Don’t just ride it

For many lockdown has been at worst a time of survival, at best of reflection. Loss in many shapes and forms has been a stark reality that’s touched us all.

So many stories of those who have had to accept the need to rethink, to look at how they can do things differently. To survive (and hopefully thrive) another way. It’s hard to scan the news without hearing of a business that has had to ‘pivot’ to work within the new reality they face. And there have been so many wonderful stories of those who have done this – from an interior designer now offering free virtual design consultations to a salon owner who switched their core business from customising human hair wigs to offering a wig and weft laundry service.

Not a ‘pivoting’ pioneer?

But what if you’re not a part of this new wave of ‘pivoting’ pioneers? Maybe you haven’t been faced with that immediate catalyst – the need to act quickly to keep your income or business afloat?

Perhaps you’re simply living with the growing need to change something, but you can’t quite put a finger on it. It doesn’t have a name, a shape, a balance sheet, a trigger. And it’s not something you feel you can share right now as you look around and see how many are suffering and having to live a very different life to the one they lived a few months ago.

Your lockdown’s not mine

One thing I’ve learned in all of this is never to assume that everyone’s experiencing the kind of lockdown you are. There are so many different versions of how we’ve all lived life in lockdown.

Lots of us have faced working from home limitations, home schooling, supporting elderly relatives and a never-ending list of chores.

Then for others it’s been a time of simply having too much time – how can the luxury of time feel anything but? Endless time, nowhere to go, no one to see – and so the unhelpful thoughts that have us doubting ourselves fill the void.

Back to that rollercoaster image, it strikes me that there’s a greater danger than the obvious ups, downs, twists and turns – it’s the fact that it’s a continuous loop. We can do the things we’ve always done, and have the thoughts we’ve always had, or we can stop, reset and let go.

If you’ve taken that step, good for you. And if you’ve pivoted, hats off. It takes courage to do that.

But if you haven’t, and the last few months has got you thinking about what you really want, maybe now’s the time to do things differently.

Stop focusing on the noise

If you have a niggling feeling that something needs to change in your life or career then stop focusing on the noise and start focusing on yourself.

Change is all around us – you can’t always control it. But you can control how you choose to travel.

Three exercises for you

Here are three small exercises to help you take that first step:

1. Think about tasks you’re drawn to, the things you enjoy refining/crafting, the things you always jump into.
   Is there a part of your life or job where you can dial up what makes you happy (your ‘best self’)?
2. List and rank the things that you value in your life or career. Now try asking ‘and why does that matter to me?’ for each. And then step back and see if you can see a pattern.
   Is there something you believe about yourself that could be holding you back?
3. Now think about your life as having three parts. For each part think about three things you achieved.
   What qualities do you have which enabled you to achieve these things?

If you don’t want to pivot, then don’t. Just take this first step – ask yourself some of these questions, sit with the answers. See how just writing your thoughts down makes you feel.

Make this your journey. Don’t just ride it.
 
 
If you’d like to share any thoughts about these questions and how they make you feel please get in touch for a free discovery call so we can chat about what could be next for you. jane@mynextme.co.uk.

(Image by Stephen Sewell on Pixabay)