Yachting's Golden Handcuffs - Part 1

Those Golden Handcuffs hold tight, and the longer you’ve worked in yachting the tighter they grip – a healthy disposable income and the freedom and luxuries it affords you are pretty hard to give up. 

So with that in mind, over my next series of articles for Onboard Online I’m going to share with you my top tips and strategies for making a smooth transition ashore, with an action plan for success and a stash of desirable assets to dangle in front of any prospective employer.

When I first set up my business The Crew Coach I had several aims: to help people enter the yachting industry and make a successful career out of it, to help those at the top lead with confidence and composure, and to help people remove any sources of personal stress along the way so they could get on with simply enjoying their work and doing a great job!

As expected, I quickly became busy with wannabe crew and ambitious career ladder climbers within in the yachting industry, and of late I have been busier than ever helping leaders lead, in an industry where the importance of good leadership is finally gaining the awareness it deserves. But what I wasn’t expecting was that I would also end up working with quite a lot of crew on how to become ‘un-crew’ as well! 

In fairness I should really have seen this coming, considering I am ex crew myself and found my own move from ship to shore a rather rocky transition. The fact is, so many of us drift into yachting (pardon the pun) and never really take the time to sit down and plot a course (sorry!) that will ultimately lead us on and out of it once we decide it’s time to move on.

So we struggle along – doing just ‘one more season’ while we try to figure it out, half-heartedly looking at options but easily being distracted by our ever increasing bank balance and the allure of just one more pair of designer sunglasses.

Those Golden Handcuffs hold tight, and the longer you’ve worked in yachting the tighter they grip – as having a healthy disposable income and the freedom and luxuries it affords you are pretty hard to give up.

It doesn’t help that, after being in yachting for several years, most of our friends are usually yacht crew as well. “Another bottle of Moet!” they shout at that expensive beach restaurant, while our wallets cringe at the thought of splitting the bill, which will probably amount to a week’s pay on our meagre shore-based salary.

That’s if you are lucky enough to even find a land based job, which first requires you to decide where in the world you want to base yourself and what on earth you want to do with your life now, before even beginning to try and educate sceptical landlubbers that it was actually quite hard work, swanning around on superyachts for the past x-number of years.

Well, hindsight is an invaluable asset, and luckily for you I’m old enough to have banked a good few years worth of it that I’m quite happy to share with you. I’m the first to admit I’ve made almost every career mistake in the book over the past twenty-five years,

which I think is what qualifies me to be a self-proclaimed expert on What Not To Do, with a good sized sleeve-full of suggestions for more successful tactics you could try instead.

So with that in mind, over my next series of articles for Onboard Online I’m going to share with you my top tips and strategies for making a smooth transition ashore, with an action plan for success and a stash of desirable assets to dangle in front of any prospective employer. 

So let’s get started. Way before you even begin thinking about moving ashore the very first question you need to ask yourself is “What do I really want to do with my life?”

I know, this is a Big Question – but if you never ask yourself this you are extremely unlikely to ever find out – and this knowledge is what gives your life the kind of meaning and purpose that brings actual genuine happiness, an everlasting version of the satisfaction and joy you might previously only have experienced in that brief ecstatic moment after purchasing a new pair of Louboutins or an expensive electronic gadget, but which faded so fast, only to be replaced by your longing for the next must-have object on your horizon.

Of course it’s easy for me to say how important this is - but how on earth do you figure it out? Well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help you get down to the real nitty gritty of what life is all about for you. So get nice and comfy with a pen and paper handy – we’re going to start with the Rocking Chair Test.

No, I’m not going to get you to actually sit in a crusty old chair – just bear with me and close your eyes for a minute. Imagine yourself as 99 years old, contentedly rocking gently in your chair on your porch, thinking back over all the amazing things you’ve done and achieved in your long, happy and satisfied life.

What major events, milestones and people stand out for you? What do you feel most proud of and what gives you the greatest sense of satisfaction? What gave your life meaning and what did you contribute to others and the world around you? Who loves and appreciates you, and why?

By now a picture should be starting to emerge, and your creative juices should be starting to flow. Go with it and allow yourself to dream! What if you could do anything, go anywhere, with nothing and no-one holding you back? What if money were no object?

What if you believed anything was possible? Notice where you might be limiting yourself with pesky ‘reality’ and allow yourself to be free of these limitations just for the fun of this exercise. Notice what you allow yourself to wish for and want when ‘reality’ is not in the way – these suppressed desires are often actually the most important to us on a subconscious level.

Take a few minutes to really ponder the thoughts and ideas that come up for you and write down everything you think of. Deep within these dreams are the seeds of your true calling and just thinking about what you really want is enough to begin germinating them.

The clearer you can envisage that rich and rewarding life, the better you prepare this imaginary life to take seed and burst into reality – and the next step (to be continued in my next article) is to decide what kind of environment you need to plant yourself in for the greatest chance of success.

See www.thecrewcoach.com for more information.

*Image Credits: Pixabay