56. Reinventing Your Career To Suit Your Lifestyle

Have you ever felt the pressure to mold yourself into a version that fits your career, instead of the other way round? In this episode of the Career Confidence podcast, let's turn the tables on this outdated perspective. Join me as I share my own journey of reshaping my career to fit my needs and lifestyle. Learn from my personal experiences as I navigated the legal industry, and discover how you too can design your career to suit your lifestyle. 

This episode is a journey of self-discovery and a reality check on what's truly important when it comes to your career. We'll explore the power of a fulfilling career and its impact on our daily lives. You'll learn how to transform and reinvent your career to better serve you, no climbing the corporate ladder, no trying to fit a mold. The focus here is on reigniting your 'why' and tailoring a career path that brings you joy and purpose.

Tune in and let's create a career that truly fits your lifestyle.

The Unbound Lawyer - 1:1 Coaching Program
Book discovery call HERE.

Connect with the host:

Website: https://marijaduka.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marija-duka/ 

Instagram: @marija.duka

Referenced episodes
Episode 23 - Designing Your Career For Each Season Of Your Life

Transcript

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Creating a Meaningful Career

Speaker 1 0:06

Welcome to the Career Confidence podcast , the podcast for driven the lawyers wanting to step out of the traditional path and build fulfilling and purposeful careers . I'm your host , maria Ducar , legal counsel and career coach , helping you navigate your career with intention and confidence . In this podcast , we don't show away from having real conversations about topics that matter to us . Driven AF go getters From manifesting your dream career , negotiating the salary you deserve , creating your personal brand , knowing when it's time to pivot . We cover these topics and so much more . You ready , let's dive into today's episode . Hey , hey , welcome to another episode of the Career Confidence podcast . I'm excited to be with you here today . Hope you're doing well , hope you're enjoying the commute to work or your run or your walk or wherever you're listening to this podcast from . And whatever you're doing , let's just dive straight into today's episode . Obviously , this is called the Career Confidence podcast . Obviously , I'm very passionate about helping you have a fulfilling and thriving career and helping you make that shift and change that you need to make so you can get that dream job . That is what I am all about .

Speaker 1 1:32

In preparation of today's episode , I was reflecting on why am I so passionate about helping other women find careers that they are passionate about , that they feel excited by and feel purposeful in . I like to do regular check-ins with myself and reflect on why I started coaching women and , in particular , lawyers , in the first place . Of why , where did this passion derive from ? Finding myself ? These questions is what influenced and inspired me to create this episode today . I will share with you my why and what came up for me when I asked this question of myself , because this will give you insight and information into my mind and my thinking and also give you context around what I'll be talking about today why creating a meaningful career is important . My why stems from my own personal challenges in fitting in into the legal industry . I've shared my journey on here before , so I'm not going to go into too much detail in this episode because you can tune into that episode at the start . It's like episode , I think one or two , where I talk about my career journey , my own career struggles and my own . I guess that impossed the syndrome of feeling like I don't fit into the mold of what it is to be a lawyer . What it is to be in the legal industry , what it is to be successful in the legal industry , is what inspired me to become a career coach and help other women as well that I know are struggling with these thoughts too .

Speaker 1 3:18

I felt like at the start of my career that I just did not meet the criteria of what it is to be a quite unquote , successful lawyer . I was interested in other things . I liked business , I liked personal development , I loved health and wellbeing . I am not really interested in going in depths into the law and being this academic . That is not really what my interest is .

Speaker 1 3:46

No-transcript . There's no room for your personality in the legal industry . Things obviously shifting much more now and I'm excited to see these changes . But essentially , like long social , I felt like I never fit in and I felt like , because I didn't fit in , therefore I should not be a lawyer , I should not be in the legal industry . It's like not for me . And so , even though I am an intelligent , capable lawyer and a good lawyer at that as well , I did not see that at the time and I thought , okay , because I don't look like this certain specific way then , therefore , then I can't possibly be a great lawyer and therefore I shouldn't be here .

Speaker 1 4:29

Maybe this resonates with you . Maybe you've had these thoughts yourself . I know that throughout my career , I've had women come to me with these thoughts and I've had these conversations so many times and I get really sad and upset when really intelligent , incredible women leave the law , not because they don't want to be lawyers that's a different story , right ? If you don't want to be a lawyer , that's fair enough , you can go and pursue something else but because they simply felt like they didn't fit in and they felt like they had to change themselves in order to be in the profession . So my why really comes down to helping women take the power back over their career , to feel empowered in your career , to feel that confidence within yourself to create the career that you want in the legal industry , for you to be the one that's driving the change , for your career to fit you , rather than you having to mould yourself to fit it . And this is my deep why and what I get excited about and why I love coaching female lawyers in particular , around helping them step into their next career path . And I can say and I have seen a difference within myself and my clients on them feeling unfulfilled in their career and what that does to their self-worth and their confidence to then being in a position where they do feel fulfilled in their career , where they do have meaning in their career , and how that energises them and how that then leads them to gaining other opportunities as well .

Speaker 1 6:06

This is why I want to talk about why creating a meaningful career is important and how this adds to your life , how this adds to your energy , how this adds to the woman that you are , and how you show up each day . And now look , if someone is happy and content going into a job , and that's it . They don't care if it fulfills them or not , because they get the fulfillment elsewhere . That is totally fine , absolutely no judgment . But I know that you listen to this podcast because you are someone that wants to have meaning in your career . You're someone that loves your career , you want it to feel fulfilling , you want it to feel exciting and you want to continue to develop and work on yourself , and so this is for you . This is for the woman that is wanting to feel excitement in their career .

Speaker 1 6:55

This is not an episode about having to do more , to climb that corporate ladder and to be the best at the top of your game , and all of that . This is not about that . This is about Really you connecting back to your own why , why you started on this journey as a lawyer , what you're wanting to get out of your career and how you want it to fit into your lifestyle . Because I feel like we don't really reflect on these questions . We don't ask I saw these questions enough around why , why do we start ? And you might be maybe seven years post admission and you've just been working really hard head down and you haven't really had the time to breathe and ask yourself this question . So I really encourage you to take this opportunity To take that step back and ask yourself these questions around like why did I even start ? How do I want my career to look like from here ? How can I Transform and reinvent my career from it ? Like it's never too late to reinvent yourself or your career and how it looks like . And this is why I get really excited about this topic and why I love coaching women in their career to help them step into the next version . It's also okay if you've outgrown a certain job or a certain career . That is fine . This is why we then go back to what feels meaningful for us right now in this season of our life , and I think I do actually have an episode around Like transforming your career around different seasons in your life , and I can link that in the show notes . I forgot what episode number that is off by how , but I can link that into the show notes , so that's no problem at

Importance of Having a Meaningful Career

Speaker 1 8:37

all .

Speaker 1 8:37

When my clients come to me so a common thing that I see they come to me because they no longer feel fulfilled in their current role , for various reasons . They have different reasons , but the common thing is that there is this lack of fulfillment . There's this disconnect between why they started on this journey in the first place , what they're wanting , that next phase of their career to look like . They lack that clarity and that disconnect is between , yeah , why they started , what they're wanting , and their current role like it's not meeting those needs . Now my clients are very passionate , driven , intelligent women that want to have meaningful careers . They want to Feel excited , that we want to wake up and , you know , have that energy to take on the day and to feel like they can go to bed feeling at peace , that they had an incredible day . Now , obviously , not every day is going to look like that , but they generally want to have that feeling and so , from this space of feeling unfulfilled with . Then I take them on the journey of envisioning what it is that they're wanting their career to look like and part of that process they connected back to themselves . They Assess what is not working right now in their career , like that .

Speaker 1 10:05

One aspect is they're not feeling fulfilled . Why , why is that lack of fulfillment ? What is it that is making them feel that certain way ? Maybe they're rich to point where they know they're rollbacks front and there's no room for growth anymore . There's no opportunity that I say that opportunity for growth . They feel like they've done it all and that there isn't that exciting challenge anymore . Maybe it's the area of law and I want to do something completely different . They no longer feel excited by that area of law . They want to move into alternative area . Or maybe they realize after practicing for a few years that being a lawyer is Not for them . It doesn't feel fulfilling anymore . They have skills that they would like to use in a different , completely new career path for themselves .

Speaker 1 10:56

Whatever it is that that next step , that next step Results in the initial part of that process is to go within , to reconnect with yourself , to ask yourself why am I not feeling fulfilled ? What's not working right now For me . What is it that I'm craving ? What will add meaning to my career , like what it is that I'm looking for , that feels Like I will have more fulfillment in what I do ? It's not an easy thing to answer and it's not an overnight process . This takes some time and reflection and some great iteration of what you maybe thought your career might look like to you know what I actually think that this other part , is this possible for me now , even though I didn't say before , now I do see it Because I can no longer be going on this same path , because it just feels , yes , really dense and heavy and like I'm not going anywhere .

Speaker 1 11:58

When my clients have that aha moment of really pinning down what has not been working for them and having that realization of what they truly want , without all the noise and without the excuses and without all the reasons why they can't do that , when they have a aha moment , they realize that how possible it is to actually create meaning in their work so that it also works really well for their lifestyle . That's another thing . Like our life and work intertwine . It's not that 50-50 balance and particularly for us lawyers , like our jobs can be quite demanding and it is hard to get that 50-50 split . But it is about how you can add more to your life and how you can merge them more seamlessly by having a career that really works well for your lifestyle . So it's not even always necessarily about the actual job itself and the subject matter or what type of work you're doing or the type of area of law . It's not always about that . Sometimes it is about simply that type of job just not working within your lifestyle anymore .

Speaker 1 13:18

Maybe just recently become a mum and you've realized that you want more time with your child , but you still want to have a meaningful career , but where you're at right now is not giving you that flexibility and that ability to be able to merge the two , to be able to be a present mum as well as be really fulfilled and greater what you do as well . So sometimes it can be like a structural and lifestyle thing where maybe the job you are doing you like it , but it just is not working right now with your lifestyle , and so , like when you think about why having meaning in your career is important , I really want you to prioritize what lifestyle you want to be living Like . What is it that you want because our careers are long . It is a marathon , it is not a sprint . It's not like you can just compartmentalize your job from your life , like it is very much a big part of our life . So how you want your life to look like is a key part of you then making that decision around what you want your career to look like so that it can fit well into your lifestyle and so that it can feel meaningful .

Speaker 1 14:39

Another reason why having a meaningful career is really important is because this directly impacts your energy . So your job can either drain you and deplete you and take it all out of you , or it can energize you . It can make you feel excited and inspired and light . This is important because in our day to day life how we show up in our job and in our life it intertwines , that it impacts one another . So if you're in a job that doesn't feel meaningful and it doesn't feel like there's a meaningful connection there and doesn't give you that energy and in fact , depletes you , that will then take away from how you show up in your life as well . You won't be the most present person or the most pleasant person to be around , because if you're feeling drained and like you don't have the energy , then you'll be more grumpy and you might not be speaking to your family in a way that you would like to be speaking to them . So it all intertwines . So why is it important to have a meaningful career is because it does impact on your energy and how you show up .

Speaker 1 15:45

Another reason why it's important to have a meaningful career is so that you can fulfill that part of yourself that wants to make an impact . Right , so being a lawyer I'm sure a lot of you decided to become a lawyer because you want to make an impact of some sort . Whatever type of impact it may be will vary between each and every one of you , but you want to make some sort of impact . You want to leave some sort of legacy , you want to make some sort of change , be part of something bigger than yourself . Think about the impact that you want to make and what actions you can take to make that impact . And is the container of your current job allowing you to make that impact , or is it stripping everything that you enjoy away from you ? So yeah , really reflect on that and think about the impact you want to make and how , whether your current job allows that or if it doesn't give you that space at all .

Speaker 1 16:52

Now I want to say as well that you don't need to pull and you shouldn't put pressure on yourself and on your career to fill up all of your cups , because it won't and it doesn't have to . You can have a career that does fulfill you , but then you have other aspects of your life that fulfill other aspects of you , because we are multifaceted human beings , so we have different interests and passions and all of that . So we can't expect for our career to be our everything , just like we can't expect one person to meet all of our needs and to be our everything either . You can't possibly put that pressure on anyone , so you shouldn't be putting that pressure on yourself to have a career that ticks every single box in your life . This is why it's important , as I said before , to really reflect on what lifestyle you want to have , because that will then also impact the decision on how you want your career to look like , so that they can merge seamlessly together . Another reason why having a meaningful career is important is because you know why it makes you feel good , and when you feel good , you want to then continue to expand and to challenge yourself and to take on new opportunities and to take on exciting new challenges , and it grows your confidence as well . That's why having a meaningful career is also important .

Speaker 1 18:23

As I said at the top of this episode , I've seen how having a not so fulfilling career can really bring someone down , and , on the other side , I've seen how having a meaningful career can really energize and lift someone up and they can show up in different ways that they never thought were possible and they can expand their career beyond the limit of what they thought was possible as well . And that this all comes back to having that meaning in what you do . And meaning is subjective . It means different things to each and every one of you . Like what you get out of a certain job is different , what someone else gets out of their job Like everyone has their own criteria that they have for themselves and what they have for their jobs as well . Like what is it that you want to get out of your career and how can you then take the steps to help fulfill that as well ?

Speaker 1 19:18

So I hope this episode gave you that , I guess , that push or that inspiration that you needed to maybe take a bit of a step back and reassess where you're currently at and whether your current job is feeling fulfilling , or whether it's , or if it's not . Going back to why . Why did you start on this career path in the first place ? Why did you become a lawyer ? What is it that attracted you to become a lawyer and what is it that you want to achieve in this next phase of your career ? How can you reinvent this season of your career so that it does feel more meaningful ? So I hope that you start to ask yourself these questions and it gets you know the brain juices flowing and gets you feeling excited for the next chapter of your career as well . If you would love support in taking that next step in your career , then feel free to book in a discovery call with me . I have a signature program called the Unbound Lawyer Coaching Program , where I support my clients to make that next career move that feels good for them , and I take you through a process over three months in helping you to land your desired role . Or , if you're wanting to elevate your current role , I can also support you to do that as well . So the link is in the show notes to book in your free discovery call and we can chat more about how I can support you there .

Speaker 1 20:57

Hope you love this episode . As always , reach out to me in DMs and share with me your key takeaways and insights from the episode , and I'll chat to you very soon . Have an amazing week ahead . Thanks for tuning into the Career Confidence Podcast Like what you learned today . Why not share this episode with your work bestie and leave us a five star review on ? Wherever you listen to your podcast on , we'd absolutely love to get into more years and help more women , just like you , build fulfilling and thriving careers . Until next time .