Following Your Intuition with Madeleine Henry
In the world of business, career changes are inevitable, yet intimidating – you have to dive headfirst into uncertainty and face big risks. It’s important to remember, however, that you are not alone when you start going down an unbeaten path. We talked to a brave individual who did just that and is now sharing her story in this blog, hoping it will give you both realistic guidance and enough inspiration to spark the courage to pursue your passions.
Meet Madeleine Henry
Madeleine Henry graduated from Yale in 2014, intending to go into finance, an industry that offered both optionality and security. While still a student, Madeleine tried during her senior year to get published. She wrote two books but never heard back from literary agents about either of them. After graduating, Madeleine secured a job in the world of investment banking. However, despite her initial setbacks in writing, Madeleine refused to give up on her life-long dream to become an author.
Pursuing Your Passion
When Madeleine finally had a deal to get her book published, she took a leap of faith and left the world of finance to pursue writing as a full-time career. This step was hard, but Madeleine says that she had her family’s support and she did her best to not use other people’s expectations as a measuring stick.
A key factor in her transition from one career field to another, she pointed out, was making sure she had a concrete financial plan. In her case, this also meant ensuring she had a book deal before going through with any major changes. But that security would not have been enough without Madeleine’s positive mindset: “something which can't be taught is you have to believe in yourself, you have to know that what you have is awesome, and you have to have that inner boss that just knows that you're worth it.”
Within your career, you may also fall into new roles that you weren’t initially planning for or aren’t in line with where you want to go. Just recently, Madeleine had her second book published, “The Love Proof”, which is quite different from her first novel. She described at first being nervous about not following one genre in her works. To move past that, the author had to realize that by trying to fit into a certain label, she was restricting herself. Now happy with her decisions, a lesson learned was “you don’t need to label yourself too soon and you don’t need to explain yourself.” Life is a continuous learning experience and you need to trust in yourself and your decisions.
Visualizing Your End Goals
Like anything good in life, excellence and success takes a long time. Another important lesson Madeleine shared with us was the importance of visualization. Today’s generation seems to always be chasing instant gratification as young people spend hours on social media while being surrounded by a busy, flashy life. To make sure you achieve your goals, be it completing a book or something else, it is important to visualize the end result and stick to it. Visualization can also help with impatience: “When you hold on to that vision, you're no longer chasing the gratification of turning something in earlier. At the end of the day, nobody wants something that's mediocre very quickly, they want something that's great.”
Your Work is Voluntary
Most of us find ourselves feeling overwhelmed with school, internships, and work. There are a few pieces of advice that have helped Madeleine and luckily, they are just as applicable to college students. Madeleine considers herself an entrepreneur and says that work can be very demanding, however, one small shift in your attitude can make a huge difference.
A way that she likes to think is that everything she does is voluntary. This is generally an entrepreneurial way of thought, but also should be a way of thinking for everyone with responsibilities. Madeleine says when you lose a sense of control for your own life, it can be very stressful, and then you're suddenly thinking I HAVE to do this for this person. We need to remember that we all own ourselves and all our work is done by choice (i.e. to take care of your family, get an education, etc.).
Your Worth is Not Measured By Productivity
The author emphasizes that it is important to not measure one’s worth in productivity. It is easy to kick yourself when a to-do list doesn’t get completely checked off at the end of the day, or an assignment gets lost in the business of everyday life and isn’t submitted. That does not make you any less of a person and does not deserve disappointment.
Productivity is not worth the price of burnout, another thing that Madeleine touched on. Some helpful ways in which she found herself succeeding in her work were focusing on (1) consistency and (2) endurance. As touched on before, it can take a length of years to achieve anything great, so remain consistent and don’t lose sight of your goals. Second, while it’s important to push yourself, be wary of how far you go. Endurance is key to avoiding burnout and it’s better, in the long run, to push yourself at 60% capacity for a long time, rather than burnout putting in short bursts of 100% effort.
We are told “Follow Your Dreams” and “Be True to Yourself” too often compared to how rarely the fear of doing a drastic change is addressed. Madeleine Henry, however, is a person who proves that no matter what your initial career is, if you carefully pick out the right time, you can always begin a new journey to do what you love. Her interview showed us that you can approach a life-changing decision in a rational manner and change careers without any regrets.
Purchase Madeleine Henry’s books, Breathe In, Cash Out, and The Love Proof, online today.
By Nadya Gorelov and Lauren Williams
