Getting ready to shift ... but not quite brave enough yet!

Hi. This is my first shift log. So, I suppose I start with me and where I’ve got to on my shift journey. The honest answer is not very far. I have what many would consider a successful career, working for a prestigious professional firm with a good salary. I’m ambitious and have moved quickly throughout my career to accelerate promotion (and to overcome the inevitable boredom that comes with my restless personality). But, I’m bored and uninspired and feeling like there is a lot more in me. I feel like I’m reigned in by my career and the interminable corporate bureaucracy, and I’m looking for ways to make a break and follow my dream.

I graduated in 2002 with a business degree and a built in career decision maker to head for the business world and get a career measured by financial reward and big name CV entries. OK, I didn’t go the whole hog and join an investment bank but I did head to a big four accountancy and started my career in professional services marketing there. Since, I’ve moved every 18 months to 2 years, taking big steps forward and reasonable pay rises as I go. The change has kept me interested and I now find myself in a fairly autonomous business development manager role for a high profile commercial law firm.

So, at this point I would worry everyone will be shouting “stop moaning and get on with it”. And to an extent I agree. I spend a lot of time urging myself to pull myself together, take a reality check and get on with making the most of what I’ve achieved. But I have this constant nagging in the back of my head that I should follow my dreams. Yes, those head in the clouds dreams you have as a child. Mine still keeps coming back to me. I love to write, I’ve always wanted to call myself a writer. So should I bite the bullet and go for it? Well, I’m seriously thinking about how I can do this but I fear it will be a slow and rocky journey. One that you will probably become all too familiar with if you follow my shiftlog.

I could take you through my many confusions and conundrums at the moment but this has gone on long enough for now. I’ll come back with that one soon, hopefully with some ideas on what I am going to do next to make it happen. If anyone out there has some words of wisdom, they'd be very enthusiastically received!