The Career Timeline Tool - Bridging The Confidence Gap

Ready for a career change or about to launch something new? This life changing technique I’m about to share with you will begin by closing the gap - the gap being the perception you have of yourself and the perception others have of you. This will give you the self-belief that you need to apply for that perfect job or career.

Have you ever experienced the feeling that you are not good enough and as a result you minimise your achievements? Have you found yourself responding to praise with phrases like ‘Oh, I was just lucky’? When faced with a room full of people, have you ever felt that you know less than them or that you are worth less than them?

One way I can help you build the confidence you need is by closing that gap. I’m going to walk you through your career timeline. You can email me for a free workbook and watch a video to support this on ‘Just North East People’ YouTube channel.

Allow yourself an hour or so - you can make the following exercise fun by asking a trusted companion, friend or partner to do this with you. I even did it with my kids. You’ll need plenty of floor space!

I invite you to:

1.     Stand up and imagine that a timeline of your career is in front of you.

2.     Position yourself somewhere in the room where you would position yourself at the present moment in your career.

3.     Think of about four or five highlights of your career to date - these could be job moves, promotions, training, qualifications, etc.

4.     When you have had time to think through your career, walk me down your timeline to the most recent career highlight and recall that moment as vividly as possible. What did you hear, say, see and/or feel at that point in time? Tell me about it in as much detail as you can.

5.     Consider all the strengths and skills you used as well as the achievements, positive feedback and accolades you received at that time.

6.     Once you have done this, move one stage further back down your timeline and describe the next significant highlight of your career.

Repeat until you are back at the start of your career. Walk back up your career line noticing yet more achievements. Focus on yourself, what you did and your achievements.

What does it say about you? What qualities did you need to make this happen? Consider who was there, how it made you feel, what happened and why? When did it happen? What else was happening for you at that time in your life?

 “‘Of all the judgements we pass in life, none is more important than the judgement we pass on ourselves.” — NATHANIEL BRANDEN

Feel free to reach out to me either on the email above or in The Community, I’d love to hear how you got on.

Teresa Peters is our resident Geordie Accelerator Coach! Do you find yourself driving through a thick fog because your personal life and business has become convoluted? As an ICF accredited Executive Coach and Personal Performance Coach, Teresa empowers you to find clarity, focus and transformation, both professionally and personally, using a solution- focused approach and DiSC profiling. She has 2 successful businesses – one as co-founder of a book publisher for the hospitality sector (which has had to pause during lockdown) and her main business – Accelerator Coaching . 

Teresa offers a range of online and face to face support services to both male and female business owners and their teams. She finds great joy in working with couples and families who run businesses together, those making life changing decisions post redundancy or post hysterectomy who need a dynamic energetic champion and critical friend to unleash their full potential.