by Bill Dueease©

Have you been a professional mother (it is a true profession, whether acknowledged or not) but now you find your mothering skills are in less demand? Are the fruits of your efforts, your children, growing up? You will always be their mother, but as they enter high school or college, they will spend much less time with you.

Do you feel less of a person, or even somewhat lost, because you are no longer a full-time mother? Does the thought of doing something else appear to be overwhelming? Do you wonder how you will find another profession to partially replace motherhood and give you the personal rewards you received from being a mother?

Welcome to the beginning of your new and rewarding life. Here are seven secrets to converting the vast knowledge and skills you gained while being a mother into starting your next successful career.

Secret No. 1: You are a very valuable resource. You have already accumulated considerable knowledge and skills during the years of professional motherhood. You have been a teacher, leader, organizer, conflict mediator, financial consultant, personal mentor, personal inspiration, activity counselor, transportation expert, event coordinator, homemaker, health consultant, cook, professional buyer, cleaning consultant, spiritual consultant, fashion consultant, food consultant, wife, psychologist, confidante, activity supporter, and fan, and the list goes too long to continue in this short space. Wow! Sounds extremely impressive when you really look at it. In truth, it is. The considerable experience you have in so many areas provides you with the ability to perform quite well in an untold number of other professions. You have much more to offer than you can see from your perspective.

Secret No. 2: It is time to focus on you first. Your No. 1 focus as a mother has been on your children. Not you. You spent considerable time and effort to assure the growth, success, health, happiness, and safety of your children. That was wonderful. You now have the time and energy to focus first on you. This sounds like a simple step, but it is a very big one. You naturally put yourself aside for your children, and it felt good. You will not be abandoning your children. In fact, most children love to see their parents develop new and successful lives. Permit yourself the right, without guilt or hesitation to enjoy focusing on you.

Secret No. 3: Discover what you really want to do next and why. You will want to look into yourself and discover what your true passions, desires, talents, and beliefs are. You probably know more about these areas for your children and your husband than yourself. Your passions and desires were probably wrapped up in your children and husband. You will undoubtedly now have new ones. But what are they? It is time to find a way to become the world's leading expert on you. You are now entitled to explore and discover yourself.

Secret No. 4: Convert your clarity about yourself into a career that suits you. As a mother, you became a Jill-of-all-trades and a master of some. This situation presents you with overwhelming opportunity. You have too many choices. However, after you become the world's leading expert on you, you can easily develop or define a new career that will allow you to fulfill your true wants, needs, and passions. Your new career will give you the satisfaction and rewards you want while allowing you to do what you love. The clearer your understanding and definition of your desired new career, the better. You eliminate the fear of the unknown, and you greatly increase the chances of your successful entrance into your chosen new career.

Secret No. 5: You do not have to abandon motherhood to enjoy your new career. You will undoubtedly want to carry on your position as a mother, but in a reduced manner. You will be able to create a new career around your desire to continue raising your children. It does not have to be an all-or-nothing change. You may want to progressively shift into your new career as you steadily move out of full-time mothering, until your last child has gone onto a more independent life.

Secret No. 6: Get help from the right people. Your journey from full-time motherhood to your new career is almost impossible to accomplish and much too important to attempt without help from someone. It is certainly not a self-help program. Making this journey alone will be very difficult and not much fun. Seek help from someone you trust who has your best interests at heart and who will provide you the objective, non-critical mirror to see yourself and what you really want. Just as we must look into a mirror to see our faces because of where our eyes are located, we must have another person act as our outside mirror to see our inner selves. The fresh perspective others will provide you of your talents, passions, and abilities will be exhilarating and very valuable. Creating a journey team will assist you to achieve your goals faster, with fewer errors and in a more enjoyable manner.

Secret No. 7: Pursue the new career you defined for yourself. Now that you know what you want to do and why, you will want to pursue your new career in the manner that best suits you. Many mothers feel that they must go back to school and get a degree or some kind of training to get a job. This is rarely necessary. You will be amazed at how little training you will really need, because of your extensive experience in mothering. You will also be amazed at how attractive you will be to many employers, if your career involves working for others. Here are just some of the reasons employers would consider you to be very desirable:

• You are a very mature person (stability).
• You have considerable experience in many facets of work (flexibility).
• You will require much less management by others (efficiency).
• You will be enthusiastic about your chosen career and you will be very focused to succeed (dedicated).
• You will be able to step in right away and be very productive (productivity).
• You will know what you can do and will be trainable to increase your skills (increasingly productive).
• You will have progressively less need to deal with mothering issues as your children continue to become more independent (fewer distractions).
• Your employer will be very pleased and impressed that you chose him/her to begin your chosen career (honor).

Final Thoughts
This journey is very important and dramatic, and you want to do it right. Your successful handling of the very difficult and multifaceted motherhood profession qualifies you to become very successful in a whole host of other careers. The key is to pick the career that best suits you and your desires before beginning your journey. You will be very surprised how successful you will be at attaining your new career once you have targeted your chosen career. Smart employers will welcome you.

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.

Bill Dueease is a business coach who is the president The Coach Connection (TCC), which he co-founded in May 2001, to assist people to achieve their greatest results from life and career coaching. More than 96.5 percent of TCC's clients have achieved their initial life and career goals because they were assured that the four key conditions to successful coaching were met before engaging their coach. Fortune Magazine, Female Entrepreneur, The Brazen Careerist, and The AMEX Platinum Card Newsletter have described TCC to its readers. Bill had previously founded other very successful companies, including a Texas petroleum company in 1980, a New Zealand ski area in 1982, and a nationwide US office products distribution company in 1992. Bill was featured in a 30-minute 1988 documentary film produced by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the New Zealand Government describing how a simple sheep-grazing mountain was so successfully converted into the Cardrona NZ ski area. Bill's educational articles on career and business coaching solutions have been published more than 97 times throughout the US and Canada, by 71+ magazines and periodicals. Bill can be reached at The Career Connection or via e-mail at bill@findyourcoach.com.