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Staying Home to Create Your Green Dream Job

work at home desk with cat

How does your job work for you? Does it meet your needs for physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual well-being? Most of us spend most of our waking hours at our jobs, thinking about our jobs, and otherwise occupied with our jobs.

Parent coaching is my dream job. Yet I have not always known this is the work I wanted to do. It took me looking at four different aspects of my life – physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual, or PIES – and how parent coaching met my needs in each category to notice how well this work fit the description of my dream job. In this article, I offer you the PIES model, show you how I applied it to my work, and offer some tips to help you.

The Physical Environment

I am physically safe and comfortable while at work. I do not need to drive a car and can walk to the services I need. I need to be aware of taking stretch breaks to avoid eye strain and aching joints from sitting at the computer. Here are a few specifics about the physical success of my business.

  • It is a viable business model that can generate enough paying clients for me to more than support my family.
  • I don’t have to drive anywhere. I am at a lower risk for accidents and I don’t have the stress on my body of commuting, sitting in traffic, or worrying about being late due to accidents or car trouble. Physically there is also significant savings associated with not needing money for a car, insurance, gas, and maintenance. The lower overhead means that my business can take longer to get established or generate fewer clients and still be financially viable.
  • There is little to no infrastructure associated with my business. The ongoing costs are for phone and internet that I would most likely have anyway. This lowers overhead and also means that the raw materials for my business are not a drain on the environment through their shipping and manufacture. This lower overhead meets not only my physical, but also my spiritual, emotional, and intellectual needs for sustainable work.
  • My desk is made from retasked oak wood pallets. They are a waste product of a nearby shipping company. My husband built two pallets into a desk for me. It is lovely, handmade, and nearly free since my husband’s time was a donation of love.

Does your job meet your need for physical safety? Does your work support your physical body with money for food, shelter, and warmth? How do you treat your body while you are at work? What is hard on your body about your work? What is healthy?

The Intellectual Stimulation

I love to think. Using my mind in creative, deep, and healing ways is a joy to me. Writing and working with clients both engage my mind. I love owning my own business and getting to wear many different hats. Creative development, marketing, web design, and coaching are just a few of my jobs. I get to do the work and I get to ask for help when I need it. Here are a few more specifics I love about how parent coaching engages my mind.

  • I get to talk and connect with others. I love doing this. My mind cannot go on autopilot but instead needs to stay alert and engaged with each client.
  • My mind is a servant working in conjunction with my intuition and experience. I like using my intelligence and keeping it very grounded in the real world and connected to my emotional intelligence and intuition.
  • The work challenges me to learn and grow. Through the coaching I do with other parents, my own parenting is illuminated and grown.
  • I am constantly learning new skills and being mindful in my own life in order to be a more effective parent coach.

How does your job meet your need for intellectual stimulation? Is your mind happy while you are at work? What really engages your mind and imagination?

Next page: the Emotional and Spiritual Benefits

Image credit: Chiot’s Run via photopin cc

2 comments
  1. Verlene

    Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this post and the rest of the website is also very good.

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