I always try to find ways to look back on a year before it is over. So last night I went through my badges.
If you ask me about how I integrate Life and Work, this may be my best tip yet.
I write on my name tag badges.
I seem to be at many places for work where I need people to know what my name is. Either as the leader of seminars, a participant in the audience, as a keynote speaker or anything else that I attend throughout the year. And man the badges pile up! As I look at them-mostly offsite, I realize what a busy person I am.
So after each event on the back of the badge I write the date and I write a line to describe where I am at in that moment in my career and a line beneath of where I am at in my personal life. It is less where I am at in my actual life and more where my head and heart are at.
Sometimes it's a sentence and sometimes it's a word only. When I read them it brings me back to that place instantaneously and to that time.
Sometimes the career line is above the personal line and sometimes the opposite is true.
Reading them
I am thankful this year for the Company I work for. I sincerely love it there and fell in love with it and its values, and it's mission, and it's associates and everything it stands for from the moment I stepped foot in the elevator as a consultant 7 yrs ago.
There has never been a day I have not wanted to go there since. It fuels me, motivates me and inspires me.
It allows me to bring who I authentically am to the table allows me to sustain high performance in all of my "lives" at once.
If you ask me about how I integrate Life and Work, this may be my best tip yet.
I write on my name tag badges.
I seem to be at many places for work where I need people to know what my name is. Either as the leader of seminars, a participant in the audience, as a keynote speaker or anything else that I attend throughout the year. And man the badges pile up! As I look at them-mostly offsite, I realize what a busy person I am.
So after each event on the back of the badge I write the date and I write a line to describe where I am at in that moment in my career and a line beneath of where I am at in my personal life. It is less where I am at in my actual life and more where my head and heart are at.
Sometimes it's a sentence and sometimes it's a word only. When I read them it brings me back to that place instantaneously and to that time.
Sometimes the career line is above the personal line and sometimes the opposite is true.
I am thankful this year for the Company I work for. I sincerely love it there and fell in love with it and its values, and it's mission, and it's associates and everything it stands for from the moment I stepped foot in the elevator as a consultant 7 yrs ago.
There has never been a day I have not wanted to go there since. It fuels me, motivates me and inspires me.
It allows me to bring who I authentically am to the table allows me to sustain high performance in all of my "lives" at once.
I have cried of joy a number of times in my life (especially when my kids were born:)
I have also cried out of pure sadness a number of times but not that many. When I do there is usually something really, really hurting me. I am more of a "let a couple of tears be shed, and pick yourself up type of person".
Not when it comes to my career apparently.
I remember after my first 6 month contract at the company I work for now when I was a third party at the time and there was no budget to renew it. I literally stayed in bed for 2 days and cried and cried and cried (I know not very professional but I just could not get over it).
Thankfully for me it was the phone that rang on the third day and they were begging me to come back:)
Since then I have had two more contracts as a third party and then hired as an Associate with three promotions since.
Since then I have had two more contracts as a third party and then hired as an Associate with three promotions since.
And I still feel the same about my place of work.
I love it with my heart and soul. It still has the same ability to bring me to my knees.
So as I sorted the badges last night I saw my life, my work, and my goals all laid out in front of me. Some of those places I was I still am, some I have moved on from and some I will wear on me likely for the rest of my life.
One thing I know for sure though is that I view life in general as a constant state of learning. A constant state of progress and a constant state of weighing in as to where I sit on certain issues and elements of the world.
As I explained to my friend yesterday as we discussed differing point of view on a subject; I am getting comfortable with not always having completely clarity. What I may have believed yesterday could change today by new information, constant transformation and opening myself to see things in potential different ways than I have seen them in the past. I feel done with being right.
I feel this year I have been a work in progress and as an outcome so has some of the ways that we have always functioned as a family. I have felt this year in particular it was time to step out of my comfort zone in many ways; it has been really hard as normally I am someone who likes being pretty cozy.
It has been the same at my place of work-I have had to use ambiguity as a compass to really get me to my new stage of development. I have had to view things in different ways and to function on levels that are not necessarily as obvious to me. I have lost some of the clarity I have had in the past in both my family life and my career life and although it feels uncomfortable in many ways it also feels like a breath of fresh air.
Not always knowing for me is allowing me to access places I never knew existed; it's creating paths and opportunities that were never part of my original "plan". It's allowing me to come from a place of wonder much more often. As I said yesterday-I feel in awe so much of the time.
It has been the same at my place of work-I have had to use ambiguity as a compass to really get me to my new stage of development. I have had to view things in different ways and to function on levels that are not necessarily as obvious to me. I have lost some of the clarity I have had in the past in both my family life and my career life and although it feels uncomfortable in many ways it also feels like a breath of fresh air.
Not always knowing for me is allowing me to access places I never knew existed; it's creating paths and opportunities that were never part of my original "plan". It's allowing me to come from a place of wonder much more often. As I said yesterday-I feel in awe so much of the time.
So as I looked back at my badges..mostly I felt pride. Of this journey we have all been on and continue to share. Of allowing myself to accept some level of ambiguity in myself and my life and of being able to embrace it and still move on.
I look forward to a new year with new badges while keeping the old ones close enough to pull out and remember, to consider and to reflect on.
To integrate what was ..with what is.
