Ten years ago, Jane was a high-powered saleswoman for an electronics company. She quit her job shortly after being passed up for a promotion. She was a great salesperson, but deep inside she didn't believe in the products that she was selling and didn't feel appreciated for her efforts.
She went to work for a friend who owned a small advertising and marketing company. Two years later, she quit. She'd done a tremendous job helping to grow the company but didn't feel recognized or valued for her contributions and still wasn't sure that she was on the right career path. Again, she didn't really believe in the products she'd helped promote.
Four companies later, she realized that she was very good at helping others to succeed in their chosen fields but continued to feel like an outsider. She realized that she'd never felt satisfied or fulfilled in any job. She wanted to feel passionate about what she did and about the company for which she worked. And she wanted to be recognized and valued for her contributions.
Before she started the Clarity Quest program, Jane had taken a class to discover her life's purpose and passion. No great insights had come to her. No bells had rung. No whistles had gone off. She wasn't clear about what she wanted to do, and she was extremely frustrated that in all of her career meanderings, she hadn't come across the perfect job.
When Jane worked on the Forgiveness and Acceptance exercises, she made an interesting discovery. She was holding herself back. She saw herself as a failure because she'd changed careers so frequently and hadn't found the job of her dreams. Since she had "failed" so many times, she had started to feel that somehow she didn't deserve to be happy in her work. Jane had a habit of berating herself and had labeled herself a failure. Her self talk was filled with words like "looser," "lacking direction and purpose," and "wishy washy." She realized that she couldn't become a success until she stopped thinking of herself as a failure and started believing that she was a worthy and deserving person.
To help move beyond these feelings of failure, Jane made a list of all of the valuable skills and lessons she'd learned over the past ten years. She also listed her accomplishments and successes. It was quite a long list. She then made a list of all of the people, emotions and beliefs that were holding her back--and she held a beautiful ceremony to release them.
Throughout the program, Jane realized that she had to send her subconscious mind messages that she was a worthy and deserving person. She took time to nurture herself and affirm her value. She worked to change her self-talk, affirming frequently that she'd done the best she knew how to do at the time, that all of the lessons and skills she'd acquired were valuable, and that she had a unique and special contribution to make.
During the retreat, she inventoried all her talents and skills and probed to find her true motivations. She realized that she enjoyed helping others but needed more control over her own job responsibilities. In her previous jobs, she had always worked as part of a team. That had made it hard to get the praise and acknowledgment that she sought as an individual.
When Jane reviewed her skills, successes, and lessons learned, then coupled them with her innate selling abilities, she saw that she had some powerful tools that she could use to launch her own company. She spent two days during the retreat mapping out a business plan for herself and wrote down a beautiful visualization clearly detailing her new life. She described what she would be doing, what her office looked like, what she would be wearing, and how it felt to be successful and deserving.
Jane started her own company that helps small businesses and individuals design and implement their own marketing and sales plans. She is excited about running her own enterprise and about helping others. Finally, she is passionate about her work and knows that she can make a valuable contribution.
