Life, Career, or Relationship Crossroads? Two Questions Unlock Your Path

Ep: 277

Are you feeling lost, uncertain, stressed, or anxious about a big decision, and you’re not sure which next step to take?

Navigating major life, career, and relationship decisions can feel overwhelming. It’s in these turbulent, unsteady, and chaotic times that we’re tasked with choices that will make huge impacts on our lives.

Seasons of change are an inevitable part of life. It’s how you approach those changes that makes all the difference. 

Today on The Bridge to FulfillmentⓇ, Blake discusses the collective season of change many of us are experiencing and the uncertainty that comes with it. Reflecting on whether your current life path aligns with your future goals will help identify misalignments, guiding you towards better decisions that lead to greater fulfillment.

In this episode, you’ll learn what it feels like to navigate the uncertainty of big changes and the toll that their weight can have on your life. You’ll hear about the role that misalignment plays in our hesitancy to make choices, and how you can jumpstart the momentum by asking yourself two important questions.

With the right strategy and the right support behind you, you can finally create the changes that will lead to more alignment in your life. 

 

What You’ll Learn:

  • Our collective season of change (0:46)

  • Why important decisions can’t be rushed (2:11)

  • Two powerful questions to help you gain clarity (3:12)

  • Navigating major decisions strategically (6:08)

  • Partnering with an impartial ally (8:07)

 

Favorite Quotes:

  1. “We are in a collective season of change. The last couple months has brought a lot of challenge and chaos to many of us, and now is an opportunity to clear the way and really identify. What is it that we want for our future?” –Blake Schofield

  2. “In moments like this, when you’re at these types of crossroads, the biggest mistake you can make is rushing to take action just to feel better.” –Blake Schofield

  3. “The truth is, the longer you continue to do things that are misaligned, the harder and harder it gets.” –Blake Schofield

  4. “If you’re navigating a major life, career or relationship decision, it’s critical that you actually see the truth clearly, so that you don’t risk what you’ve worked so hard to build.” –Blake Schofield


Additional Resources:

For programs and opportunities to work with Blake, go to www.BlakeSchofield.com

Transcript

Blake Schofield  0:00
Blake, hi. I’m Blake Schofield, founder and CEO of The Bridge to Fulfillment, mom to three, USA Today Top 10 professional coach, and former corporate executive who got tired of sacrificing my life for a comfortable paycheck. My mission is to expand perspectives to achieve greater impact at home and work—without sacrifice. This is The Bridge to Fulfillment.

Blake Schofield  0:39
Lately, I’ve been seeing a theme play out across nearly every client conversation, text, and personal reflection: we are in a collective season of change. The last couple of months have brought a lot of challenge and chaos to many of us, and now is an opportunity to clear the way and really identify—what is it that we want for our future? Because when you go through a season of change, and if it’s bigger change, like identity‑shifting change, it often comes with a lot of turbulence—second‑guessing yourself, anxiety, stress, asking friends and family what you should do—and ultimately getting to a place where you realize that you have some hard choices or difficult things you can’t ignore. Then the question really becomes: Is the life I’m leading right now the one for my future? Is the course that I’m on the right one? Do I keep investing my time, my energy, my heart, in this business, this career, this relationship, this life that I’m currently leading, or is it time for something different?

Blake Schofield  1:52
Listen, I know these are not small questions; they carry a lot of weight. And to be honest, by the time most people find me, they’ve been wrestling with these things for months—or years—continuing to push forward and try to make it work. What I’ll share with you is: in moments like this, when you’re at these types of crossroads, the biggest mistake you can make is rushing to take action just to feel better, or continuing to push forward with something that’s not working because it’s familiar or comfortable. The truth is, the longer you continue to do things that are misaligned, the harder and harder it gets. First it’s a whisper, then a knock, then a bang, then the whole dang house comes down. But it doesn’t have to be that way. These moments are invitations not just to pivot, but to consciously choose the life, career, relationships, and rhythm for our life that truly align with who we want to become. From that place of truth, you really have two paths: one path leads to greater ease, fulfillment, alignment, energy, and passion; the other, to more resistance, confusion, exhaustion, and risk.

So if you’re in that in‑between moment right now—where you feel lost or uncertain, where you’re feeling stress and anxiety about a big decision and you’re not sure what the right next step is—I’m going to share with you two incredibly powerful questions that I use with my clients to help them gain clarity very quickly.

Blake Schofield  3:34
Number one: Knowing what I know today, would I choose this?—and you can fill in the blank. Again: Knowing what I know today, would I choose this friendship? Knowing what I know today, would I choose this job, this boss, this company? Knowing what I know today, would I choose this responsibility that I’m carrying?

If the answer to that question is not an immediate, full‑body yes, then you go to question number two. If the answer is no—no, I would not choose it, knowing what I know today and the circumstances I’m in—then the next question is: What would need to change in order for it to be a yes? Really sit and contemplate: “In order for it to be an absolute yes—every part of me: mind, body, soul—is like, ‘Yes, I would 100 percent choose that’—what would have to change?” Sit down and really list those things.

Here’s the power: the answer you put here tells you exactly where to put your energy and what needs to shift. It shows you, truly, the gaps between where you are today and where you need to go.

Now, with that said, it’s not always that simple—right? It never is. If you’re in a place where you’re contemplating some big moves and you can now see this list of things you need to shift, there are certain contexts that help you understand what the right thing to do is, how to approach that change, what experiences you’re seeing that tell you the likelihood of being able to create that change, and then how to decide how to create that change with the least amount of risk possible.

Blake Schofield  5:23
Because here’s what I want you to know: if you’re navigating a major life, career, or relationship decision, it’s critical that you actually see the truth clearly—so that you don’t risk what you’ve worked so hard to build. You can create positive change for your life and a strategic plan that honors what you want for your future without creating unnecessary risk.

Why do I say that to you? Because, again, our mind and body—when we are in a lot of pain—immediately want to take action to get out of that pain, or just force us back into the same pattern. Neither one of those will actually resolve the root cause of what you’re being shown as an opportunity to change. Sometimes, through this journey—as I walk my clients through it and we start looking deeper at the circumstance—we realize that the areas in misalignment, the things that need to change, are things they haven’t accurately communicated or conveyed. So it’s a great opportunity to see what is possible.

But I’ll also tell you: sometimes, going through this with my clients, what we see is they actually have been communicating those things they need for years—or months—and they’ve tried over and over and over again to communicate them, and nothing is changing. Or they’ve tried over and over and over again to change the things that aren’t working, and either it’s not improving or it’s actually getting worse. In those moments, it’s even more critical to have an impartial partner who knows how to help you navigate this strategically to make the right change for your life—because we don’t end up in these inflection moments, we don’t end up in these crossroad moments, by accident.

Blake Schofield  7:09
They first came as a whisper, then a knock, then a bang, and then the holding house comes down. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This can be the threshold—an opportunity to step into a much brighter, happier, more fulfilling career, life, and relationships that you want. But it begins with stopping to ask yourself: Knowing what I know now, would I invest in this circumstance, relationship, etc., again? And if not, what needs to change?

Then, from there, being able to understand—in your circumstance—what is the right step forward that creates the best outcome for all involved. I hope this has been helpful to you. I hope it’s opened up some thought processes to help you get clarity about your circumstance.

And I will also invite you: if you’re listening to this today and you’re like, “Man, I’m in the thick of it. I’m in a relationship or a career; there are things going on in my life that I know aren’t sustainable, but I don’t know how to move forward—I don’t know the right next steps, I don’t know how to be strategic in doing that without creating risk”—I invite you to reach out. It’s a perfect opportunity to get support and see if, or how, I might be able to help you do that. This is the work I’ve been doing for years. While this might be a new circumstance to you…

Blake Schofield  8:37
I’ve navigated this hundreds of times, and I know exactly what the pitfalls are and how to help you really get to the root cause of what is misaligned in your life—and how to create that forward movement in a way that creates the outcomes you want without putting you, your relationships, your reputation, etc., at risk.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so honored to be a part of your life and to come share these things with you via this podcast. I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead, and I hope that—whatever opportunity you see in your life, whether big or small—you take this chance to consciously and intentionally create the life that you want. Every day is an opportunity to improve; every day is an opportunity to create more connection, more joy, more fulfillment, more peace of mind, and more presence to truly enjoy all of the areas of your life.