Today’s post is an interview conducted by Victoria Goodlow, a Mocha Girls Pit Stop contributor and  Texas native passionate about uplifting her community. If you’re stuck in a quarter-life crisis, you’re going to love this post. Please comment below to support Victoria’s work. 

We’ve all experienced rough patches in life where we feel lost or unfulfilled. It’s easy to look at the journey of a successful colleague and become dissatisfied with your own.

The great thing about it is that those individuals who’ve been where you are and found a way to overcome their circumstance, can become your biggest inspiration.

A conqueror in life, Mira Joleigh is the CEO/Founder and Success Coach of #Ambitionista Success Club. Mira has dedicated her life to helping other ambitious women begin their personal growth journey, find their passion, and get paid to do what they love.

I had the privilege of chatting with her earlier this week and was blown away by her story. I hope the gems that she has graciously given, encourages you to own your power and continue to chase your dreams!

Stuck in a Quarter-Life Crisis

MIRA IS NO STRANGER TO BEING AMBITIOUS

At the tender age of 22, Mira was taking night classes, working full-time, and making $50,000 a year in sales. “I was the most ambitious person I knew,” Mira recollects.

ON HOW SHE STARTED HER CAREER AS A LIFE COACH

Around the age of 24, during my corporate years, I attended a Chamber of Commerce networking event. A microphone was passed around for everyone to share a little bit about who they are.

This woman took the microphone and said, “Hi, my name is Jennifer Powers and I’m a Life Coach. I help people set and reach their goals.” The moment I heard her introduction, I was like, “WOAH! That’s a thing!? Maybe that’s what I’m supposed to be doing with my life!”

I made a bee-line across the room, introduced myself to Jennifer and invited her to lunch. As an
introvert, this was totally out of character for me. I had so many questions for Jennifer and she
graciously answered them all.

I ended up scheduling a coaching session with her to experience coaching first-hand. I knew after trying it, that coaching was what I wanted to do as a career.

SIX YEARS AND A QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS LATER…

It took me from the age of 24 to the age of 30 to finally pursue life coaching as a career. While I knew in my heart that it’s what I wanted to do, I didn’t have the confidence to go for it. I would say to myself, “I’m 24, who am I to be a Life Coach when I don’t know much about life in the first place?” (I call this voice my “inner critic”).

I spent six years running away from coaching and doing everything else BUT that. I worked in sales, marketing, advertising and event planning.

I also took a wild turn in my career and became an exotic dancer, bartender, and graphic designer (all at the same time).

Eventually, I realized that no matter what job title I held…I was still using life coaching skills. I couldn’t help myself, it just came naturally. I always found a way to have deep, heart-centered conversations and help people strategize their goals, projects, etc.

I even coached the girls in the dressing room at the strip club to help them make more money.

This is also the period I look back on my “quarter life crisis” … It’s a phase so many of us go through in our young-adult lives where we feel like we are SUPPOSED to have our shit together, but we’re not quite there yet.

We start noticing that our peers are doing awesome things with their lives and we’re not.

We’re feeling stuck at a job that we hate…but we can’t figure out what we’d RATHER be doing. All we know, is that something’s not right.

Ultimately, your quarter life crisis is a period of transition. And the transition occurs when you realize that it’s more uncomfortable to stay stuck than it is to take a risk and make a change. It’s a scary leap to take, but SO worth it.

OVERCOMING HER CRISIS

The key to getting my shit together, was owning the fact that I am in control of my life… that I created the situation I was in, and I had the power to change it.

I was in a really dark and depressed place when this epiphany hit me. I sought out a counselor to work through my depression. I learned how my childhood had shaped my development, I faced some hard realities about my parents, and I cried a lot and did the inner work to understand my emotions. I also realized that I had to leave an unhealthy relationship that was holding me back.

When I felt ready to make a big change in my life, I hired a life coach. My coach helped me identify the beliefs that were making me feel stuck. She helped me examine my negative thoughts and reverse them (taught me to use affirmations).

My coach directed me to read powerful personal development books, attend workshops and seminars. She helped me to visualize the life that I wanted, helped me set goals and held me accountable to reaching them.

One of the biggest lessons I learned from my coach was how to own my power (how to stop people-pleasing and trust my intuition).

I stopped modifying who I was and what I want based on other people’s expectations.

Major confidence booster. I finally came to a place where I was ready to own my path.

I was ready to go to back to school and get my coaching certification!

WHAT IS AN AMBITIONISTA?

When I launched my own coaching practice, I nicknamed my ideal client #Ambitionista. I knew that I would attract women who were following in my footsteps…

An #Ambitionista is a dream chasing woman in her 20s or 30s who is driven to succeed. She knows without a doubt that she will become an influential woman one day, she is just walking out the journey to get there.

I consider Beyonce, Lady GaGa, Jennifer Lopez and so many of the women we look up to in the entertainment industry – role models for an #Ambitionista. These women believed in themselves and were relentless in pursuit of their goals. They were willing to do whatever it took to live their vision.

HOW TO FIND YOUR PASSION

When you’re trying to find your passion, take really good notes on yourself. Make a list of the things that drive you, the things that light you up! Take inventory of the magazines, TV shows, books and podcasts you consume. What/who are you following on social media? Each of us has a unique set of interests and these are indicators to your passion. When you connect the dots, you’ll be able to narrow in on the ONE THING you’d love to do as a career!

I participated in a life-changing exercise during a seminar once…

It was called the “Strengths Exercise” and it was designed to help you find your ideal career. We were instructed to take a piece a paper and draw a line vertically down the middle. On the left, we wrote all of the things we believe we’re good at (i.e. good listener, organizer, artistic, open-minded etc.).

Then, we were instructed to ask 20-25 people in our lives to tell us what THEY thought we were good in addition to answer the question, “What can you imagine me doing as a career?”

I completed the assignment and then took note of where my self- assessment overlapped with the opinions of my friends and loved ones. This was the ONE exercise that helped me finally decide that coaching was right for me!

(This exercise is now a part of the Ultimate Clarity Kit on my website, download it for free here!)

THERE ARE NO EXCUSES!

I’m a strong believer that if you really want something, you will find a way to make that happen. If you find a coach you want to work with or a seminar you want to attend… but it’s a $1,000 investment… you WILL find a way to afford it.

You’ll come up with a side hustle, get a loan from a close friend/family member, or save $100 a month. Get really creative. When you decide that you really want something, be unstoppable. Find a way to invest in yourself and trust that investment will be the catalyst of your growth and transformation.

MIRA’S LIFE MANTRA

Have no regrets. Live adventurously. Do everything my heart is telling me to do and don’t hold back.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR MIRA JOLEIGH?

July marks the midpoint of the year; we have six months left to conquer our goals in 2016. The goals you set in January might need a kick-in- the-pants to achieve, yes?

I’m launching a free challenge called #30DaysMassiveAction to give you the extra motivation to conquer those goals! You can sign up at Ambitionista.org/challenge (it starts July 1 st ). This opportunity is perfect for you if you’re a woman in your 20’s or 30’s with BIG goals and dreams!

Join and get access to a daily assignment via email + access to our private Facebook Group where I’ll be interacting with you LIVE. I can’t wait to see you there!

FINAL WORDS

Whatever you might be going through right now, know that is temporary and you have everything inside of you to get past it. Your future is more amazing that you can imagine and I believe in you.

KEEP UP WITH MIRA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiraJoleigh

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ambitionista/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmbitionistaLA

Website: http://lifecoachlosangeles.com/