Olympic Coach Helps Women Win Their ‘Jobstacle Course’

Posted on January 25, 2012 by nad philips, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

Women who are not working in well-paying careers that they love have a problem. Or, as I like to put it, they have a jobstacle. They may have one or more of these obstacles that stand in their way of changing careers to a much more fulfilling work life doing what they were born to do.
I identified four common jobstacles women need to overcome that are identical to the ones shared by Olympic athletes, particularly when they move on to new careers.
They are:
Jobstacle No. 1: Fear of competing. Many women don’t advance in their careers because they don’t feel comfortable competing in the race. They are motivated by being part of the team but don’t want to stand out. Ironically, professional athletes often share the same struggle. I recall working with one professional athlete who did well in practices but chocked during games because he feared he would lose the support of his teammates if he were too successful. After the athlete shared his concerns with his teammates, he went on to play the best games of his career. Some women may need to have a similar conversation with their colleagues.
Jobstacle No. 2: Not believing you can win. Working women face more time pressures than men. They are often doing more in the home than their spouses while also performing in their jobs. On top of that, they may be carrying around the belief that they can’t or won’t be promoted – or don’t have the time or energy to seek a more demanding job. I say women need to discover their own set of limiting beliefs, and then shed the dead weight they represent in order to reach their peak performance.
Jobstacle No. 3: Not having the right coach. Women need to surround themselves with individuals who believe in them and can encourage them to greatness. This encouragement may come from friends, mentors or even a professional career coach who has been specifically hired to do the job. Philips says having a coach to give her the extra push she needs to achieve all that she is capable of is something many women could benefit from. But it has to be the right coach, a person who through experience knows exactly how to work with them. I remember the story of a female athlete who had two trainers. Both were aware that she had panic attacks. However one of them was able to help her achieve big victories while the other could not. When I asked her why this was so; she said: it’s in the way they looked at me, it’s all in the eyes. She could tell that one believed in her whereas the other coach’s eyes betrayed his inner doubts about her abilities.
Jobstacle No. 4: Staying in the race too long. Women who manage to make it to the top of their field sometimes get too comfortable and end up staying there too long. They can become bored or burned out, and their performance may begin to suffer. An Olympic ski champion I coached serves as an example. After a back injury and a year of grueling rehabilitation, the skier was back on the slopes to prepare for an upcoming championship. However it soon became apparent that he was no longer willing to take the risks he took before the injury. He decided to quit while he was on top and move on to a new career off the slopes. “Time after time, I meet people who are unable or unwilling to move on in life when the time has come,” . “By staying entangled in your jobstacles too long you jeopardize your chances of bouncing back elsewhere and becoming what you need to become.”