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Breaking Through the Shell - What 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗴𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗻 🐓 taught me about Career Transition!

The dish, Beggars Chicken, is the perfect metaphor for the challenges we face when looking for a job. How so? In episode 263 of YOUR CAREER PODCAST with Jane Jackson, I share with you my story …

I was inspired to share this episode having recently returned from visiting my childhood home of Hong Kong (the last time I was back was before Covid in 2019).

I wanted to be in Hong Kong as my Mum would have turned 100 years old on the 20th Sept 2024. I went back to ‘sweep the graves’ of my parents who have been laid to rest at the Hong Kong Cemetery (Dad passed away at the age of 49, when I was 11. Mum was widowed for 35 years before she passed away at the age of 81.)

One evening I caught up with dear old friends for dinner at the Peking Garden Restaurant in Alexandra House. They organised for us to have Beggars Chicken as one of the special dishes to celebrate our reunion and I was tasked with opening this dish.

As I cracked open the thick pastry encasing Beggars Chicken with a golden hammer, to reveal the specialty within, I couldn't help but reflect on how this experience mirrors our own career transitions. How so? Let me explain:

The pastry, beautifully shaped and protective, isn’t meant to be consumed - it serves a purpose. It preserves the chicken within, keeping it tender and moist, but to reach the goodness, you must break through the hard exterior.

Much like that pastry, we often build protective layers - fear, doubt, anxiety - during unsettling times.

I remember my own career transition at 41, navigating a divorce, moving from Singapore to Sydney with teenage children, and needing to reinvent my life and career.

At the time it felt near impossible to break through my own barriers of self-doubt and uncertainty about the future.

As I swung the golden hammer, I was reminded: the shell is temporary, the potential inside is what matters.

In 2001 was able to reinvent my life and career despite the challenges and self-limiting beliefs that were hidden behind a façade I’d put up to protect myself and my children.

In career and life transitions, breaking through our protective façades is hard but necessary to uncover the richness of who we truly are.

The path to our next chapter may be challenging, but it's also filled with untapped potential waiting to be revealed.

I wonder … what protective layers are holding YOU back from discovering your hidden potential?

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