Serve the people, don't work!

Introduce yourself in a few words..

My name is Vesela Mangeyna and I am an internationally certified business and personal coach with 13 years of experience in the field of corporate finance 9 of which at Ernst & Young in Bulgaria and USA. I am a master coach of Peter Sage in Bulgaria and worldwide and I facilitate his 6-month mentoring program for comprehensive personal transformation Elite Mentorship Forum (EMF). I am an NLP Practitioner and an NLP Master. I am a member of the International Coaching Federation and of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the United Kingdom (ACCA). My mission is to help people in business and in life to find meaning in what they do, to use their full potential and to achieve satisfaction together with success.

How would you describe your career in a few words?

I would describe my career as a transition from corporate comfort and security to inner freedom and diversity. From success to success with satisfaction. From employee to entrepreneur. From working with the visible part of the iceberg, which is above the surface of the water to working with the invisible part, which is below the surface of the water. In short, Igave up the secure, to create the meaningful.

What was the mostimportant choice that shaped your path?

The choice to listen and hear my inner and authentic voice more strongly instead of the voices of other people and the voices of authorities in my life. To stop seeking confirmation from the outside and start trusting myself. When you are in the corporate world, success is often measured by approval, titles, bonuses, which is actually external motivation. It is short-lived. Long-term motivation comes from within and the real breakthrough for me came, when I made choices not out of fear or convenience, but out of awareness and aspiration.

What would you like to know at the beginning of your career, but no one told you?

Whatever someone might have told me at the beginning of my career, if I did not have ears to hear and eyes to see, it would not have had value, no matter how meaningful it was. Three years ago, when I started my coaching career, my coach at that time asked me “How many years did it take you to become an audit manager at EY” and I answered him “5 years”. Then he told me “And it will be the same in coaching!” But I did not believe him, even argued with him and thought he was underestimating me. From the position of three years from my start until now, I firmly believe in what my coach told me then and it would have been nice if I had heard it back then, but I did not have the consciousness for it. Not that it would have changed much of my path, just, my path would have been more peaceful and harmonious if I had known this truth back then.

How can a person understand which profession is suitable for them?

The one in which they use their highest talent and all their potential. If the profession utilizes our maximum and develops us, that is our profession. Talent, we can use in multiple professions, but not every profession utilizes our full potential and develops us. I will give a brief technique with which a person can immediately understand whether their current job is suitable for them in the long term. Let everyone open up to these 4 questions: (i) Do I enjoy this profession? (ii) Is this profession good for me?(iii) Is it good for others? (iv) Is it good for the larger community? If the answers to all these questions are “Yes”, it means we are in the right place. If we have at least one “No”, it means, that sooner or later we will leave this profession. When we answer “Yes” to all these questions, we say “Yes” to something bigger and that is meaning. Once we have a sense of meaning, it will be hard to give up. Another way is to ask ourselves these two questions: (i) What is the thing that I easily master and easily practice? In these two things lies our talent and our greatest strength.

What skills according to you will be key in the next 10 years?

The ability to manage oneself, one's own behavior, emotions and reactions, awareness and confidence. There is research that shows that people with high emotional intelligence earn more money and are more successful. Even in the 19th century, scientists established that successful people are not those who have a high intelligence quotient, but high emotional intelligence, because in order to build lasting and successful relationships in business, it is necessary to understand one's own emotions, one's own behavior and reactions, as well as the behavior and reactions of other people, and that is what emotionally intelligent people can do. Another skill is the ability to think independently and to be confident in uncertainty. Confidence is a key quality and with all the people I have worked with in recent years, it ultimately turns out that they seek confidence and want to be confident in what they do. The first step towards confidence is awareness. And awareness is achieved through updating the belief system, updating thought patterns and consciousness towards our behavior. I often say that a key skill today is to be able to “upgrade” your way of thinking, just as you upgrade your phone every year and the skills to work with that phone, it is necessary to upgrade your way of thinking as well. Because, for most people, the brain works as it did 200 years ago, like in 1825, when life was much simpler, when we thought mainly about survival, about things like food, water and livelihood. Today, we think about more than survival. Today we think about growth, career, self-improvement, travel, social networks, etc. and therefore the brain is forced to use more complex thinking patterns, but without updating, our brain will remain functioning at a survival level, instead of a thriving level. That is, if a person wants to thrive today, they must work with their way of thinking and everything else is a consequence of that.

How to build a network of useful contacts without appearing interested?

If we do not appear interested, we cannot build a network of useful contacts. We should not appear needy and desperate. Being interested is not a bad thing. When you are interested, it means I see touchpoints with the other side, I see value that we can create together, I see a vision that we can develop together. To build stable, fulfilling and lasting relationships, it is necessary to show interest and along with it reveal the value we provide, to stand by our boundaries and to be sincere and authentic.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

I would not call it a mistake, but rather a delusion, that Ipersisted very insistently and for a long time to fit into a certain position and role, which was actually very narrow for me, it was simply not for me. It is like putting on clothes that are neither my style nor my size and pretending that they fit me, and that they suit me. Another delusion was wanting people to be strict, structured, organized, fast, insightful and resourceful like me. But fortunately, that has changed now! :)

How to recognize a toxic work environment and when is it time to leave?

When things no longer come easily to you. When in the morning you do not want to get out of bed - this is actually the biggest indication that it is time to leave. If a person can catch these signs and notice them, they can shorten the period of staying in one place and quickly deal with the feeling of stagnation. This does not mean, that you leave as soon as you realize it. It means that you already know that your time is up here and you go to work with a completely different mindset and gradually redirect your attention in a new direction and prepare yourself. Because a sudden exit from the comfort zone you have been in can be detrimental to you. I do not like a sudden exit from the comfort zone because no one has climbed Everest suddenly. Everyone prepares for Everest!

What would you do differently if you could start over?

Nothing! I would not change anything. The only thing I would have been more diligent in school in Spanish classes and now I would speak another foreign language. That is the only thing I would change looking back, nothing else. Really :)

How to maintain our motivation in times of stagnation?

Give yourself time for stagnation. We mistakenly think that stagnation is a bad thing. Often stagnation is a time for you to think about what your next step really is, rather than rushing through life without looking at what is happening around you or without reminding yourself where you are actually headed. Motivation is our fuel that moves us from point A to point B. It comes from the connection with the bigger vision. In times of stagnation the only thing we need to do is to stay in this stagnation and ask ourselves the following question: where am I actually headed? Do not try to force yourself up – turn to yourself, take a breath, and then take the step!

How to achieve balance between professional and personal life?

By not separating them. Balance is not division, but integration. Balance is a circle that is constantly spinning. To be in balance, when we ride a bicycle, we need to ride it and pedal and pedal in the right direction. Many people make the mistake of separating the personal from the professional life, but they are one for a person, because work is actually us, we express ourselves and our talent at work and the more successful and satisfied we are there, the better parents and partners we are at home and vice versa, the better we are at home, the better we are at work. The two spheres mutually feed each other, and when a person understands this, they stop opposing them and start living their life in balance.

When is it time to change our career, and not just the job?

Oh, this is a very difficult question and it is very individual for everyone, because changing careers, not just jobs, is a personal revolution in the life of every person. The simple answer is when this career, in which you are currently, does not respond with “Yes” to the 4 questions above (the 4th question). When you start to feel that your inner potential and your external role no longer overlap – do not just change the office, change the course. That is the sign.

If you had to give only one piece of advice to people seeking success, what would it be?

Get to know first yourself. When you do, you will know all the answers to your questions. Here I will share a very favorite quote by St. Augustine, which I really like, and which answers exactly this question “People travel to distant seas, oceans, mountains and rivers, to admire all these sights, but when they pass by themselves, they do not admire!” Get to know yourself, like yourself, fall in love with yourself and then you will fall in love with life!

What is your definition of a “successful career”?

To discover what you do best, to develop it and to choose the appropriate business or corporate form through which to reach as many people as possible with what you do best or in other words to reach as many people with the value you provide. Success comes with the value you provide. When you burn in what you do, you will not have a single hard day in your life. Serve the people, don't work!