The Secret Power of Envy

I have a confession to make. Some of the most amazing things I’ve done in my life were motivated by envy.

This has been on my mind recently because that’s what motivated me ten years ago this month, to change careers and become a life coach. Not exactly auspicious beginnings for such a career, but that’s what it took for me to take the leap.

Envy.

Jealousy.

A burning, unexpected desire to do what someone else was doing.

I had a successful practice as an Investor Relations Consultant. I worked with public companies to market them to investment professionals on Wall Street. It was interesting work, lucrative, and I was good at it. But I wasn’t happy. I wanted something different, I just didn’t know what.

There were some sessions with a hypnotherapist who used NLP extensively in her practice. I got clear about a lot of things in my life, but not about what exactly I wanted to do.

It wasn’t until I was chatting over the phone with an acquaintance, and she happened to mention that she was starting a hypnosis training program.

It hit so hard and fast.

I gasped and was speechless for a moment, and very, very glad I was on the phone. Otherwise I’m not sure I could have masked my strange reaction. She continued chatting away in excitement, all I could hear was my voice in my head saying, “but, that’s what I want to do.”

The funny thing is, until that moment, I had no idea that was the case. I’m not sure if it just hadn’t occurred to me, or I didn’t think it was possible, or why it had remained dormant. All I knew was that, beyond any doubt, that’s what I wanted to do.

I emailed the hypnotherapist I’d been working with, pronouncing with complete surety and clarity, I want to do what you do. Her enthusiastic reply sent me to the website of the people she trained with, and in a manner of weeks I was flying cross-country for a ten day training session in NLP and hypnosis.

Epiphany to practice in less than a month

Once I had my first certification under my belt, I started working with clients.

I continued training. I sold my investor relations practice. I dabbled in other things along the way, but since June 2003 I have always been coaching.

I also started paying closer attention to those pangs of envy. They’ve been part of the reasons I climbed my first mountain, wrote a novel, started running, rode 100 miles.

Inside even the most difficult or embarrassing emotions lies a kernel of information, a positive intention, a nugget that could change your life forever.

Trust me, I know from experience.

Or better yet, learn to trust yourself, and discover what secrets you’ve been hiding from yourself.