Inner work vs. outer work
Posted on April 06, 2012 by Meredith DiMola, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
How to work through the blocks that hold us back
Many of us want to make change in our lives. In observing people looking to be happier in their career, however they define happy, want to focus on the Outer Work.
Let me start by defining these two terms:
Inner Work is just as it sounds. It is the work we do to change out behaviors. It is figuring out what is holding us back from creating our best life, figuring out where that comes from, and figuring out how to eliminate those things that are holding us back. Inner Work can take many forms but here are some examples of areas people can have concerns.
Your inner critic that says you are not good enough. “I am not good enough at writing because throughout my life people have told me I can’t write. Therefore, I am not good enough to write a blog.” or “I am never going to be a successful businessman because all my life people have told me that I am not a good leader.”
Assumptions that if something happened in the past it will happen again. “I won’t be successful in my next interview because I have had so many interviews that have not landed me a job.” or “I am so afraid of cold calling because everyone keeps hanging up on me”.
Interpretations are opinions or judgements that we create about an event/situation/person or experience and believe it to be true. “Whenever my boss sees me in the morning, she never smiles at me, so I know she doesn’t like me.” or “My team at work doesn’t believe I am talented because they never listen to me when I talk”.
Limiting beliefs where ways of the world hold us back. These may or not be true, but when we believe them, they hold us back. “You have to work hard to make money”, so therefore you don’t enjoy your life because you are working so hard to make money or you can’t love your job because that is why it is called a job and not vacation.
Outer Work are the things we identify outside of us that we want to change, such as creating a new resume, working on interviewing skills, writing a stronger cover letter, landing a new job, getting a bigger house, or making more money.
How many of you feel that if you could just get a new job, then all your problems will be solved. But wait…what happens when you get that new job and 6 months later those old feelings are coming back? It is because we all need to work on the Inner Work in conjunction with the Outer Work. Inner Work is hard to talk about. It can be emotional. It can make you cry and laugh and then cry again. This work is a life long journey of practicing new behaviors but I can assure you one thing I know from first hand experience. When you work on your Inner you will start to learn the difference between what is your Truth and what you thought was True, but no longer isn’t.
