Read the Introduction: From Burned Out to Fired Up

Joline is so busy at an accounting job she doesn’t like, she has no time to look for a career she’ll really enjoy. Occasionally, she feels so frustrated and depleted that she vows to start looking for more meaningful work. But after making some gestures toward finding another job, she gets a little anxious about actually leaving the security of her position and puts off taking action for a little while longer.

Diane always dreamed of owning a café. She finally opened her business six months ago in a space she’d had her heart set on for months. Unfortunately, what she thought would be enriching evenings spent chatting with interesting customers about music and art turned out to be frantic days spent poring over paperwork, agonizing over whether she can cover last month’s bills. Once her day job is done, she spends an exhausting evening as hostess, waitress and bus-woman. She wonders if she should just cut her losses and give up. Her family hopes she will do exactly that. On the rare occasions that she’s home when her family is awake, she’s drained and moody.

Estee’s two boys are finally in middle school, and she can’t wait to do something fun, satisfying and profitable with her newfound time. If she only knew what that might be. When she was younger, she thought about being a teacher. Now she’s not so sure. How does she begin to discover her calling and how to act on it?

Like these women, you may be considering changing careers to:

• get out of a frustrating job that’s draining your energy and creativity
• gain control of your schedule
• make time for children and other important family commitments
• stop living crisis to crisis
• do something that allows you to express your true self

Without a map and a guide, it’s hard to know where to start. Many women who dream of leaving a frustrating job, or who are ready to get into the workforce after raising a family, aren’t sure how to approach finding their perfect career. Some try to fit themselves into an available position, but end up settling for a job that doesn’t allow them the self-expression they had hoped for. Others start up their own business, assuming that if they were their own boss, they’d control their schedule and do things their way. Unfortunately, many female entrepreneurs become slaves to their own businesses.

What’s the point of having a plan that ensures cash flow for the business but prevents you from realizing the dreams and priorities that make your life worth living? Or one that encourages you to dream about the day you’ll be spiritually fulfilled but doesn’t offer a clue about how to make that happen? As a psychotherapist and a career and life-transition coach, I specialize in creating strategies that enable clients to successfully combine their gifts and talents with their values and priorities. I also help clients use life transitions—including crises like burnout or job loss—to deepen their understanding of themselves and their place in the world. For years, I searched in vain for a book that each of my clients could use—a guide to developing career strategies and business plans that integrates their personal goals and family’s needs. I realized that I had to write the book I wanted to share with them, and the book I wished I’d had when I was burned out.

What’s in It for You? This book will help you find and follow your calling, whether you want to start your own business or you just feel like there’s something missing in your life. Using the worksheets and journaling exercises, you’ll create a detailed map built on the solid foundation of your values, priorities, and family and personal responsibilities. I call this map a “Synergy Plan” because it integrates all of these important elements with career planning and goals.

Many women have used this process, and in doing so, have found their calling in once-chaotic lives. By learning where to focus their energy, they’re now more fulfilled and less frazzled; more energized and less stressed. They’ve let go of the guilt they used to feel because they knew in their hearts that they weren’t living according to what was most important to them. You can read this book from beginning to end or you can skip around. Part One includes a quiz you can take to see if you’re burned out. If so, you’ll learn how you got that way and what you need to do to reorganize your life around a higher purpose. Part Two spells out four types of burnout I’ve come across in my work (and in myself) and what you can do about them. Part Three gives step-by-step guidance to reprioritize your life and live according to your values. And Part Four will help you stay on your true path over the long-term.

Keep a Journal

To make your time spent reading this book more productive, keep a journal or notebook. You can use this not only to answer various questions in the journaling exercises at the end of most chapters, but also to articulate where you feel stuck and what to do about it.

Do you fantasize about a time in the future when you are doing just what you want—doing what you are meant to do? You can do something about it right now. Chapter 1 will help you start at the beginning with understanding what a calling is, and how to find yours.

We don't receive wisdom;
we must discover it for ourselves
after a journey that no one can
take for us or spare us.
—Marcel Proust