Let your strengths and values be the guide
When I was a mid-level attorney at a big firm in NYC, I was working very long hours and was very close to quitting the legal profession all together. I had worked so long towards one single goal of becoming an attorney that I had no idea what else I was good out, who I was, what I was even interested in, and how to pursue a career outside of law. After much exploration and self awareness, this is what I realized:
1) I didn’t have to leave law – I could find ways to enjoy it, leverage it, and use it as a platform to cause change
2) there WERE things that I was good at – I just needed to find my way back home
3) by identifying my strengths and values, I was able to use them in a way that best served me and my happiness in my career.
Once I realized this I was able to bring my strengths to the forefront and articulate them effectively to my superiors. This allowed them to offer me opportunities that aligned with my strengths, which in turn, allowed me to live more authentically. Instead of “faking it” (despite how good I seemed to be at those tasks), I was able to use my natural strengths and values to build my career in a way that was authentic to me. For anyone else feeling stuck or unhappy in their career, I encourage you to do the work to find out your strengths and values, and then be creative and bold in applying them!
Sharon Lee, founder of Love, Sunday is a NYC native and a Los Angeles resident since 2015. She wears multiple professional hats and manages Love, Sunday the website, is a women’s leadership coach, and is Vice President and Counsel at a global financial services company in Santa Monica, CA where she supports offices in the United States, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore and China. She currently sits on the board of an international subsidiary of her current company and is working towards creating gender diversity awareness at her place of work. Sharon is licensed to practice law in New York and is a registered in-house counsel in California. Sharon was certified as a Women’s Leadership Coach from the Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership.
Want to be featured on our blog? See details here.
