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Episode 23: How to use your intuition to create a successful career strategy with Nicki Dunnavant

Welcome to The Career Clarity Show, where we help you find a lucrative, soulful, and joyful career path for you! Wouldn’t life be easier if someone told us exactly what to do in our careers?

Imagine: we don’t have to worry about paying attention to what we want to do or who we want to be, because someone else can see so deeply inside of us that they can prescribe the right path for us. 

The people around us help shape us, whether intentionally or accidentally, particularly when they give us feedback on what we’re good at. (And, don’t we all love being told we’re good at our job?)

But, at some point, the magic runs out. We can be told we’re “good” at something until we’re blue in the face…but it stops being enough. In our heart and soul, there’s an ache for something that feels more aligned. We’re tired of hustling so hard for something that doesn’t actually feel like us. 

It’s scaryand sadto realize that the directions everyone else gave us led us astray. You feel isolated and hopeless about liking what you . 

What can you do when you feel lost without a roadmap?

Career coach Nicki Dunnavant has a prescription that taps into your intuitive side. She says that the reason we feel so adrift when the directions for our life aren’t working is because we learned to outsource that responsibility for choosing our own path. 

When you realize that you’re the only one truly in the driver’s seat, you can start to learn how to listen to your deepest needs and your intuition to find the road back to you. (And, as Nicki rightly notes, we’ve often been leaving ourselves secret hints in our choices.) 

Here are a few of her suggestions on ways to create our own career roadmap:

1.Consider trying a side hustle.

Nicki isn’t a fan of banishing your magnetic interests and fun solely into a side hustle — but says trying one is a great way to start exploring bringing more joy into your work. For many of us who make big career pivots, starting out with a test experiment like a side hustle allows you to manage risk and gain information before making a bigger career pivot. And some of the most successful side hustles are ones that start out as hobbies — things that you do purely for the enjoyment of it! (That’s how Nicki started her work as a doula and ultimately led her to start her nonprofit.) If there’s an idea your intuition has kept coming back to, give yourself permission to explore one single teeny baby step towards it, like taking a class or learning how to set up an Etsy shop.

2. Define success on your own terms.

If you truly want to aspire to the corner office, great! But a lot of times that’s touted as the singular definition of professional success, which feels limiting for those of us who see our legacy as being more than just a title. Spend some reflective time thinking about how you define success. A great thought prompt from business strategist and speaker Jenny Blake is: what do I want to give? What do I want to receive? And, what do I want to achieve? These answers will probably cross-pollenate one another and may not be crystal clear at first, but even your best guesses here can be instructive about what paths will lead you closer — and which won’t. (Want help with this? We’re doing a free webinar on mapping out what’s next that requires cultivating a vision for the future in this live online masterclass on January 23rd. Come join us!)

3. Feel the feels.

Numbing out is a common coping strategy — and, a very tempting one. When we’re feeling emotionally drained by our day (or worse, feel frustrated, hopeless, or afraid), it can be terrifying to let the enormity of everything you’re feeling pour over you. But if you choose a coping behavior that turns down the volume on how you feel — whether it’s drinking, Disney+, exercising, or using other substances — you’re teaching yourself not to trust the clear message your body is trying to give you. (This is why the week after vacation is so rough — you’re crash landing right back into the reality that travel allowed you to escape.) When you ignore your feelings, you’re reinforcing a feedback loop that says “my needs and emotions are not important or are too hard to deal with, so I’ll choose to avoid them and continue making decisions that don’t feel good because I can’t really feel anymore.” Suffice it to say, this is no way to live a heart-centered or soulful life.   

4. Get someone to help you train the muscle of knowing what you want.

Having a clear sense of what you want (or don’t want) in your life is a skill, not an innate gift. When we think about it as a skill and a muscle, it reframes our sense of agency and control around it. Just like if you were training to climb a mountain (one of Nicki’s favorite things!), you wouldn’t start with the highest peak. You’d start with something manageable to build up your muscles and endurance. Training up your skill of discernment can be done one day (and one decision) at a time. But, just like with mountain climbing, there’s a point where it becomes really hard to learn this all on your own — you don’t know what you don’t know. 

When you ask for help, it goes so much better. You only get this one, wild, precious life to live — and while getting support to live it well can seem like a privilege, it’s also a critical investment in yourself. Notice the benefits of getting help: you’ll go farther faster, benefit from expert guidance, and usually avoid some of the disheartening dips and setbacks that can often overwhelm eager but inexperienced seekers. Getting happier faster has ripple effects into your romantic relationship, your family, your coworkers, and your friends.  

Nicki nails it when she says: “Being happy can be a radical act.” 

If you want to hear more about the adventure life, running a nonprofit, or get coaching from her, click here to learn more about Nicki!

Want to learn more about our philosophy of career change? Download The Roadmap to Career Fulfillment ebook right here!

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About the Author Lisa Lewis

Lisa is a career change coach helping individuals feeling stuck to find work that fits. She helps people clarify who they are, what they want most, and what a great job for them looks like so they can make their transition as easily as possible. Lisa completed coaching training in Jenny Blake’s Pivot Method, Danielle LaPorte’s Fire Starter Sessions, Kate Swoboda's Courageous Living Coaching Certification, and the World Coaches Institute. In addition to that, she apprenticed with the top career coaches in the country so she can do the best possible work with — and for — you. She's helped more than 500 individuals move into more fulfilling, yummy careers and would be honored to get to serve you next!

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