Never felt like you belong, repeating an endless cycle of burnout? You're not broken and here's how I know!

I'm going to be straight out with it, I've never until very recently felt completely at home in any of my previous working environments. It was like I was this magical shapeshifter that could change my shape to fit into whatever was required of me.

I figured out two things very quickly, the shape would only hold for so long before the cracks would start to show, and eventually I would be so mentally exhausted from trying to be what others wanted that I would break.

This cycle repeated itself over and over again - I was led to believe that I was broken, that I would never truly fit in and the acceptance of this perceived fact settled deep into my bones.

I knew I had so much to offer but I could never quite find the right way to demonstrate it. Since I experienced this cycle, I purely believed that I was the common denominator and so it must of course be me who is at fault... and in a way this is both true and false.

True because I did not have the self-awareness to fully understand where my energy and talent thrived and false, as I know there are truly no broken people, every person regardless of their productivity, accomplishments or any other societal measure of success is worthy and deserves a place in this world.

So how did I break down this mental barrier and self belief that I would never find a place where I was fully accepted for who I was? I found a heart centred company who believed that every person deserved a place to be accepted, to work and earn a living without sacrificing their mental health or wellbeing.

The most powerful and eye opening experience I had in my career was when I took my F4S assessment. An assessment built on the back of 20 years of research that allowed me for the first time in my life to feel confident in my talents and aware of my blindspots.

It suddenly all made perfect sense why I had never felt like I belonged. I was not in alignment with my core motivations. It was like seeing a statistical representation of the journey I had experienced so far.

This was back in 2018 and the launchpad of me embracing my talents and starting my own business. I also decided to complete coach training so that I could mentor both on and offline to share this experience with others, to see them light up when they realise, "hey, I'm not broken either".

And perhaps the most special moment, was not when Fingerprint for Success invited me to join their team 3 years later, it was when I was given the project of launching our ADHD study. At 28 I was diagnosed with combined type ADHD.

For me, it felt like once again, this difference would prevent me from finding my place, little did I know that not only would I be embraced for my neurodiversity, I now get to help others who have been on similar journeys, filled with much of the same heartbreak and ongoing determination to accept themselves while finding somewhere they can belong too.

I wrote this article with the intention to create more of these "aha" moments, for people who feel stuck in the cycle, to access data that shows them their core qualities and talents - the best part - it's completely free, so you can breathe a sigh of relief that you're not getting your hopes up for something that's going to be unaccessible.

The amount of times as a neurodiverse person I've wanted to access programs, only for them to come with an exorbitant fee...I can understand peoples reluctance to try anything new.

So how do we make this "aha" moment happen? If you haven't clicked on the F4S assessment hyperlink, you can go to f4s.com and take it there. You'll meet coach Marlee, our A.I. coach who operates to your schedule from any device (she can also pop into your Slack channel).

Completing the assessment will take you 15-20minutes, it will provide you with 48 data points, along with recommendations on where you find the most energy, where you may be at risk of burnout and how your results compare to the most successful startups and companies around the world.

Every single person receives their own unique result, just like a Fingerprint! No one is being put in any buckets here.

Well, there you have it, the choice is now yours - the only cost being 15minutes of your time.

And if you experience an "aha moment" like I did, I would love to hear from you. I also have a video series that explains every motivation in greater detail if you want to explore your motivations further.

If you made it this far into my article, thanks for reading! I'm wishing for your best and highest success, in a place where you feel truly accepted for who you are. They exist - I promise! :)

“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” -Brene Brown.

Tia