When I was younger, I didn’t want to be an actor, doctor, lawyer, engineer, or investment manager even there were things about each of those roles that were attractive to me. I wanted to be playful, express myself, be useful and help others in a hands-on way. I wanted to have, and express meaning and depth in my work. I wanted to be inspired and to inspire others while making good money 😊
I liked interacting with people, client partnerships, and relationships I developed. I thoroughly enjoyed and was good at looking at problems and designing creative solutions to address them. I had a passion for ideas of all sorts, and it made me happy to use them to help people make changes in their companies and their lives. I loved thinking and writing and speaking in ways that inspired others. What I didn’t like was creating standardized methods for particular solutions and replicating them continuously instead of inventing innovative customized solutions to a particular problem.
As I get older what I realized was that I could have it all. I could combine what attracted me about being an actor, doctor, lawyer, engineer, and investment manager into one. I could be a playful, expressive, experimental, useful, hands-on, meaningful, deep, inspiring, sales executive. And it would be the perfect job for me since I would be leveraging my strengths, embracing my weaknesses, asserting my differences, and pursuing my passions.
Then what I discovered was my way back down to earth. Not just to financial or career success, but happiness fulfillment, because it would allow me and force me actually to bring my whole self into my work and my life. To spend my time on the things that are important to me. The things that make me different, that make me matter.
Still, as I began to practice consulting in my own, new way, it wasn’t always easy. I made mistakes. I failed. Sometimes, when one part of my plan wasn’t working, I questioned the whole plan. Other times, I became so focused on doing things a certain way that I missed great opportunities around me. And periodically, when I didn’t know what to do, I froze and couldn’t do anything.
Those are pitfalls that you may or may not avoid, but knowing about them ahead of time will help you move through them as you find your focus. So often we scramble to get a lot accomplished in a day and succeed only to realize, in retrospect, that those things we accomplished won’t get us where we want to go. It’s not a lack of effort. It’s a lack of direction and focus.
To reclaim your life, first, you need to focus on what your life is all about. Otherwise, no matter how hard you work, you’ll just be frittering your time away. As you design a plan for where you want to spend your time over the next year, finding your focus will help. It will take you a broader, more open, thoughtful perspective in your work and your life. It will help you create a plan that reflects your full potential.
Slow down your momentum. Pause at the moment. Stop to reset. Look around beyond what you expect things to be, to see things as they are. Expand your view of yourself. Be open to your extraordinary potential. Find your focus.
