus hoops for power and money.

After thoughtful consideration, conversations with my family and confidantes; moving forward on the path of my dreams was my ONLY option. I prepared, planned, dreamed and
schemed for 12 months.  I covered all of the bases to allow for my transition from the corporate world. I love being an entrepreneur.  I am a natural leader and find that I am
thriving by following my passion to inspire women while honoring my natural rhythm.

The birth of my daughter inspired me to become an entrepreneur along with florescent lighting and corporate politics. :-)  My family, friends and clients keep me inspired to “Show
Up” every day and keep growing personally and professionally.

I enjoy inspiring women in transition to create a more balanced way of living.  A life filled with extreme self-care.  I think too often we as women put everyone and everything first.
We will start a new business when the mortgage is paid off.   We will take yoga or art classes once the kids finish school.  We will get healthy or fit when we have more time.

My goal is to inspire as many women as possible to be willing to put themselves first, take care of their bodies, nurture their dreams, and make the best use of their talents.

My never ending curious nature along with a good supply of creative energy keeps me motivated. My mentor coach Deb Martin and my business partner at Seize True Success,
Diane Helbig have both been instrumental to my success.

The advice I share with women considering or in the beginning stages of ownership is as follows:

Figure out what you want to create and allow for a minimum of 12 months (if at all possible) to put your plan in action.

• Consider working with a coach or mentor to help you navigate the transition

• Involve your family and close friends

• Allow for setbacks and second guessing

• Set clear and specific dates of completion for each part of your transition

• Be flexible and find humor in the difficult situations.

Everything boils down to several simple ideas. Allow yourself the time to work through a serious transition, keep your family and close friends involved, allow for setbacks, work on a
reasonable time line and find humor in the day to day journey. Before you know it, you will be where you want to be - By Design.  Being in the business of inspiring people to recognize their brilliance is a blast!  The focus for the rest of my days is about inspiring women in transition to set big goals, achieve extraordinary results and create balance in their lives.

Discovering your groove and creating a luscious life is all about allowing for grace through the transition.

Learn more about my story - Walking Away From The Big Bucks In The Pursuit of True Balance in my new Best Selling book, Wake Up Women BE Happy, Healthy & Wealthy. Grab a copy today at www.truebalancelifecoaching.com or at Higher Self in Traverse City or Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay.  10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Women’s Resource Center in northern Michigan.

Thank you Marigold!

My talented and brilliant mentor coach,  Deb Martin shared some valuable information with me awhile ago about the 4 stages of transition.  This material along with my personal story have become a big part of the focus of my life coaching business.

The purpose of sharing the 4 stages of transition with you and my life coaching clients is to shine a light on human behaviors and feelings through the natural cycles of change.

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.  -Martha Beck

Not too long ago, I made one of the most important decisions in my life. The promise to leave corporate America and give my entrepreneurial calling a shot.   When the corporate culture  I was immersed in changed to a game of micro-management, I began to feel a slow and certain suffocation. It was time to leave the job that was killing my soul.

Today I understand that without the extreme discomfort, I may have never allowed myself to follow my dreams.

Stage 1 - Discomfort

A change is coming on. You can feel it. You can smell it. But you might not be sure what the change is or what to do about it. The more you fight it and try to get logical about this change, the longer you’ll stay in the discomfort stage.

You may feel:

• Reluctant, Fearful, in Grief, Angry, Confused,Uncertain, Negative, Defensive, Reactive and Trapped.

• You may Distrust your decisions and your intuition.

• You are likely to Worry more than usual.

Recommendations:

• Stay with your routines that you know Work for you.

• Don’t Over Commit to others at home or at work.

• Allow yourself to go Internal when you need to.

Create a 10 Luscious Daily Habits list and stick to it. Make these “habits” nurturing, easy and fun. Now is not the time to try to lose weight or start a new exercise routine. Create habits that nurture you without calling up your willpower.

Items on my Luscious List:

Meditation, yoga, bubble baths, reading, watching the sunset, fresh flowers,
listening to great music, playing with my daughter, drinking a cup of tea and writing.

As important as it is to nurture yourself through your pain and discomfort, going internal is key to healing and flowing into a graceful transition.

Stage 2 - Going Internal

You may start to protect yourself from the discomfort and go internal. You detach from your “old” self in order to allow for your new change or transition.

You may become:

• Contemplative, Seeking, Questioning, Protective, Spiritual and often Emotional.

• You are likely Quiet, Detached and Withdrawn.

Recommendations:

• Journaling is a great activity at this stage.

• Sometimes reading can be helpful.

• Get yourself into nature, preferably alone.

• Walks on the beach, an evening around a warming campfire, digging in the dirt, a hike along a woodland path, collect pine cones or stones - Anything to immerse yourself in the great outdoors.

When you begin to heal from the discomfort by nurturing your mind, body and soul its time for exploration.

Stage 3 - Exploration

In this stage, you are starting to feel like you have some direction. You have an inkling, about your upcoming transition and what it’s all about. You are ready to learn more and give birth to this new change.

You may feel like:

• You are experiencing new Energy and Security.

• You become Optimististic, Confident, Willing to Experiment with New Ideas, and Learning.

• You are Eager to Dream about new possibilities.

• You are looking for a new path and ready to commit to it.

• You’re discovering a vision.

Recommendations:

• Read about new things and continue to journal.

• Explore relationships and new connections.

• Learn more about what interests you.

• Take a class. Get some training.

• Do something creative.

• Allow yourself to experiment.

Now that we have navigated  through the initial discomfort of a transition, going internal to heal ourselves and rolling up our sleeves to explore new frontiers, we are ready to move into the Renaissance stage.

Stage 4 - Renaissance

Your vision is becoming clear and you’re ready to live your dream .

You will experience:

• You are highly committed, creative and optimistic.

• You are also determined to make changes and do so at a much faster pace.

• Things seem to flow for you.

• Mentally and physically, you’re at the Top of Your Game.

• Everything is Possible.

Recommendations:

• Allow yourself to flow, Allow things to happen.

• Be in love with your new Discoveries and your new Energy.

• Ride the wave.

• Rejoice in your new found freedom.

Each transitional stage can last from weeks to months. You’ll move more quickly through a difficult stage if you honor yourself . Renaissance, feels like it will last forever. It doesn’t.        Transitional stages are cyclical …

What stage are you experiencing right now?

How long have you been in this stage?

What have you learned you need to do right now for yourself and to honor the stage you are experiencing?

After navigating the 4 steps of transition I have successfully reinvented myself by living my dream and have become an Unconventional Bohemian Goddess. The natural cycle of  discomfort, internal time, exploration and renaissance, allowed me to become a best selling author, certified yoga instructor and professional coach with a thriving life coaching practice.

Discovering your groove and creating a luscious life is all aboutallowing for grace through the transition.