Category Archives: Defining Your Dream Work


Are You Cinderella or The Ugly Step Sister When It Comes To Your Career?

By Sarah Cooper | Published July 10, 2009

Photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/glamhag/
/CC BY-SA 2.0
You remember the classic fairy tale. Cinderella flees the Royal Ball at midnight, accidentally leaving behind one glass slipper.  The captivated Prince Charming picks it up and searches the land to find its beautiful owner.
All sorts of hopeful candidates, including Cinderella’s evil ugly stepsisters, try to force their feet into the [...]

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The Importance of NOT Being Earnest (with apologies to Wilde)

By Sarah Cooper | Published June 26, 2009

Photo credit: flickr user fernallan

As a relatively new blogger I know it’s important to spend some time getting acquainted with the experts. My favourite is Pamela Slim of Escape From Cubicle Nation. She always manages to sound like a real person, which is harder than you’d imagine.  This “living your dreams” territory can be a minefield [...]

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Ann’s Story - Why You Should Never Give Up

By Sarah Cooper | Published May 1, 2009

One of the few downsides of my coaching practice is not always knowing how things turn out for a client.
People come to coaching when they want to make a major change - and that’s not easy. In an ideal world, we’d continue the coaching until the client successfully made all the changes they wanted. But [...]

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Also posted in Building Self Belief, Reaching Your Potential | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
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How To Know For Sure If It’s Work That’s Right For You

By Sarah Cooper | Published March 3, 2009

Deciding on a new career direction can be a paralysing experience. This is particularly true if you’ve spent many years in a job or profession that didn’t quite fit.  You really want to make the right choice this time round.
 
I’ve been there and felt the agony of hovering around on the edge of a [...]

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Also posted in Managing The Transition, Useful Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
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How To Define And Get YOUR Kind Of Success

By Sarah Cooper | Published February 14, 2009

 
“Hey, I don’t have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success”.
 
So speaks Dicky Fox, mentor to sports agent Jerry Maguire in the film of that name.  I’ve always [...]

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Also posted in Achieving Balance | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
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Are You Watering Down Your Dream?

By Sarah Cooper | Published January 30, 2009

 
One of the things I often notice is how quick we are to water down our dreams. I know that sometimes we do have to bend to reality, but much of the time we don’t even give our dreams a chance. We compromise up front, before even testing the ideal. Or we lose focus, distracted [...]

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Uncover Your Buried Dreams – By Writing The Perfect Obituary

By Sarah Cooper | Published January 2, 2009

I know this sounds rather morbid, but writing your own obituary is actually a great way of uncovering the dreams you have for your life.
 
Often we don’t acknowledge – let alone achieve – our dreams because we prefer to carry on with our hands in the sand, living our “good enough” day-to-day lives and [...]

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Also posted in Reaching Your Potential, Useful Tools and Techniques | Tagged , | 1 Comment
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What Your Party Conversation Says About Your Ideal Work

By Sarah Cooper | Published November 22, 2008

What sort of people do you prefer to talk to at a party? According to Richard Bolles, author of What Colour Is Your Parachute and long-standing career change guru, your answer to this question will determine the work environment that suits you best.
 
Understanding the type of environment you flourish in is essential to finding [...]

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Also posted in Useful Tools and Techniques | Tagged , , | 1 Comment
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Seize Your Wild Want

By Sarah Cooper | Published October 31, 2008

I was re-reading This Time I Dance by Tama Kieves this week when I came across a passage that really rang true for me. I think it makes a great follow-on to my recent leap of faith post.
 
Tama is an ex-corporate lawyer turned creative writer and coach. She has this to say about following [...]

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Finding Out What You Really Want: How Getting Naked Helps

By Sarah Cooper | Published June 4, 2008

 
Most of my clients tell me that although they’re not happy in their current career, they just don’t know what they’d like to do instead.
 
I can relate to where they’re coming from.  I worked for over 10 years, first as a solicitor and then in various marketing roles in the voluntary sector, knowing that what [...]

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