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How to be Content with Your Life and Still Reach for Your Dreams

October 23, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

Dreams out of reach? Here’s how to be content with your life and still reach for your dreams.

How to be Content with Your Life and Still Reach for Your Dreams VickiTillmanCoaching.com

How to be Content with Your Life and Still Reach for Your Dreams

Disappointment is part of life. (If I could give God advice about this, I’d tell Him that we should skip this part- but He seems to think otherwise.) We can have dreams, we can feel like we’re on the right track and then everything stops…falls apart…whatever. Then it seems like our dreams are ripped away from us.

Disappointment. It’s real. But life goes on. How do we allow life to be good even when it has been “wrong”?

Practice contentment. (Notice I said, “practice”? It takes a LOT of practice. It is a life-long, ongoing PROCESS.) BUT don’t give up on your dreams. Here’s how to be content with your life and still reach for your dreams.

How to be content with the life you have now.

*Keep daily gratitude lists. This isn’t cheesy, really. We know that Scripture tells us to give thanks and to have a grateful spirit (Psalms 100, 138, 139 and more). Now there’s research about the power of gratitude. University of California has done great work on gratefulness. They’ve found that written gratitude lists help

  • promote healthy immune systems and blood pressure
  • decrease depression levels
  • and more!Progressive Relaxation VickiTillmanCoaching.com

*Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of “calm, non-judgmental awareness”. The American Psychological Association shares some benefits of mindfulness:

  • stress reduction
  • improved working memory
  • better focus
  • more stable moods
  • enhanced relationships

There are many mindfulness practices. Download the freebie instructions for two of my favorites mindfulness practices: Progressive Relaxation and Ignatian Examen.

*Notice the good stuff that is here now. No matter how much “stuff” we have, we need something else- but that kind of thinking makes us sick. When you notice what you DO have (and are grateful for it), the pressure to accumulate things reduces.Ignatian Examen How-to VickiTillmanCoaching.com

*Notice the good people that are here now. Your friends and family are what they are- none are perfect but hopefully most are good. Concentrate on the good people and the good things they do. If you need to download some toxic people, go for it.

*Notice the good events that are here now. Every day, something good happens. What is it?

*Self-care. You can’t be content and then respect your body and soul. It works the other way around. Treat your body and soul well and you will more easily find contentment.

*Find 5 good friends. I always tell my clients, “You become like the 5 people you hang around with, so get 5 good friends.”

How to be content with your life and still reach for your dreams:

Don’t forget your dreams. They are gifts from God.

*Remember that there is always something ahead and that you already have a dream about it inside you. It’s there, trust me.

Trail Guide to Career Exploration for Adults VickiTillmanCoaching.com

*If you’ve forgotten about your dreams, start over.

*Rediscover yourself. Who are you? If you’ve forgotten, some Career Exploration (which is simply self-knowledge development) helps. Have some fun:

  • Remember who you are and rewrite your Personal Mission Statement
  • Redefine your dreams
  • Work with a coach to help you remember the dreams, keep you on track and prepared for your dreams

*Create a vision board

*Set aside a few minutes each week to develop a skill that will help you in your dreamTrail Guide to Writing Your Personal Mission Statement VickiTillmanCoaching.com

You can have both: contentment with the present and dreams about the future. Hold onto both! Contact me when you are ready to recalibrate your life through coaching.

How to be Content with Your Life and Still Reach for Your Dreams

Filed Under: Career Choice, Life transitions, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge, Skills for Success Tagged With: Career Choice, Contentment, Dreams, Life transitions, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge

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6 Steps of Career Change: More Than Dreams

September 19, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

There are 6 steps to career change: more than just your dreams.

6 Steps to Career Change: More Than Just Your Dreams VickiTillmanCoaching.com

6 Steps to Career Change: More Than Just Your Dreams

Much of the career coaching that I do is with people who realize they need out of their current situation:

  • Their current corporation is being sold and they can see that the new organization will outsource their position
  • There are only lateral moves available within their current corporation
  • They get up every morning and HATE what they are doing
  • They know there is more inside them than the work they are doing now
  • They are worth more than they are being paid
  • They remembered they once had dreams…

When my coachees are ready to launch into the adventure of recreating their careers, we talk a LOT about dreams.

  • What did you use to love?Trail Guide to Writing Your Personal Mission Statement VickiTillmanCoaching.com
  • What do you love now?
  • Forgot?
  • Don’t know?

How about you? What are YOUR dreams?

If you can’t remember, get started on a fresh life journey. Remember, re-evaluate. Re-write your personal mission statement. That will help you remember who you are and why you’re here on earth. If you’ve never had one, take a day to yourself and do this workbook:

Now, you’re ready to adventure!

But career change is NOT just about your dreams. Here are other things to think about:

  1. What are your strengths?
  2. What are your masteries or most powerful experiences? (Either in work or out)
  3. What has God revealed to you through those experiences?
  4. What are your values (what is most important to you- money, relaxation, travel, family, etc)?
  5. Who is depending on you?
  6. What is your cause (what are you involved in that has transcendent – or goodness- value)?Vicki Tillman Coaching

Sound overwhelming?

You’re right. Career changes can be tough. It’s best not to do that journey alone. Take along an experienced guide- in other words, a Career Coach.

Contact me today to get started! We can journey through your career change in person, by email or via Skype.

6 Steps to Career Change: More Than Just Your Dreams

Filed Under: Career Choice, Life transitions, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge Tagged With: Career Choice, Life transitions, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge

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Anything worth doing starts with being scared

August 17, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

Anything worth doing starts with being scared

Anything worth doing starts with being scared

Filed Under: Life transitions, Self-knowledge Tagged With: Anything worth doing, Life transitions, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge

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There is only one way to avoid criticism

August 16, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

There is only one way to avoid criticism

There is only one way to avoid criticism VickiTillmanCoaching.com

Filed Under: Life transitions, Self-knowledge Tagged With: Life transitions, One way to avoid criticism, Self-knowledge

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20-Something World Implosion: How to Un-implode!

July 17, 2016 by Vicki Tillman 4 Comments

What is 20-something world implosion? How to un-implode it?

20 Something World Implosion: How to fix it! VickiTIllmanCoaching.com

20-Something World Implosion: How to Un-implode!

20-Somethings are some of my favorite coachees. Here’s something I’ve noticed with many of you:

Your world implodes in the 2 years after college!

What is *world implosion*?

When you’re in college there’s a lot of life happening organically. You naturally know people from classes, dorms, organizations and activities. You develop GREAT friendships. Often, you find a significant other. And you really didn’t have to work that hard at making these relationships. They happen because of proximity: you are simply around each other. Proximity gives you a world, a life!

Then graduation happens… and people get real jobs, real careers, in really far-away places. Very often the wonderful peer-group of college days spreads out all over America.

What happens next is you are going to work, coming home, maybe stopping at the gym on the way home. Then the next day you are going to work, coming home, maybe stopping at the gym on the way home.

Before you know it, it feels like you DON’T have a world, and WHAT’S a life?

Sound familiar? Well then: 20-Something world implosion…how to un-implode?

Here are 3 steps to un-implode your world:

  1. Get out of denial. You aren’t going to get a life the way you got a life in college. Life usually doesn’t happen like that once you’re in the workforce.
  2. Face the need to get busy. I know you’re tired, but you’re going to have to get busy anyway- doing NEW things.
  3. Start exploring. Find a new thing to do each week. Look online. Local online news sources or meet-ups often list open activities of community organizations. Find a group that is doing something interesting or useful (running or hiking groups, book clubs, Habitat for Humanity, churches- things like that). Plan on visiting 2 groups a month until you find your thing(s).Confidence-Building Skills for Meeting New People VickiTillmanCoaching.com
  4. Visit the first time, use your social skills. Download the FREEBIE Confidence-Building Skills for Meeting New People for tips on breaking into a new group. Remember, when you’re the newbie in a group, the group has to prove itself to you (*Are they friendly?*) not you proving yourself to the group (NOT: *Are you interesting?*).
  5. Keep exploring. Eventually you will land on a group that is so much fun and so friendly that you’ll keep going back. Those people will become your new peer group.
  6. As you keep the adventure going, your world will become bigger– not in the same way it happened in college. When you’re 20-Something world un-implosion won’t really be organic; it must be intentional!

One thing that really helps when you’re un-imploding your world is to know yourself well and feel comfortable with who you are. The best way to do this is to work with a life transition coach. Contact me today to get started on the adventure of un-imploding your world!

20-Something World Implosion: How to Un-implode!

Filed Under: Life transitions, Relationship Skills, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge, Uncategorized Tagged With: Life transitions, Relationship Skills, Self-discovery, Self-knowledge, World Implosion

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It does not matter how great the pressure is

June 19, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

It does not matter how great the pressure is…

It doesn't matter how great the pressure is VickiTillmanCoaching.com

When pressure is telling you that God is working a change in your life, contact me for life coaching.

It does not matter how great the pressure is…

Filed Under: Life transitions, Self-knowledge Tagged With: Life transitions, Self-knowledge

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Do Not Let Small Things Crowd Great

June 18, 2016 by Vicki Tillman Leave a Comment

Do Not Let Small Things Crowd Great

 

Don't let small things crowd great VickiTillmanCoaching.com

Life coaching helps get you discover priorities and clarify focus. Contact me to get started.

Do Not Let Small Things Crowd Great

Filed Under: Self-knowledge Tagged With: Self-knowledge

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Testimonial

  • Career Exploration was a tremendously empowering experience for my teens and young adults. Three of my children worked through Vicki Tillman’s Career Exploration Workbook while they were high school students and learned so much about what types of steps they were best suited to take following graduation. My older son had missed out on the course as a teen and went back to use the workbook as a twenty-something when faced with the need for a job change; he was delighted with the direction he found after working through the exercises. I cannot recommend this resource too highly! Every teen and young adult will find greater understanding of their unique gifts and interests and how those qualities can influence career choices for a fulfilling future in the work world.

    - SJ

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