How can hypnotherapy help with my career?

I wish I had known more about how the mind worked when I started out in my career as a graphic designer. Deadlines were stressful and persistent. Not being taken seriously as a 24-year-old was frustrating. Having decisions taken out of my hands was annoying. Market forces wiping away half of the business virtually overnight was terrifying. The IT industry was no better because it was a new industry, its values didn’t align with mine. Of course, I didn’t know any of this at the time, so I was permanently stressed. Until I learnt all about stress, the brain, values, and beliefs.

How can hypnotherapy help?

Managing stress with solution-focused hypnotherapy can lead to the discovery of your realistic life goals. It's frightening to suddenly have to give presentations or attend management meetings. Maybe you’re feeling stuck in a role and unable to advance in your career. These situations have the potential to erode your confidence.

Therapy provides an opportunity to delve into your values and assess how they match your chosen field. It can also help you navigate difficulties resulting from a troublesome colleague, which may cause stress because of the necessary procedures are not taking place.

In short, it can help:

• improve focus and concentration
• better sleep
• stop worry
• use visualisation skills to deliver presentations
• improve confidence around those higher up the management ladder
• ask for a pay rise
• understand your values and those of the industry
• work out your priorities and when to move on

Case study

Mark holds a managerial position in the automotive field. With 20 years of experience, his recent promotion confirms his skills. Because of numerous broken promises, he feels abandoned by the company bosses. In the department he manages, there are three employees. Until the promotion, one of them held equal status with him. Despite the comings and goings of three apprentices during his tenure as manager, he perceives the other departments as obstacles rather than supporters.

To combat stress and ease constant tension, he followed his sports massage therapist’s advice and chose hypnotherapy to help him relax more.

After a couple of sessions, he realised that being promoted from the ranks was not the best idea. He didn’t like the computer system and struggled to learn. Since he was no longer involved in the technical aspects of working with vehicles, he became unhappy. While the raise was satisfactory, he soon realised the hassle outweighed the benefits.

As a therapist, I have seen many people at this point in their careers. I knew what to look out for and focused many of the questions on personal goals and their values. He valued good old-fashioned engineering, not computers. He placed a high value on support from bosses and cooperation from other staff, even though he knew they were lacking. We explored other businesses doing well that he was aware of. However, after speaking with multiple suppliers, he realised that his own industry was in decline. He felt the need to find a solution before it was too late.

Mark then set up a plan of action. His wife was starting a new job, and he could be his own boss. His cousin needed help in his business and many people he spoke to locally about setting up as a mobile mechanic and welder were encouraging. He took the plunge to go solo. Hard work, but worth it in the end.

So many people in their 50s having to deal with the changes in technology are finding themselves at a disadvantage. During the pandemic, the sudden need to work online meant that for some people learning to negotiate the technology was causing a large amount of stress, not seen before. Before the pandemic, a great deal of clients I saw were young women or retiring men.

The beginning and the end

Now, there are more young women who have attained their degrees and believe they have secured the perfect job. Then because work does not progress as they hoped, they wonder if they should throw it all away and just have children. They bring their motherhood forward without having the finances behind them or their partners are not earning enough. They then find themselves being forced into decisions too early.

Hypnotherapy allows them to be more solution-orientated. Instead of just reacting negatively to office politics, they can take a step back and develop a better strategy. Having everything in life planned out is great, but things rarely work out in the way we think. The economy’s ups and downs can make it challenging to afford the house you desire, which may result in living in cramped conditions while raising a family. When we’re stressed, we fail to look at the bigger picture.

At the other end of the working life, the same thing occurs. These days, many people are being forced to work well into their 60s whether or not they want to. Working through strategies that give you a better work-life balance is the key. Perhaps downsize early, and find a lower-paid job with less responsibility. These may be dismissed in a stressed state, but when you’re sleeping better and start seeing how things are for real, then this process can be very insightful.

Then finally, when you have retired, what then? Sometimes not knowing what to do next can be extremely stressful to some people. Individuals can use hypnotherapy to come up with ideas for what to do next by exploring their values and what’s good for them.

From the moment you leave school, and throughout your career to retirement, hypnotherapy can help you negotiate the rocky rapids.