From Career Confusion to The Pursuit of Excellence

When you discover your dharma… what’s next?

If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know that I spent much of 2020 exploring the simple practices that quietly reduce internal resistance in its many forms.

Now you may be wondering – as I did – what happens when those old blocks and challenges fade away?

Once the internal brakes are off, and there’s less to hold us back from going for our dreams with gusto – what happens next?

The answer to these musings arrived in my life the other day as I noticed that how I spend my workdays has changed.

Not so much on the outside – I’m still visibly doing the same things I’ve been doing for over a decade – reading, writing, designing, studying, connecting, visioneering, showing up daily in my home office and creating what feels called to be created that day.

But I’ve noticed that the energy behind those actions has shifted a great deal over the last year or so.

And I know why. (More on that coming up.)

But what I was delighted to notice was the difference in the theme of my focus.

From Career Confusion…

For many years, the main theme of my focus was a struggle to find answers.

I was desperately seeking the solution to my career and work-life puzzle – how to make a great living doing the creative work I loved so much.

The overriding energy of all of those workdays was a sense that something was missing, something was lacking.

I felt that I was missing out on the right answers that would help me find the peace, satisfaction and alignment in my career that I was so desperately craving.

And my realisation the other day was that this is no longer the case.

Not that I now have all the answers, but the energy behind the questions is different.

There’s a new theme to my career focus.

…to The Pursuit of Excellence

These days, my focus is not to hunt down the elusive missing piece to a frustrating puzzle, because I no longer feel that confusion.

(One of the many blessings of finding your dharma! 🙂 )

While I still do have questions, they now come from a different place – a feeling of being on track, a sense of winning the game, a heartfelt alignment with the work that I’m meant to be doing, work that – joy of joys – I absolutely LOVE.

I still feel driven and determined, but I’m no longer driven by confusion and desperation, instead I’m fuelled by a desire to do better.

All I want to do is improve, optimise, and upgrade – it’s all I can think about!

And I believe this marks a new phase of living in my creative dharma, and one of the hallmarks of this next level is a pursuit of excellence.

It’s the joyous energy of knowing the right things to do, and that I am doing them, and all I need to focus on now is doing them even better.

There’s a subtle but powerful shift of perspective,

from; How can I fix this problem?

to; This IS working! How can I do it better?

I feel so grateful that my days of spinning in confusion feel like another lifetime ago, and my current workdays are devoted to the pursuit of excellence, fuelled by the lovely QU Power – knowing that I’m on the right path, heading in the right direction, and progressing at the perfect pace.

After the years of frustrated searching and questioning, I can tell you that here feels fabulous.

And yet, I’m not sure it would feel quite so magnificent if I hadn’t spent so much of my adult life in the searching phase.

Over to you…

Dharma Phases & you

I share this with you in case you too are in that puzzled and solution-craving phase.

I’d love to serve as living proof of how career confusion can lead to the place you sense is possible, a place where you feel confident about what you’re doing, and why, and that you’re the perfect person to do it.

Just imagine that feeling…

Because I wish I’d known, during all those years of confusion, that this clarity and alignment was possible.

While I have no regrets, if I could go back in time and tell the confused and uncertain version of me one thing, I would remind her that we find what we seek.

And I would love for her to trust that, so she can find a little more peace and relief during the stages that are more questions than answers.

Because this journey took me much longer than I would have expected or hoped for.

So if I could share some insights from further down the path that would make the journey itself easier and more enjoyable, then I’d happily take a moment to send a message back from the future – to say this;

It’s possible.

It’s coming.

And it’s oh, so worth it.

So, wherever you are on your own path to dharma fulfilment and career happiness, I hope you’ll find some inspiration and/or relief in what can happen when you just keep going for the dream that’s calling your heart.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.

Don’t settle.”

 STEVE JOBS

There will still be work to do – your dharma is a lifelong creation, after all – but you’ll notice that the theme has shifted, and that you can relax a little into the joy of the journey.

And that way magic lies… 

PS If you’d like to read the story of the pivotal shift that I believe sparked the beginning of the end of my Career Confusion, I share all about that here; The Joy of Dharma for Creatives

I also share the core ingredients that I believe are responsible for these all-important shifts in my labour of love, Your Creative Dharma, and you can access a sneak peek at the Intro Module here.

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