The internal demons we battle

To help me write this email, I’ve opened up the history page on my appointment scheduler, showing the different coaching sessions that I’ve done over the past two years.

Each person on this list came to me for a specific purpose - to talk about a new career goal, job-specific pursuit, etc.

But instead of covering these topics on the call, we would let ourselves go a step deeper.

”I’m trying to become a physician assistant,” would become, “I want to make my parents proud.”

”I’m looking to transition into a director-level role,” would shift into, “I just don’t want to embarrass myself.”

”I want to be a software engineer for Google,” became, “I need to make the ‘right’ next move in my career.”

I titled this email, “The internal demons we battle,” because it’s rarely ever about the goal. At the heart of the problem, we’re trying to solve an internal struggle with what it is we truly want.

And maybe achieving the goal will calm that struggle. Maybe getting the job will be what solves the overarching problems of our life.

But the takeaway is that the goal we’ve set for ourselves usually sits at the surface of something bigger.

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