Discovering my BG5 Career Type as a Classic Builder was a shock at first and then a big relief allowing me to let go of misusing my energy that had often left me feeling exhausted.
My family of origin had three Express Builders (mom and two sibs) and three Classic Builders (myself and two sibs) and an Advisor (my father). My childhood was filled with ‘rushing’ around trying to keep up to my much taller, long-legged older siblings and pressure from my mother to hurry up, keep up and you’re too slow. With that, I learned to run everywhere and that speed and efficiency was of the utmost importance. I felt guilty if I ever wanted to just be still, so often wouldn’t let myself be.
In the workplace, this showed up as pressuring everyone around me to hurry up as well. I took on more work than I needed to just to get it done as quickly and efficiently as possible. I have all four energy motors defined so do have a lot of energy to put towards work. As a Builder, it was really easy to say ‘Yes’ to anyone who asked me to do anything for them. I’d even offer to do things that I could see needed to be done, even if no one had asked for my energy. I knew I could manage doing a lot but time and time again, this would catch up to me in the form of exhaustion and eventually, complete burnout.
I lived on adrenaline, would even say I was an adrenaline junkie – without that pressure to move fast, I felt like I wouldn’t accomplish anything. I often found myself doing work that I really didn’t enjoy and told myself to push through just to get it done so I could move on to the next thing. The thought that I could focus my energy only on doing the things ‘I love’ was a foreign concept when there was so much work to be done.
Doing the things I loved felt like dessert when I hadn’t yet finished my supper.
To learn that I am a turtle (Classic Builder) who needs to move very methodically, step-by-step not even moving to the next step until the current step is complete, was shocking at first. I felt ‘less than’ because I had been taught that going fast was preferable and taking my time was frowned upon. I am an Emotional Classic Builder which requires moving even slower – waiting until I’ve moved through how ‘I feel’ about committing my energy to work. You could say, I’m the slowest way of processing of all the types when I had always thought I had to be the fastest, the hare (Express Builder). What a relief to sink into my turtle self!! Slow and steady wins the race (or they at least arrive at the finish line around the same time).
It took a long time for me to change my conditioned habit of racing around and I still get caught up in that at times. It takes effort for me to relax and remember to take my time, to really being present in the moment and to stop feeling like I have to rush ahead. You see, I wasn’t even acting like a true Express Builder, who are amazing in their ability to feel their gut response and instantly ‘do the work’ that needs doing - they are often waiting for others to catch up. I never felt comfortable doing that and constantly felt the pressure to make a decision and do something right away. When I reflected on what my experience had been, I realized that deep down, I always felt resistance and could not move forward until the timing felt right.
My body would tell me when it was time to tackle the work, if I listened. Often, I would override my body intelligence and force myself to do the work anyway trying to meet someone else’s deadline and it almost always needed to be redone or fixed or thrown out and started over. I spent a fortune to learn techniques to help myself slow down and relax, trying meditation, yoga, breathing, self-care practices and they helped and I still follow many of them but I felt a continuous pressure that I couldn’t let go of. Finding out the very basics of my ‘nature’ though, was like shedding 50 years of tension and stress that melted away once I gave myself permission to ‘be myself’.
With experience and when I was trusted to work at my own pace, I became a bit more comfortable in following my own flow – something I’d been trying to get in touch with my whole adult life. The projects I worked on moved more easily and were completed within the timeframe expected and I felt much more satisfied with the work. I realized after learning my career type that that is how I’m most effective.
Since experiencing my true nature, I now honour the current step I'm in knowing that when that step is coming to completion, the next step will present itself.
It is such a different way of working that brings me so much more calm and steady energy. I am so grateful for this awareness and how it has helped me feel more deeply satisfied with the work I do.
I’m understanding more about how all the Career Types work together most effectively. We need all of the types to challenge each other to bring our best selves to the table. Every voice matters and every type has a valuable role to play in the process. I’m so glad I found out what my role is so that I’m not trying to play a role that doesn’t fit me.
Shelley Finerty is a Certified BG5 Professional and has 30+ years of experience working in the areas of IT, Sales & Marketing, Business Analysis, Project Management and Business Development along with an avid interest in what makes us human having studied NLP, Leadership, Mindfulness, Yoga, energy work, plant medicine, natural healing methods, trauma and recovery. She now works with the BG5 Business Institute managing Marketing and Innovation.
