The Currency Of Success How Coaching Helped An Olympian Towards Career Fulfillment

eighth May 2018 | Leave a comment The Currency of Success: How Coaching Helped An Olympian Towards Career Fulfillment By Mick Darby and Shaun McKeown Shaun McKeown is a Paralympian silver medal-winning bike owner. Immediately following his extraordinary achievement in the London 2012 Paralympics and buoyed by his victory he was able to decide to more training and daring to dream of Rio and the possibility of doing even better than silver. By 2014, and after many fraught meetings together with his teaching staff, he not felt valued and determined to retire. Shaun felt the coaching setup had turn out to be centred around winning at no matter price, with gold medals the one currency of success. He was not alone. Indeed, the extent of the publish-2012 fallout recently got here to gentle in a revealing BBC documentary “Britain’s cycling superheroes the value of success?” Unfortunately, Shaun’s teaching help didn't prolong to aiding him with the transition from cycling into a new career. So, after spending a couple of years prodding and poking in a couple of areas that he thought would possibly re sult in getting his career stepping into an excellent path, he found himself working in a motorcycle shop; in a job he discovered unfulfilling; not going anyplace shortly. In late 2017 he took a choice to get some coaching and began The Career Psychologist “Getting Unstuck” programme. The image below was drawn by Shaun in his first coaching session to represent how he felt after trying to find profession direction over three years. Shaun defined: “Coming from a pressured, outcomes driven environment, which suited some areas of my persona and had given me wonderful life experiences, I was now in a different world”. The picture he drew illustrated how he felt. He knew there have been new profession directions on the other side of the wall but he couldn’t see them. He wanted to smash via the wall yet every time he tried, it grew larger, taller and thicker; he was expending all his mental and emotional vitality attempting to smash down an insurmountable barrier. He felt frustr ated and caught. So, somewhat than attempt to smash by way of it, Shaun used his teaching sessions to discover the bricks in his wall. For instance, one of his bricks was the thought “I have to have a ‘correct’ profession to exchange professional cycling with something equally vital”. This appeared to make sense for him because it pushed him to strive for something significant. But when he reflected on this concept he realised this inflexible mind-set was not working to his advantage. So, rather than look for something to replace his silver medal profitable Olympic career, Shaun started to assume more about what mattered to him in life; his transferable expertise, values, strengths, private ambitions, passions, and career options he may enjoy: “It was a refreshing process. Looking at my strengths was a real ‘eye opener’ and I might see how they linked really well to the personal values that I needed to live by. I may ask myself what environment I wanted to place myself in and the kind of actions I wished to be concerned in. By the end of the process I had evaluated where I was and what I had achieved, what my values where and how I needed to apply them. I was also in a position to put what I was doing in a unique context. When I stepped again and took within the bigger picture, I realised that I enjoyed working in a relaxed environment, with colleagues who have now turn into pals, and customers who worth my recommendation. I was giving importance to the elements that would allow me to get pleasure from and thrive in my future working setting.” Does Shaun’s drawing seem acquainted to you? Although Shaun’s previous life as an Olympian was extraordinary, his experience of fighting a change of career is typical of many. Similar ‘burnout’ cultures, of pushing staff to ship until they can’t give any more, exist in lots of workplaces. Is this something that you recognise? Shaun used the psychological ‘bricks’ â€" that had beforehand held him back â€" to navigate his profession ‘stuckness’ by creating a more psychologically agile and playful mind-set about his current scenario. The extra he explored his options, the much less the wall appeared to matter. He got here to grasp that his ‘forex of success’ was by no means about gold medals. Shaun still works within the bike store â€"the same workplace that he had previously discovered irritating and dull â€" and enjoys helping individuals, sharing his expertise and staying linked with the sport he loves. Doing the identical work has more meaning for him at present than it used to. He has also embarked upon a portfolio profession, which entails splitting his time and expertise between a couple of setting, to be able to broaden upon his big selection of interests; on his personal terms. Today, Shaun’s ‘currency of success’ is the success he finds via writing, exploring his interest in nature pictures, and serving to others. He needed to share this photograph of a biking route he typically takes and which represents the journey he is on today. What does it say to you? Mick Darby is a training psychologist at The Career Psychologist. If you’d like to discuss your currency of success, or discover the bricks in your wall, please get in touch. Career Change, Getting Unstuck teaching Your e mail tackle will not be printed. Required fields are marked * Comment Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and web site in this browser for the following time I comment. This site uses Akismet to cut back spam. 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