“Have you ever had that moment when you realise that even though you’re really good at something, the universe is actually calling you in a different direction?”

Michelle Engelsman, Olympic swimmer, experienced this in 2008. She had at one time been ranked as #1 in the world, had travelled extensively for her country (Australia) and was a finalist in the 2004 Olympics.

Then as the Beijing Olympic trials approached, she felt deeply challenged. “I’d always been motivated by creating a more equal society and now I felt split between achievement and my awareness of the human rights abuses in China. I really felt the universe saying to me: ‘Yes, you’re good at this… but we need you elsewhere now’. I’d had the opportunity to engage with people through following my sporting dreams – and now felt my energy was needed in a different arena: a politically campaigning arena”.

Although most of you reading this aren’t Olympic athletes, many of us can identify with the feeing of achieving highly in our profession and yet feeling pulled in a different direction – one which aligns more fully with our values and with our bigger-picture purpose. For Michelle, it was time to say: “I love what I do… but I’m ready for something else”. She retired from professional swimming after the World Championships. “It wasn’t that I wanted to leave. I had a great time doing what I did. It was that I was ready for a new challenge, a new horizon.”

With extra time on her hands, she volunteered to help Amnesty, briefing Olympic governing bodies on human rights abuses. She also completed her Masters degree in International Studies and lent her voice to aid organisation Bodhi. She went on to land a full-time role at Greenpeace, campaigning on issues like GM food, whales and climate change – work that she says brought all her passions together.

Fast-forward to what she’s doing now: living in Cambridge, England (having relocated to be with her partner) where she is the tireless campaign manager for Green Party MP candidate Tony Juniper. As we enter Election week, she says: “It was impossible not to jump at this opportunity. I am so inspired by putting my efforts in to someone who exemplifies what matters deeply to me and who actually represents my voice. In a time when politics can be very depressing and disingenuous, I’m proud to be behind someone who lives what he says and is taking my values and priority issues back in to parliament.”

Do you find yourself at a crossroads, called in a different direction? Perhaps it is less risky than you think to hear that call and respond to it. You may well find, like Michelle, that there is a clear bridge between your current work and where you want to go next. Although on paper an elite athlete and a political campaigner seem worlds apart, Michelle has found there to be more similarities than differences: “Both involve strategic planning, discipline, motivation, team work, and continually building momentum towards an immoveable target date”.

What would it be like to transfer your skills to a new challenge? To apply them to a different form of work, that is deeply fulfilling to you? Perhaps it is time to ask yourself: What else am I passionate about? What other directions have my experiences and studies been nudging me in? What other ways of earning an income could align with my deepest-held values?

Michelle believes there’s a point where it’s more of a risk to stay put; when “staying a bud is more painful than turning into a flower”. Maybe you sense it’s time for you to do something different – time to be brave, time for a change.

The World Needs Your Passion, So…

1) Whether you’re in employment or self-employment, how is your current role working out for you? How aligned do you feel with it? Make a list of the reasons you are staying in your current role. You might list aspects of your role that you love and/or fears of what would happen if you left. Now: what’s it like to look at that list? What feelings come up?

2) If there’s been a nagging sense that it’s time for a change, what other directions are calling you? Michelle loved swimming; she was also passionate about international politics. What are the areas where your attention is being drawn? What feels like it aligns most clearly with your values?

3) Make a list of next possible action steps in a new direction. Speak with someone? Research a possible training course? Negotiate to part-time hours? Take one of those steps today.

4) Leave a comment on this blog post, letting us know: What’s it like to achieve highly in one field and now consider different directions? What’s it like to hear the call – and either respond or resist? What have been your experiences in the past, when you’ve gone in a direction you’ve felt called by? And when you haven’t?

Have you heard the call but are finding it hard to make the shift?

Whether it’s lack of confidence or uncertainty about how you would earn money by taking a different path, book a consultation to discuss how you could be supported in following your passion. Click here > >

© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2010

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Photo credits: Angelo Gargaglione & Jean-Luc Benazet (with thanks).