Now What?® Coaching

Tag: Kirsten Meneghello

  • Money Shouldn’t Hold You Back

    By Kirsten Meneghello, Now What? Facilitator
     

    Most clients I work with have some issues around money. An issue might be raised upfront, when the client says he/she can’t afford coaching; or it may show up later in the process, when the client feels he/she can’t transition into another field because of fear around money. “Is there enough money?” “Can I afford this?” “What if I run out?” “I’m afraid of dealing with money.” “I’m no good with money.”

    I recently attended a talk by a financial coach who said that our beliefs about money are solidified by the time we are five years old and mostly stem from watching how our family dealt with money. What most of us don’t realize is that we each have a set of beliefs about money and these beliefs are what drive us to make the choices we currently do. Let’s examine a few of the more common beliefs.

    “I can’t afford it.”

    The belief that you cannot afford something stems from a sense of scarcity and the belief that there won’t be enough to go around. The reality is you are not making the potential purchase a priority in your life, leading you to believe you cannot “afford” it. You can afford to buy lots of things, but you choose not to. By changing the language to “I choose not to at this time,” you take ownership of your decision and you claim your power. When you say, “I can’t afford it,” you are acting as a victim of circumstances and you give away your power. Read full article here.

  • Midlife Career Change: from CEO to Police Officer

    by Kirsten Meneghello, Now What® Facilitator

    One of the bravest things a person can do is make a dramatic career change while seemingly in the prime of their life.  Although the person might be outwardly successful in what he or she is doing, earning good money and enjoying the respect of colleagues, they know deep inside that it is time for a change.  But throwing it all away and starting over again?  This daunting task is never easy but is often incredibly rewarding.  I recently had the chance to talk to a good friend of mine who made such a leap, and his story is inspirational and a lesson in courage.

     Read More…

  • When “Success” is Not Enough

    by Kirsten Meneghello, Now What® Facilitator 

    Laurie is a “successful” attorney according to most people. She has earned an advanced degree, prestige as a lawyer, a good salary and is recognized as an expert in her field. Her co-workers and colleagues look up to her as a respected leader. But Laurie doesn’t feel that way about herself. She feels like an imposter at work and lately has begun to dread going to the office. She doesn’t like her work environment because she feels it’s not collegial and team-oriented. She feels like everyone is out for themselves and their own interests.

    When Laurie called me, she was really down and feeling isolated. She knew this was not her dream job. But how could she justify walking away from a career at which she was successful? Through the coaching process, we started to unpack the difference between what others expected of her and what she wanted for herself. I find that many people in mid-life are in this same place. There is a lot of societal pressure to stick with a job or career when you are successful on the outside, even if you are miserable on the inside. If you are in this position and tell a friend you are unhappy, they will probably think you are crazy to consider changing jobs or professions.

    Success is often measured by fame, an impressive title, having a big salary and a fancy car. But all of those are fleeting and leave you feeling empty in the end (sooner or later!). How you truly find success is to identify your unique purpose and bring your purpose to your work. When you are able to apply your special talents and passions on the job every day, it results in deep personal fulfillment and the satisfaction of contributing to society in a meaningful way. At that point, you will truly be “successful.”

    So how did Laurie do this? She discovered through our coaching sessions that her life purpose was to provide solutions. She does this naturally everywhere she goes.  For fun, she enjoys solving complex word puzzles and researching dense legal regulations. You might think to yourself, “What? That’s not fun.” It is to Laurie. She loves solving problems and helping others. She found that what made her current work environment so difficult was it did not allow her to provide solutions. In fact, finding solutions was actively discouraged. It was killing Laurie one day at a time.

    Once Laurie got in touch with her gift to provide solutions, her perspective on her future career paths changed dramatically. She is currently defining what kind of job she is looking for next. It may or may not be in a legal field, but it will allow her to provide solutions every day and she is so excited. The best part is now Laurie does not define success by whether or not she wins a legal argument or how many hours she bills, but by how she is able to provide solutions every day. By identifying her unique purpose and finding a job at which she can apply her purpose, she knows that she will be successful no matter what she does.

    Today’s article by Now What?® facilitator Kirsten Meneghello first appeared in Inspirational Woman Magazine and is posted on our blog with permission.

  • And when the doors close…

    by Kirsten Meneghello, Now What® Facilitator 

    When we walk through life and continue to see doors close on potential paths we really wanted to go down, how do we react? With frustration and anger? Or do we take the 10,000 foot view and realize that the Universe is trying to tell us something? Nudge, nudge. “Over here! Look over here!” And when we look back on past disappointments in our lives, we inevitably see how it all worked out for the best. For example, maybe that guy I really liked didn’t like me back. But then I met my future husband the next year and I was glad I single when I met him.

    When we really, really want something (i.e. a new job) and we are holding on oh-so-tight, and then we don’t get the job of our dreams, we automatically attach meaning to it and create a story around it. It might go something like this: “I’m not good enough,” “I’ll never find the right job,” or “The economy is so bad right now, I’d be lucky to get a menial job at McDonald’s.” And that’s not what life is saying to us at all. There is no meaning attached to not getting the job except the meaning you create around it. Maybe it was just not the right job for you at this moment in time. Perhaps it’s not because you were thinking too big, but maybe you were thinking too SMALL. What if you were not meant to be a salesperson, but the manager of the sales team?

    HOW we interpret our “failures” is essential to how we move forward.

    A friend told me a story over the weekend about her friend, Susan. Susan was very unhappy in her job. She complained about it all the time. She had a long commute to and from work and couldn’t wait to find something else. Recently, Susan was laid off from her position. The universe heard her, sensed her energy around her job and gave her the option to explore something she would really like to do. When my friend saw Susan, she said “I bet you are so happy now that you’re out of that place.” And Susan’s eyes were frozen, like a deer in the headlights. She was scared because she was a single mom and not sure what to do next. Instead of feeling excited about the possibilities, she was terrified.

    We need to pay attention to the doors that close and the doors that open.   It’s really about the perspective we have that will make an amazing difference in how we see what is possible for ourselves.

  • Vern and his Molecat

    by Kirsten Meneghello, Now What® Facilitator

    Our family went to the state fair this weekend and had a great time. I love to see the cows, pigs, llamas, and the proud 4-H kids showing off the animals they have raised. It’s a big deal.

    While we were visiting the commercial exhibitors/vendors, we passed the requisite guy selling knives while slicing and dicing veggies and telling corny jokes. But I also met a really interesting guy who was selling an invention called the “Molecat.” It’s a device that kills moles instantly with percussion. It’s a pretty clever device and as I was talking with the salesman, I could tell he was really jazzed about it. I asked him, “Are you the inventor?” and he said proudly, “Yes.”

    Since I’m a curious person, I asked him his name and how he came up with the idea. Vern said he used to work for Intel as a “troubleshooter” but was laid off a few years ago. He was helping his wife in the garden and they encountered a big mole problem. He put his troubleshooting and engineering skills to work and created a solution — the Molecat. Now Vern has a patent pending on the device and he and his wife run a business selling Molecats.

    I was so touched by his story because when he got laid off from his job, he didn’t see it as the end of the world. He put his same skills to work — troubleshooting and engineering — and looked at opportunities to use them in his daily life. When Vern saw this opportunity, he took action and did something about it.

    Since the economy has taken a downturn, there are a lot of people who have been laid off and have not taken it as well as Vern. But even if you have lost your job, you have to remember you have not lost your skills, creativity, work ethic, and knowledge that you have gained along the way. It’s important to step back, realize all you are and all you have accomplished and then apply it in a different way. I know all of us aren’t cut out to be entrepreneurs or inventors. But we can “re-invent” ourselves, if we are OPEN to opportunity and take ACTION when we are presented with options.

    P.S. I’m not affiliated with Vern’s product in any way, but if you are curious (like me!) about Vern and his Molecat, his website is www.molecat.com.