It's Christmas! What's Your Heart's Desire?

Time to read: Less than one minute! (All client stories are told with their express permission.)

What's your heart's desire?

What's your heart's desire?

One of my clients came to me because she was unhappy at work. She was frustrated by parts of her work environment, wondered if she was in the right profession, and wanted to consider going into business for herself. We had lots of conversations about her professional dreams, her strengths, what wasn't working, what she wanted for her career, and what she would create in her business.

And, since I believe that people are whole and integrated across work and home, we talked about her daughter and family life as well. She was very clear that they were a happy, one-child family with two parents focused on their careers.

During one particularly powerful session, I asked her, "What's your heart's desire?" The air became charged in a potent silence. Then to my surprise, as well as her own, she said, "I want another child." Neither of us expected that answer as she had been consistently committed to a single-child. From that moment, little Mathias was destined to enter this world into the waiting arms of a big sister who had dreamed of him for years.

Fast forward to today. Mathias is now 5. His mother happily still works in the same profession, for the same employer. The dissatisfaction she was experiencing wasn't with her career. What she really wanted was much bigger. Once she set about the business of fulfilling her heart's desire, she filled the empty space, and her career satisfaction handled itself.

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So, I ask you, as Christmas draws close, what is your heart's desire? It's time to set about the business of going out there to get it. (Here's a hint: It may not be your job.)

Please email me at christina@boydsmithcoaching.com and tell me all about it. I always love to hear from you.

With love,

Christina

P.S. I can't promise you a baby for Christmas (although 3 babies have been born as a direct result of coaching with me). I can promise you a powerful weekly dose of optimism and practical tools to help you find your heart's desire at work and at home. Give the gift of that insight to your friends by sharing this newsletter with them. They can join here.

You are not fooling anyone!

Estimated read time: 1:16.27 minutes

No cubes, real or imagined, were harmed for the creation of this newsletter.

No cubes, real or imagined, were harmed for the creation of this newsletter.

Meet Carole.*

*Carole's story is told with permission. In Carole's words, "Sure! I’m flattered."

When Carole walked into the conference room for the women's leadership program I was facilitating, she wore a tight bun, a polo shirt and what can only be described in 1950s terms as "slacks."

She was buttoned up.

As we spent time talking about the program topics like navigating politics and developing a business persona, I started to notice subtle things about Carole, like a pair of Saturn earrings or the cape she quickly removed when she walked in from the cold.

In our third session, we did a feedback exercise where the group shared what they wanted to see more of in each other. The other women wrote things on Carole's board like, "I wonder what it would be like if you wore your hair down and let your creativity fly?" After reading the feedback, Carole told the group in a stricken voice, "It's clear that I'm not fooling anyone."

In our next session, Carole said she realized how much she had sacrificed to fit some made-up image of a successful corporate professional. She decided to embrace her creative, rebelicious self, and let her masses of curly hair down, literally and figuratively. She started wearing the loose, creative clothes she loves and donned her giant jewelry, too. And she was right, her gorgeous hair looks just like Hermione from Harry Potter.

Carole liberated herself from the sense that she had to be a certain way to be successful in corporate environment.

Here's what she wrote in an email a few weeks later:

"I also decorated my cube with some colored fabric and art to express my personality, and have gotten a lot of positive feedback on being more authentic in both my décor and my appearance. I’m definitely getting a more positive vibe from people, and I’m more relaxed and open myself, too."

You are not fooling anyone, either.

Here's a challenge for you: Where will you let your hair down, literally or metaphorically, to be who you truly are - at the office and at home?

I hope Carole's story inspires you as much as it did me.

Love to all of you!

Christina

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