If you’re thinking that my client was a model or athlete, who needed to get in shape as part of their career mandate, that would be a reasonable guess but incorrect. My client was a management consultant, which yes, is a physically demanding job (long hours, lots of travel), but many have done it without benefit of a trainer.
This particular client came to me close to burnout and desperately wanted to pivot his career. Ultimately we did work together, and he made that pivot.
Because his career goal was change, my coaching time with him largely focused on rebranding him for an in-house role from an advisory role, for a new industry (in his case, media from professional services) and for a new level (from middle management to executive).
However, to marshal the time, energy and focus to make that career pivot, he needed to get out of survival mode (i.e., recover from near-burnout). He needed a stronger foundation, which for this client, meant taking much better care of himself. He had always loved playing intramural sports, and if he didn’t have a volatile job with lots of travel, maybe a community sports league would have been an option. But a personal trainer was a more practical fit.
It took just a few weeks before he felt like a new person. In hindsight, this potential solution seemed so obvious, but it wasn’t until he came for coaching – we all have blind spots! Once he had a stronger foundation physically and mentally, our career work was able to begin.
If you are burned out, feeling stuck or otherwise just can’t move forward, you don’t have to figure it out alone. You may have hit a blind spot where you can’t see the way out by yourself. If you want support from an insider who has evaluated thousands of career paths and knows what it takes to have long-term, sustainable career success, schedule a Jumpstart strategy session to get unstuck and started on your most important career goals.
