Ahhh a fresh new calendar year. What will 2009 bring you?
Since 1999 I have been setting yearly resolutions, and for the most part I’ve kept them. I stay away from habitual matters such as diet and exercise, and focus more on one important thing I want to make happen each year, for example the year I got into grad school, and the following year I earned straight As and was top of my class.
This year I’m making a personal resolution, to make sure I keep balance in my life, and I’m also going to make a business resolution. To determine what this was to be, I used Christina Merkley’s Mini Shift-It Retreat, modifying the worksheets and doing them on large flip-chart paper instead of the letter-sized formats she so generously provided. I’ve taken pictures of the results and they’re going to be uploaded when I catch up with technology (my cell phone takes pictures but it’s hard to get them off the phone).
Using the wall-sized graphics and my Mr. Sketch markers tapped into a really deep zone of intuition and creativity for me. I put music on and worked feverishly for about an hour, drawing out my crossroad issues, some very useful insights, and getting a new appreciation for what’s happened over the last 7 year cycle in my life. As I began the Visioning (looking forward) exercise, the phone rang – my grandmother had been admitted to the hospital with a broken neck. That was Friday afternoon, and I dropped everything to race out to the hospital to be by her side. The weekend was very stressful and when I got back to my office (aka my sanctum) Monday morning, I felt like I’d been ripped apart.
Monday mornings, I have a standing date with Melissa from Shanti Shiatsu to work on the Book Yourself Solid exercises. She arrived and I just wasn’t ready to talk about my Book Yourself Solid Dialogue (I think a true test of the value of a business exercise is when you still feel that it will help when your mind is in a million other places… Book Yourself Solid didn’t hold that sort of appeal for us). Instead, she asked me if I could show her how to do the graphic work for herself. I leaped at the opportunity and we went to work putting up paper.
Teaching someone else how to explore working “at the wall” for themselves was just the medicine my little brain needed. As Melissa drew out her crossroads and worked on her history, I observed, contributing some questions to guide her and challenge her, but I also worked side-by-side with her on continuing my own vision and belief work. It was a fantastic morning and by the time Melissa left to go back to her puppy at home, I was feeling restored and excited about my business again.
The graphic tools were definitely a major conduit for lifting me up from my weekend’s stress, but I think what really brought me back up was being able to work on an intuitive level with a client who I like, and with whom I have mutual trust and respect. This is when I feel most alive, when I do my best work, and when I am most authentic. I haven’t got coaching training, but sometimes I just get a flash of insight and ask a question that opens up new avenues of thought and discussion. That’s when I tap into the real talent that I want to bring to the world in my work.
This has been a very long way of saying, I know what my business resolution is: to keep finding new ways to bring my authentic self into my work with clients, and to figure out a way to be appropriately paid for the value I bring. That’s not a very elegant way of putting it, but I can wordsmith it later. Another ancillary resolution I have is to stop working with the “terminally disorganized” – because clients who struggle with the basic task of keeping a records system need help on a whole other level than what I provide, and life is too short for me to put up with the frustration of dealing with those people.
What’s your business resolution for this year?
Tags: Exploration, growth, journey
