Most people’s experience of their business environment is that it fast paced, forward looking and future oriented, so much so that they feel that they can’t be present in today. Either to enjoy it or to solve the difficulties they are facing.
The onslaught of emails keeps growing and it is a measure sometimes of a person’s success that they double or quadruple with every promotion. Coaching my clients one to one, enables me to help them organise their time and focus differently. Full delegation of responsibilities to others, can cut the flow of emails to you immediately. Promotion most often means letting go of what you most successfully used to do, in order to be clear to do things you don’t know how to do. Figuring this out takes time and it requires you to step away from your everyday activities, rise above it all to see the bigger perspective and gain the strategic view.
In the business realms, we are all accustomed to the year-end look at the profit and loss account, the business balance sheets that reflect on the business we’ve won and the value we delivered. As we come close to the end of the year, it is valuable to take time to stop looking forward and perceive today the bigger picture of one’s career and one’s experience of work.
Work’s challenges are often a very good thing, in that they call forth our talents and capabilities, help us improve our skills and generate interest and stimulation that makes our lives interesting and fulfilling. But when challenges move into stress and aggravation for which you can’t find solutions, then work becomes unfulfilling and unhealthy. It is often wise to step away from these everyday experiences to try and gain a bigger view.
If you were to do a profit and loss statement of your year’s experience what would you find? One of the ways to do this is to take some time to think, to ask yourself some structured questions, such as:
What occurred in the first quarter of the year that was significant, important and valuable to me?
What occurred in the second quarter of the year that was significant, important and valuable to me?
What occurred in the third quarter that was significant, important and valuable to me?
What occurred in the fourth that was significant, important and valuable to me?
How has my life been enriched by my experiences and how?
What were the negative experiences and outcomes in those respective quarters and what information does this provide you?
Taking the time to think through these questions will provide you with a wealth of awareness that will enrich your sense of self, connect you to whatever intrinsically motivates you and give you a very good Bigger Picture of your life and work this year.
Penny Sophocleous
3 December 2013