October 2024 - Amy | Human potential platform
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Month: October 2024

Lifestyle Coaching, Career Coaching, and Mentorship—What Are They All About?

Posted on by by Nataliya Melnyk, Marketer at Amy

In the process of seeking guidance to address life challenges or career challenges in particular, you may find yourself unsure about the best type of support to pursue. With many coaching options like lifestyle coaching, business coaching, relationship coaching, career coaching, or mentorship available, you need to determine which path will best serve your goals and circumstances. 

Any coaching nurtures self-development overall. Career coaching narrows down to career development questions. What is mentoring, then? One by one, we will clarify the most common types: lifestyle coaching, career coaching, and mentorship. 

Can lifestyle coaching cover all? 

Lifestyle coaching covers all aspects of life, from relationships, wellness, and leisure to careers. But speaking about the last one on the list, a life coach touches on the essentials of career guidance, while a career coach centers around your professional goals and practices to achieve them. 

The goal of a lifestyle coach is to help you enhance your quality of life:

  1. Do you live a fulfilling life? Can you balance its aspects, like work and self-care? What areas of personal growth would make a positive impact on your life?
  2. Do your habits, daily routine, and personal goals match your values? 
  3. What are habits or negative patterns holding you back from your desired lifestyle? 
  4. Do you have a good work-life balance?

For whom is lifestyle coaching?

For everyone who needs to: 

  • Address challenges in their life holistically and from a broader perspective, including relationships, personal development, health, career, and other parts
  • Set realistic personal goals
  • Achieve overall happiness

Is career coaching just about jobs, or does it also improve well-being?

Career coaching keeps the focus not only on finding a new job for you or following a career roadmap. In addition, a career development coach teams up with you to be satisfied with work-life balance, confident while negotiating salary and promotions, and able to set boundaries and say “no” when required. Since, in truth, careers take up a significant portion, about a third, of our lives.

Career consultants use career-focused techniques that contribute to personal well-being, like systemic coaching, positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy coaching, and gestalt psychology. This is how career coaching works.

The goal of a personal career coach is to help you with career building, transition, and advancement:

  1. What do you really want in your career right now? More purpose? A chance to grow? 
  2. How does the new role line up with your personal values and skills? 
  3. Does the company you work at have room for you to grow over time?

For whom is career coaching?

For everyone who needs to: 

  • Maintain professional growth and develop new skills
  • Smoothly change career direction without unpredictable risks
  • Get job search strategies, resume crafting, and interview preparation
  • Set career-related goals and create actionable career plans
The image of career coaching visualization

What sets mentorship apart from coaching?

Mentorship is when someone more experienced (mentor), a senior partner in your industry or a professional beyond, shares knowledge, insights, and advice to help you (mentee) navigate your career or personal development. 

Mentorship involves solving specific requests, situations, or tasks that a mentee faces. A mentor is a person who has walked a similar path and can now offer an informed perspective that reveals the bigger picture. This relationship provides both strategic insights and practical know-how.

For whom is mentoring?

For everyone who doesn’t require long-term relationships, who needs an expert for occasional support without a deep dive and to: 

  • Increase motivation
  • Have technical assistance tied to their profession or area of work
  • Feel a sense of connection and build a network

The common ground of lifestyle coaching, career coaching, and mentoring

Lifestyle and career coaching prioritize small steps you can take today toward your goals. Both coaching types expect you to follow the actionable plan, measure results, and define success indicators. The mentoring style is more form-free, often without a strict structure, but you can still define your goals. 

Lifestyle coaching, career coaching, and mentoring are centered on a personalized, unique approach. All three encourage you to step back and reflect on your experience.

Summary

The comparison of life coaching, career coaching, and mentoring

Can I check one right now? What about career guidance services?

You will surely benefit from any form of coaching and mentoring. Coaching is your elevator for better self-awareness, social connections, mental health, and balance in all aspects of life. 

If you aim for career goals and solutions, the Amy platform has a library of career self-coaching exercises and career coaches to reach out to, including professionals who offer the first free session to book. Take a step toward your career advancement. Find a career coach for yourself.

Self-Coaching or Guidance by a Career Coach—What Approach To Choose?

Posted on by by Mariia Shevchenko, CEO at Amy

Choosing between self-coaching and working with a career coach is like choosing to fly solo or stay under someone’s wing. The first way stands for autonomy and flexibility. The second one means relying on the experience and support of a professional, especially when you lack time for self-management. After all, you may combine the two to gain diverse insights. 

How can you know what works best for you? We will give tips in this article so you can pick your option. And we will start with a self-coaching approach. 

Becoming your own career coach

Career self-coaching exists to self-reflect on your career path and set goals with free instruments available. Self-coaching instruments usually go in in the form of exercises to practice.

To understand if career self-coaching is a good fit for you, ask yourself whether you can navigate self-reflection questions, goal setting, and motivation for changes on your own.

Benefits of career self-coaching 

Self-coaching empowers to:

  • Take full control over your career without external influence 
  • Strengthen your self-awareness to make decisions with confidence
  • Cultivate self-development while looking at the skills you wish to master and the expertise you wish to build

Key self-coaching practices 

You might hit a point in your career where you are not sure what is next and need strategies to manage the unknown. You aim to balance personal fulfillment with professional growth or decide which path aligns best with your long-term goals.

Picture Nick. Nick is in his 30s, leading a team in a software company. While he is in a position of authority, he craves more—more impact, more fulfillment, and more effective use of his time. Despite Nick’s management opportunities, he misses direct involvement in the product cycle and cannot change the situation within the company. Nick is a project manager, not a product manager. He’s not quite satisfied, but thoughts about a new job bring uncertainty. 

The image of a man sitting at a desk, as an example of the career coaching process

What if he makes the wrong decision and ends up struggling financially? Why isn’t he getting better results in a new job search? Why does he feel stuck and unsure of himself despite his accomplishments? 

Nick’s story echoes the experiences of other professionals worldwide. It may even be your case. So, where can you start?

Self-assessment: reflect, realize, and evaluate 

  1. Write down or type your interests, needs, and values. 
  2. Analyze your work format: what your perfect workday looks like, what you enjoy most about your current role or job, and what drains your energy. 
  3. Think about your skills, mainly strengths and weaknesses. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) is a functional approach to explore your superpowers:
  • Strengths: What do you excel at? For Nick, it is technical knowledge.
  • Weaknesses: Where do you struggle? Nick needs strategic influence in his current position.
  • Opportunities: What external options could help? Are there leadership opportunities in other companies? What are the open vacancies Nick can apply for?
  • Threats: What challenges may happen? This could be fear of financial instability.

The most valuable insights come from understanding where you feel your impact is missing and what changes to your work environment could improve this.

Goal setting: draft your first career plan with goals and information from self-assessment

Define short-term and long-term goals to have a vision for today and the future. Include a goal, timeline, and how you will measure success. Break a goal into smaller and more manageable tasks for easier perception and to beat procrastination. 

In a new position, Nick can become more involved in strategic meetings or leading projects closely tied to a product’s core. Instead of generic intentions like “I want more impact,” Nick should aim for specific results. For example:

  1. Short-term goal: Start contributing to new projects that directly affect the product’s end result within the next six months. The success indicator: contributing to the monthly release of a product.
  2. Long-term goal: Fully transition into a career with more control over product strategy and development tasks within two years. The success indicator: taking the head of the product role.

Stepping out of your comfort zone: networking and extra activities

Engaging in new activities or meeting new people can take you out of your comfort zone and help you discover new sides of yourself. In Nicks’s situation, new activities may be around developing a growth mindset. Nick feels demotivated by difficulties, such as not landing a new job or failing to shift into a more impactful role immediately. Self-coaching will boost resilience through a growth mindset. This means viewing failures as learning opportunities rather than barriers.

An external feedback is usually a missing piece in self-coaching. If you can ask friends, family, or colleagues for feedback about your behavior, grab the opportunity. For example, conversations with industry leaders provide insights Nick might not learn on his own, specifically about career transition moves.

“In the absence of the ability to pull regular feedback, I would recommend tracking the progress of goals set up at the beginning of each week/month by identifying three categories: what goals were achieved, what was the key learning from working on the goal, review of mid-term goals and their relevance to potentially changed circumstances.”
Pasha Cherednychenko, a career expert at Amy, with two years of coaching experience and the main area of expertise in Work-Life Balance 

Being consistent: stick to the plan, measure results, and celebrate your success

Be consistent with your career plan and goals-related activities. Practice makes perfect. Acknowledge every achievement, small or big. These wins can provide a sense of accomplishment and encourage you to keep up with the pace, no matter how gradual the progress seems. As the cherry on top, treat yourself to a cherry cake, to celebrate.

When career coaching is more beneficial

While self-coaching offers autonomy, there are moments when working with a professional career coach is more beneficial. You may feel stuck and lack confidence in your job search strategy, like Nick.

In general, if you face any difficulties you cannot handle alone, try guidance from a career expert who will help you throughout the journey. 

“When I think of career coaching, acceleration and dynamic learning come to mind. In my experience,  regular and focused work with the coach creates a sense of urgency and accountability, which is much harder to achieve when you work by yourself.”
Pasha Cherednychenko, a career expert at Amy, with two years of coaching experience and the main area of expertise in Work-Life Balance 

Here’s when it makes sense to collaborate with a career coach:

The image of when it makes sense to collaborate with a career coach
  1. If self-doubt is overwhelming and you can’t cure imposter syndrome, a coach helps boost your confidence as they use evidence-based techniques. This is crucial for Nick as he feels he is underqualified for roles in his goals. A career coach will help him recognize and communicate his strong sides. 
  2. If you have assessed your skills and set your goals but still don’t know the next step, a career coach helps you gain clarity. They will ask questions that uncover recurring or hidden patterns in your experiences and provide insights for the future. Nick can’t see why his job search is ineffective. Together with a career coach, they will identify that he is applying for roles that don’t match his skillset and reveal fears holding him back.
  3. Motivation to follow your commitments affects the results. Successfully coaching yourself requires the discipline to confront problems on the way. Moreover, you may feel isolated. If you face a particularly tough challenge—like changing a career direction—having a career expert and personalized guidance can make the difference. In Nick’s example, a career coach will help him explore side gigs or transition gradually while maintaining income.
  4. We are often too hard on ourselves. We tend to abandon well-being and only focus on achievements, running faster and reaching more. Such an approach results in burnout over time. A career coach can help you escape the harmful, unhealthy cycle of self-criticism and overthinking. You will focus on small, actionable steps rather than jumping into huge tasks that can lead to further anxiety and frustration. By breaking down your goals into manageable parts, you can progress steadily toward your expected results. “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” they say.

The primary benefit of a career coach is the accountability they provide. A career coach ensures you stay on track by holding regular sessions and navigating you through challenges, specifically to revise and follow through with your strategy.

A hybrid approach: self-coaching with professional guidance

Self-coaching and professional coaching don’t have to work in isolation. You have a choice to begin with self-coaching, gain valuable insights through self-reflection, and then turn to a career coach when you hit a roadblock.

A hybrid approach could look like this:

  1. Self-coaching to reflect, set initial goals, and start making small changes at work.
  2. Collaborating with a career coach when challenges occur, such as financial fears or a lack of confidence in making a change.
  3. Returning to self-coaching techniques regularly while using a coach periodically for significant transitions.

Give it a go! Start with career self-coaching

A career coach can highlight what you may not notice, offer an objective view, or give you a hand at a difficult moment. Besides, you can first consider the library of free self-coaching exercises at Amy with timing and expected outcomes after completion. The good news is that we also save your progress on the platform. After all, if you feel confused about your career path, setting goals, and which strategies to implement from the number of resources, professional career coaches are here for you.

Personal SWOT Analysis: How to Identify Strengths and Weaknesses for Career Growth

Posted on by by Mariia Shevchenko, CEO at Amy

The SWOT analysis defines your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT helps you understand your capabilities and areas for development. And uncover your superpowers! On top of that, you will be prepared for obstacles. Identifying threats lets you strategize solutions in advance and cope with a clearer vision.

This technique is valuable at any career stage, whether just starting, looking to advance, or navigating a career transition. Drawing SWOT may take time in addition to saving notes in an appropriate place, but you can simplify the process by practicing on the Amy platform.

The image of the Personal SWOT Analysis exercise on the Amy platform

What do you need to do for the SWOT analysis?

When taking the exercise on the platform, consider strengths and weaknesses as internal areas. Opportunities and threats belong more to external factors.

  • For strengths, you will be asked to recall at least three situations you were successful at, what motivated you, what made you proud of yourself, and what was the best part of this experience. For weaknesses—in what areas do you feel you lack expertise?
  • Opportunities shed light on what options are open to you now. How can you turn your strength into opportunities, given your life context? Threats are about the points that may affect your role, job, or industry. And any personal challenges that may slow your progress.

How can you benefit from SWOT?

As a result of the SWOT analysis, you have:

  • Your strengths and opportunities mapped
  • Steps you can take to address threats
  • Action items to progress in achieving your career goals
  • Overview of your values

For a detailed analysis of values, the platform correspondingly offers two exercises, Your Life Values and Your Work Values, to identify what truly matters to you in your personal and professional life.

SWOT analysis example

The example of Emma, a UI/UX Designer, might support you in your SWOT.

Strengths

What was the situation in which I was successful and proud of myself?

“In a limited amount of time, I delivered a user-friendly design mockup to a demanding client. They came back with great reviews and recommended me to the company they collaborate with.”

What are my strengths?

  1. Vast experience in product design, particularly in big tech companies, which enhances credibility and expertise.
  2. Consistent positive feedback from clients and customers, indicating a solid ability to create user-friendly designs that simplify their experiences, especially in the FinTech sector.
  3. Demonstrated success through proven use cases, which can be showcased in my portfolio to attract new clients or employers.
  4. High level of dedication and commitment to my work, resulting in high-quality outcomes.

Weaknesses

In what areas do I lack expertise? What tasks do I find challenging?

“I aim to improve at trending design and AI technologies but lack effort for learning activities. I sacrifice all my time for projects, and I cannot say “no” to them because of the many tasks on my plate already.”

What are my weaknesses?

  1. Struggle with assertiveness, which may affect communication and collaboration with team members or clients.
  2. Tendency to overwork and prioritize responsibilities and reputation over personal well-being, leading to potential burnout.
  3. Difficulty tolerating criticism, which can impact professional growth and feedback acknowledgment. 
  4. Preference for stability and reluctance to take risks, making it challenging to transition to new roles or environments.

Opportunities

What opportunities can you take advantage of?

  • Exploring freelance opportunities could provide flexibility and improve work-life balance while leveraging my extensive experience.
  • Moving to a smaller company with fewer responsibilities may reduce stress and provide a supportive environment for growth.
  • Investing time in developing assertiveness and coping strategies for criticism could enhance interpersonal relationships and professional growth.
  • Engaging with other professionals in the UX/UI field could open doors to new opportunities and collaborations.

How can you connect your strengths and opportunities?

“My extensive background in design will make me a preferred candidate in the job market, particularly for smaller companies needing self-management and freelance clients seeking a trustworthy collaborator.” 

Threats

What external and personal factors could pose threats to my career path?

  1. Overworking and sacrificing personal life for career responsibilities may lead to burnout, impacting performance and overall well-being.
  2. Changes in the job market or industry standards may require adapting to new skills or roles, which could be challenging, given my preference for stability.
  3. Being inflexible about career changes might prevent me from adapting to new job market trends and opportunities.
  4. Increased competition in the UX/UI design field, especially with the rise of freelance platforms and remote work, may make it harder to secure desirable positions.

How can I address the threads with three small steps today?

  • I can write down my 5-10 work achievements to boost my confidence and add those items to my CV. 
  • This week, I can practice saying “no” to set boundaries without feeling guilty. For example, if my colleague asks for help with something I can’t take on, I will politely decline and explain why (because I am extremely busy with three other projects). 
  • I can talk to a career coach to figure out the reasons and patterns for my poor work-life balance and start following a smooth approach to enhance it.

This SWOT analysis highlights strengths in experience while addressing areas for improvement, such as assertiveness and work-life balance. By taking opportunities like freelancing and skill development, Emma can navigate the threats of burnout and competition while progressing in her career.

Take a step forward for your career plan

Identify your unique skills, recognize areas for improvement, expand your reach, and prepare for challenges—it’s all about SWOT, and you can nail it with a career self-coaching exercise. The analysis will then serve as a trustworthy groundwork for a career plan or roadmap we will discuss in later articles.

Self-Coaching: 3 Techniques to Boost Your Career Development 

Posted on by by Nataliya Melnyk, Marketer at Amy

The power of career self-coaching lies in proven techniques shaped by career coaching experts. The techniques promote clarity in a career path to follow the desired direction and be open to new opportunities. How can you prepare for self-coaching? Where can you start? Let’s tackle the basics and review three techniques in the form of exercises you can take on the Amy platform.

The story of career self-coaching behind the article

Emma is a UX/UI designer with years of experience in product design at big tech companies. She grasps a mass of positive feedback from clients and their customers. She highly simplifies the use of a product, especially in the fields of FinTech and Healthcare, and has striking use cases. May seems impressive, isn’t it? On the flip side, Emma manifests better assertiveness skills and a hard stop at 6 PM. She is overly dedicated and sacrifices other life areas for her career. Plus, she tends to tolerate criticism poorly and take it personally.

A picture of a woman sitting at a desk, as an example of practicing career coaching

Emma isn’t flexible and risky when it comes to career transition. She prefers staying in a single, safe place but, at the same time, needs a career format change because of her current tough schedule. Maybe freelance or smaller company with fewer responsibilities. 

We will show Emma’s example through three techniques.

Preparation: Ask yourself questions

When you get into career coaching, the first thing worth doing is to ask yourself questions. The practice is called journaling and involves writing down the answers to understand your motivations and challenges—and, first of all, what you feel. Take the following:

  1. Interests: What are my interests and passions? Are my interests present in my job, or are they outside my role? What are my life values?
  2. Preferences: What do I like and dislike most about my job? What does my perfect work environment look like? What is my perfect schedule?
  3. Achievements: How do I define success and measure my progress? How can I celebrate my achievements? What have been my biggest career achievements?
  4. Inspirations: What inspires me to pursue my career goals?
  5. Challenges: How do I handle challenges? Can I handle them alone, or do I need support and guidance? Do I face any challenges with my current job? Is there anything that holds me back in my career? How do I address the situation?
  6. Risks: What risks can I take for my career? Am I ready for changes and to step out of my comfort zone?
  7. Lessons learned: What have I learned from my career experience or previous jobs?

You can expand the list to fit your unique case or even personalize the questions. Journaling formats also vary. A pocket notebook or digital, like an app or an online platform—choose based on what suits you best.

Make the journaling practice a regular activity or build a foundation for your further career coaching exercises that we will move on to in the next sections. As a regular activity, spend a few minutes every morning, after lunch, or in the evening. For example, start each morning with a quick note of your intentions and goals or write down your day’s experiences before bed. Midday check-in helps reflect on progress.

Technique 1: Your work values

If you live in harmony with your work values, you are satisfied with your occupation and break through barriers without a doubt.

The technique called Your Work Values sticks to the three groups of values: 

  • Core principles like ambition, honesty, or status
  • Relationships and people like respect, trust, or leadership 
  • Work activities like quality, innovativeness, or contribution
The image of the exercise Your Work Values

You choose the ones that resonate most with you—whether you are in a team of autonomy, managing your schedule, or prefer the leadership of skillful managers. You rate your work values to indicate how much the value is present at your current job. 

Take a look at Emma’s work values map:

General:

  • Achievements: the ability to reach goals (8/10 various projects available in the pool, but not enough time for learning and upskilling)
  • Work-life balance in work time and leisure time (4/10 because of overtimes and work on weekends)
  • Passion: work that evokes enthusiasm and drive (10/10 UI/UX design is my calling)

Relationships:

  • Recognition: acknowledgment of contribution (10/10 based on the amount of feedback received) 
  • Empathy: the ability to empathize with others and understand their situations and problems (8/10 managers don’t always consider personal circumstances, for overtime activities including)
  • Teamwork: encouragement of collaborative work on projects and tasks (10/10 admiringly collaborative work environment)

Work:

  • Quality: work that has high quality (10/10 as I try my best and have successful case studies)
  • Creativity: work that needs creative abilities (10/10 creative tasks smoothly balance technical activities)
  • Assistance: work that is aimed at helping people (10/10 I turn complex product solutions into designs straightforward to customers) 

Emma needs to reflect on her work-life balance and communication with her manager. Is it possible to make this value more present in a current job? What small step can she take today to open doors to the change?

The Your Work Values exercise provides clear names and definitions to bring yourself closer to a more meaningful and fulfilling life. 

Technique 2: Job satisfaction wheel

Job Satisfaction Wheel covers various areas of your work to rate and clarify what really matters to you and what you can tolerate. Job satisfaction assessment emphasizes action items to improve your current state in career development. 

Once you rate areas, the Job Satisfaction Wheel gives you a clear view of your job satisfaction level. Take time to analyze where you have the lowest rates among aspects like:

  • Work environment
  • Freedom and autonomy
  • Compensation
  • Learning and growth opportunities

What can you do this week to improve them?

The image of the exercise Job Satisfaction Wheel

Job satisfaction wheel example

We will use Emma’s experience while working in a big tech company.

Rating:

  • Work environment: 5/10 (the collaborative team but high stress and long hours)
  • Freedom and autonomy: 5/10 (limited autonomy in decision-making)
  • Compensation: 10/10 (financially stable)
  • Learning and growth opportunities: 4/10 (limited room for growth in the current setup)
Rating of Working Environment, the exercise Job Satisfaction Wheel
Rating of Freedom and autonomy, the exercise Job Satisfaction Wheel
Rating of Compensation, the exercise Job Satisfaction Wheel
Rating of Learning and growth opportunities, the exercise Job Satisfaction Wheel

Action plan: 

Joining a smaller company can enhance job autonomy but might impact compensation. However, Emma can start with:

  1. Developing a personal brand: build an online presence by sharing design works on Dribble and Behance platforms to position herself as an expert.
  2. Start as a part-time freelancer: begin freelancing to test the waters.

Regularly using the Job Satisfaction Wheel helps easily spot imbalances in a job, create and follow an action plan, and track how changes impact overall career satisfaction.

Technique 3: Training growth mindset

“The key factors for successful self-coaching or personal growth work would be one’s ability to deep reflective practice as well as the growth mindset (as per Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.”).”
Pasha Cherednychenko, a career expert at Amy, with two years of coaching experience and the main area of expertise in Work-Life Balance 

At its core, a growth mindset means believing that you can develop your talents leads to greater success than thinking your abilities are fixed and cannot be improved. For example, Stanford University’s study about Growth Mindset and Enhanced Learning finds that when students have a growth mindset, they are more likely to challenge themselves, believe that they can achieve more, and become stronger, more resilient and creative problem solvers.

With the Training Growth Mindset technique, you build the ability to overcome difficulties, embrace continuous learning, and foster a proactive attitude towards growth. In the exercise on the Amy platform, you will examine sample cases to practice how to address the situations, training your positive thinking and decision-making skills.

The image of the exercise Training Growth Mindset

Training growth mindset example

  1. As an experienced designer, Emma might believe she has mastered all possible techniques, and learning new ones feels overwhelming, especially with her schedule overloaded with tasks.
    Growth mindset approach: challenge yourself to embrace new technologies as opportunities for growth, even if it initially feels uncomfortable.
    Action: set a small monthly learning goal, like microlearning for mastering AI UX trends, and apply what you’ve learned to projects.
    Result: “Even though I’ve been working in the UI/UX field for years, trying new patterns will push me to think creatively and keep my skills current.”
  2. Emma struggles to handle criticism and not to take it personally, which impacts her confidence.
    Growth mindset approach: View criticism as a headway, not as a reflection of your worth as a designer.
    Action: After receiving constructive criticism, ask follow-up questions to understand the feedback better. This helps to accept feedback as an essential part of professional growth.
    Result: “The feedback I get isn’t a personal attack. It is about the design mockup. I can improve the part the client talks about by making adjustments.”

Practice self-coaching exercises 

In addition to goal-setting and actionable strategies, career coaching makes you reflect on your past and current path, as self-reflection is the foundation of the first two. The self-coaching techniques like Your Work Values, Job Satisfaction Wheel, and Training Mindset Growths boost confidence, foster resilience, and facilitate decision-making for a fulfilling career path. 

If you are striving for a new job, a career change, or a promotion, self-coaching equips you with the tools to have the career you envision. Start with Amy’s self-coaching exercises today for your professional and personal growth. 

Why Should Your Career Match Your Lifestyle?

Posted on by by Nataliya Melnyk, Marketer at Amy

We are used to how careers define our lifestyles and commonly look for a job with a decent salary and matching skills, ignoring the schedule. Even though work formats have evolved with technologies, we still wonder if our style of living is worth shaping job choices and not the other way around. “Isn’t it risky?” you might ask. And you will be right in a way. Despite that, before jumping to conclusions, we will review the pros and cons of each approach—lifestyle adapting the career and career adapting the lifestyle. 

Weighing the options: career vs. lifestyle focus

What comes to mind when mentioning the term lifestyle? The Cambridge Dictionary defines a lifestyle as a way of living—the things we usually do, where we live, what we spend our money on, and other daily routines. Lifestyle is also about our values and relationships with other people. 

If we speak about things we usually do, we speak about a job or hobbies. If we speak about where we live, what we spend our money on, and the people we meet, a job is directly tied to the matter. That’s why a career is a driving force in our life.

Deciding whether to build a career around your lifestyle or shape your lifestyle around your career is a personal choice that depends on your values, goals, and life circumstances. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

The image contains the comparison of prioritizing lifestyle vs. career: advantages and disadvantages of each approach

The best scenario is when you can complement your career and lifestyle or choose a career close to your daily schedule. However, life is not linear, and you may need to temporarily focus strictly on one way or another, like putting all your efforts into career advancement or personal growth.

How can you understand that it’s time to question the career format you have?

If you notice that your work negatively affects other aspects of life: relationships, time to do things you love, self-care activities, and finally, health—think it over. A World Health Organization study finds long working hours increase heart disease. Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard. Besides, work values that don’t match your personal values decrease motivation. Work activities that don’t match your personal interests decrease productivity.

Overall, any work format cannot perfectly meet all needs, but you have the power to choose what truly matters to you. 

How can you start changing the career format?

In the first place, define your priorities and interests, and, of course, pay attention to life circumstances. Fair enough that you cannot neglect the financial side if you have a family to care for. In case you hesitate or feel confused about identifying those areas, career coaching exercises will come in handy. Or a career coach for a career change who can create a personalized career plan for you. Let’s examine two cases where online career coaching services can be valuable.

Never-ending work cycle and professional frustration

Meet Lynette, a sales executive with years of experience in a high-stress corporate job. 

The image of a woman working as a corporate professional.

Her typical day starts at 6 AM. and ends past 11 PM., because of two schoolchildren, chores, and work often spilling into her weekends. Lynette is passionate about her job and invests in her professional development for career growth. In addition, her current schedule demands business trips because of on-site client visits. 

She thinks the more hours she dedicates to a job, the better it pays, but over time, the strain on her personal life and health becomes clear. Her relationships with her husband and children worsen due to the lack of time spent together. Since Lynette loves her family and wishes to devote more time to them, she is torn apart and develops chronic stress-related insomnia and anxiety. 

Lynette’s situation is not uncommon. In fact, long working hours are linked to a higher risk of anxiety and depression. Overwork can also disrupt social relationships. If you find yourself in a similar situation, it’s worth considering whether your career truly serves your life—or if it’s draining you.

Career coaching solution

In Lynette’s case, career coaching practices can:

  1. Improve work-life balance
  2. Navigate career transition to a hybrid format (remote work with required trips to clients)  
  3. Assist in recalling a dream job and evaluating achievements at the company to appreciate progress

Fulfilling potential and combining two occupations

Take Richard, for example, a biotechnology technician at a mid-sized company who cannot advance or make changes that would give him fulfillment. 

The image of a man combining two careers.

He often dreams of reaching his potential in the music industry, mainly by starting a music production agency, but is okay with his current job at the same time. 

Richard’s career doesn’t align with his ambitions and offers no room for growth, though it matches his degree and skills and maintains a secure income. Despite excelling at his job, he feels trapped by the rigid corporate structure that doesn’t offer opportunities for creativity or upward mobility. 

So, Richard is stuck and cannot make the right decision. This sense of being stuck not only affects professional satisfaction but also leads to a decline in overall motivation and mental well-being. Like Richard, you may stay in a job that no longer serves you out of fear of the unknown, financial instability, or because you don’t believe other opportunities are within reach. However, remaining in an unfulfilling job can have long-term consequences on your happiness and career trajectory.

Career coaching solution

With the help of a personal career coach, Richard can:

  1. Combine two work formats: a freelance approach with music gigs on demand and part-time engineering services based on a contract in a company
  2. Vacancies browsing
  3. Goal-setting session for both career fields and directions
  4. Cover letter writing

In both stories, the core issue is the same: Lynette’s and Richard’s careers dictate their lives rather than vice versa. Taking a pause, analyzing a career situation from a different angle, and making reasonable changes are what the two of them will benefit from. And career coaching can be of assistance here.

Conclusion

Job is not always about money. It’s also about fitting into your life. You cannot find a job that is fully satisfying, but you can find one close to sound, as work formats are flexible nowadays. One role may combine hundreds of activities unrelated to the first sight or those that intersect responsibilities. Consider not only formats like remote and corporate but also social factors—whether you feel comfy working in silos or crave company. Not to mention cases where sitting at the desk all day long is a nut to crack. 

Career coaching is your instrument for remaining on track and fluent with your career choices. At Amy, you can try self-coaching exercises or consult a career coach who will help you maintain happy relationships with yourself and the world around you throughout your career. In the meantime, reflect on your interests and priorities to make an informed career choice that aligns with your desired lifestyle.

How Career Coaching Can Change Your Life Today

Posted on by by Nataliya Melnyk, Marketer at Amy

“If you aren’t happy at work, you aren’t happy at life,” they say. Whether this is true for you is a personal decision. While a job might not be the main source of happiness, it’s often necessary for a fulfilling life. Even more—an occupation can align with the individual’s passions and bring a sense of purpose if chosen wisely. But what if your work is a mix of pressure, anxiety, or financial tension? Or all three?

Given that you dedicate most of your life to a job, sometimes there’s neither the opportunity nor the energy to step back and take a bird’s-eye view of your career path to enhance. This is when a career expert equipped with career coaching techniques can step in.

To start with, what exactly is career coaching?

Career coaching is a practice that helps people define their professional goals and achieve them with a personalized approach. Whether transitioning to a new role or overcoming career obstacles to improve an existing experience, career coaching addresses various work-related challenges.

Career coaches, in their turn, can offer support by:

  • Assessing skills, strengths, and interests and setting career goals accordingly
  • Creating a tailored career plan with a strategy toward targeted positions
  • Improving cover letter and resume
  • Assisting with the interview processes
  • Navigating career transitions
  • Guiding on how to negotiate effectively for promotions, salary raises, and other benefits
The image shows a woman with notes and the text: assess, improve, and navigate in terms of career.

So, why do I absolutely need career coaching?

Today’s job market demands a high level of flexibility and constant learning. Economic instabilities and artificial intelligence lead to job displacement in certain areas and new opportunities in others. According to McKinsey research, one in 16 workers may have to switch occupations by 2030.

To keep up with the career landscape, you must know job updates and upskill. Thus, there is no better time to use career coaching services than now to ensure your productivity today and your bright future.

Let’s review the following cases.

1. You want to grow in your current role, but instead, you feel stuck and undervalued

While every job involves engaging tasks, there’s often a degree of routine and repetition. If you feel unfulfilled and exhausted due to a constant cycle of meaningless tasks, it’s time to reassess the situation and explore potential changes.

Another reason for new opportunities can be a lack of recognition at work, which hinders professional development and motivation.

How can career coaching change the situation?

A career coach will analyze your core competencies and pinpoint areas of expertise to clarify what you’re good at. Acknowledging strong sides helps communicate openly about accomplishments and expand the existing responsibilities.

With a career roadmap, you will set meaningful objectives with smaller steps to bring vision and a sense of moving on.

2. You want to change the position, but you are afraid of starting from scratch and facing financial wreckage

You are sleeping and dreaming of approaching your newly rented office, opening a door, sitting at the desk, and starting the day with your first client. The alarm is ringing, and the smile on your face wipes away. You believe that stability and safety advance pursuing passions and entrepreneurial spirit.

The “it’s too late” trap makes you question the relevance of your skills in a new field and think that you will lose your current income.

How can career coaching change the situation?

The hesitation fueled by a drastic career change requires a step-by-step plan and support. A career advisor will create a detailed transition plan with transferable skills for your new career path. You will add objectives, timing, training materials for upskilling, and other useful resources.

Though the career change might seem risky, it’s often rewarding if planned thoroughly.

3. You struggle for a work-life balance, but you lose the game

Are you satisfied with your workload and the level of flexibility your job provides? Have you ever found yourself jumping into a loop of never-ending overtime despite your best intentions? Do you find it difficult to prioritize your tasks, communicate accomplishments, and set boundaries?

Moreover, an unhealthy work-life balance and imposter syndrome often reinforce each other. Juggling excessive responsibilities and doubting your worth contributes to anxiety, procrastination, and burnout.

How can career coaching change the situation?

First, a career coach will identify the cause of the imbalance between your work and personal life. Depending on the reason, the expert can assist you with:

  • Time management and communication skills to boost assertiveness
  • Setting realistic expectations for the project
  • Acknowledging your accomplishments and establishing clear boundaries between work and personal time

To sum up, what is the advice?

The job should primarily reflect your lifestyle and promote positive thoughts. A mother of two, a father on paternity leave, a student graduating from the university, or a corporate worker with 15 years of experience in one field, you deserve to work at whatever pace and format suits you. Try Amy, and we will help you glow and grow with any work and career path.

Your Career Success: Discover What Career Coaching Is and What Career Coach Does

Posted on by by Nataliya Melnyk, Marketer at Amy

Gartner survey finds that just 46% of employees are satisfied with their career development. 

Building a career is not easy. Maintaining a career is equally challenging. And this remains true whether you’re a university graduate or a corporate professional. Happily, the way we think about careers can be shifted for the better with available, easy-to-try tools and expert guidance. Career coaching exists to give you those tools and hand in career development. Thus, we will start by clarifying its meaning.

What is career coaching?

Career coaching is about hands-on techniques for enhancing your professional life—to be satisfied with your career, be recognized, achieve professional and financial goals, and uncover hidden potential. 

Let’s consider career coaching services a compass in the job market landscape. Here is how you can benefit from career coaching when you are lost:

  1. Align the compass with the north. Acknowledge your career obstacles: meaningless job, financial anxiety, poor work-life balance, or anything related.
  2. Orient the compass to your position. Identify your career expectations, whether setting professional goals, transitioning to a new career, or improving the workplace environment.
  3. Find the desired direction of travel. Determine a career path with interests, strengths, skills, and learning opportunities.
  4. Match your travel direction with the north. Work on a career plan, set meaningful objectives, and try coaching exercises to reflect on your approach and needs.
  5. Check your path using landmarks. Track progress on the career roadmap. Small, measured steps will eventually lead you to the targeted destination.
The image includes a compass in hand like a career navigation instrument.

At any step of finding the way, it’s natural to be uncertain, frustrated, or stuck. A certified career coach can consult, support, or fully guide you through the career path. This leads to the question: who exactly is a career coach, and why should you consider working with one? 

Who is a career coach?

A career coach is a professional who assists in achieving career goals. They work with you to overcome career challenges and tailor a unique career plan that fits your strengths, lifestyle, and aspirations. 

Here are the areas career coaches often engage in.

Preparing for a job application 

Laying the foundation is everything. The cover letter and resume must be accurate, well-structured, and capture the employer’s attention on the experience required for the specific role. A career coach ensures your application materials reflect those. 

To stand out, showcasing what impact you make at work is a must-have. A career coach offers an objective view of how much you can bring to the table, along with:

  • Crafting or refining cover letter and resume
  • Filling in the LinkedIn profile or a profile on any other recruitment platform
  • Participating in a desired job searching 
  • Preparing for interviews
  • Building or improving communication skills
  • Expanding network and valuable contacts for professional connections

Navigating a career transition

You believe you can do much more. Your current career is no longer fulfilling or aligned with who you are or want to be. You are passionate about your occupation, but professional frustration and lack of motivation started resonating. 

Isn’t it the moment to explore new horizons? 

When it comes to career change, the pressure of commitments and responsibilities might be too high to take a risk. And we understand how tough this is for you. Looking for an entirely new field, like going from corporate work to entrepreneurship or moving from one industry to another, seems promising but also scary. To clear your doubts and fears, a career counselor will aim at keeping the process straightforward, time-efficient, and certainly smooth while:

  • Assessing interests, strengths, and skills
  • Setting career goals
  • Creating a tailored career plan with a strategy toward targeted positions

Shining in a current role 

A professional career coach isn’t only about getting you hired somewhere new. They are likewise proficient in growing and flourishing your best self in a current career. 

Achieve your work-life balance

Balancing work and personal life keeps you productive, enthusiastic, and on track to reach your goals without sacrificing relationships, health, and well-being. If work consumes all your time and pushes what truly matters to the back seat, it can leave you exhausted and stuck in a cycle of endless repetition, with long-term effects if not addressed early on.

Nice to meet you, confidence

In addition to working hours, salary and benefits go hand in hand, and more importantly—the confidence to communicate when you feel underpaid or your benefits package isn’t competitive. 

Through career coaching sessions, you rediscover your worth as a professional and the value of your experience. A career coach particularly affects the picture by:

  • Guiding on how to negotiate effectively for promotions, salary raises, and other benefits 
  • Looking for training and skills-up courses
  • Fixing unhealthy work-life balance, breaking the burnout cycle, and setting boundaries
  • Boosting self-esteem and handling imposter syndrome

Working with a career coach in today’s competitive job market gives you an advantage in reaching your full potential and succeeding in your career. They are your pillow of support in times when you aren’t sure what you want to do and how to do it.

Try self-coaching exercises for your career development 

At Amy, we strive to give people as many valuable tools from our vast experience as possible.

We believe that career coaching is here for you as a practical resource for embracing a true calling, whether you are worried that you are not progressing in your career, feeling stuck in a dead-end job, or are underappreciated.

Check our library of free self-coaching exercises and be ready to enjoy long-lasting results.