Welcome 202! What a Difference a Year Makes!
Reflecting on 2019, I celebrated my journey of moving cross country. I closed on my new house on January 2nd; my furniture arrived on January 7th. Craziness ensued for a few months as I figured out my flow in this new space.
Now, starting 2020, I feel fully moved in and settled. What a difference from one year ago. I’m filled with gratitude, enjoy hiking and exploring the coast, making new friends, and building a balanced life between work and play by taking in lots of cultural activities.
I hope you are doing what makes you feel alive and curious. Make 2020 a year worth living!
Are You Distracted by Shiny New Objects?
I love coaching creatives! Many of my favorite clients are architects, designers, engineers (transportation and the building trades), marketing folks… they enjoy imagining big ideas and innovating. Plus, they balance that imagining with practicality; what they create/build must stand up (hospitals, schools, bridges,) and work (software, buildings, roadway intersections).
Some creative clients have told me they have/suffer from/ struggle with ADD or ADHD. They have so many ideas, it is a challenge to focus on any one thing when making choices about their career.
For example, I’ve been coaching an amazingly gifted landscape architect who is finding that in her 50s, she doesn’t have the same physical stamina for the manual labor required in her custom design and build projects. And she has trouble finding ‘good help’.
She came to me wondering if she needs to find something else to do, even though she LOVES what she does.
After we identified her core needs, she discovered some of her underlying beliefs and assumptions that keep her stuck and frustrated. Additionally, her ADD keeps dangling shiny new objects in front of her that maybe she wants to do instead of taking her landscape architecture business to the next level.
I gave her a homework exercise: get a stack of post its and a magic marker, do a brain dump of all the ideas that pop into your head of what you would like to do for work, writing one idea per post it. Put them up on the wall.
And – Prepare to be surprised!
Our next session she shared a colorful poster board with 17 different work ideas that interest her– such as painting with watercolors, map drawing, real estate, set design for plays, furniture upholstery to name a few.
Wow! Who wouldn’t be distracted by the possibilities of that array of ideas?
Here’s where knowing your core needs can ground you. As we looked at some of her options and she named which needs each could meet, none met as many as the work she does now.
And she realized a pattern throughout her career: whenever she hit a major roadblock, she left that work and started over in something else. She told herself that is OK because she loves to learn new things.
At 50+, starting over is far less appealing than it used to be. It is no longer a great strategy for her.
We listed the challenges she has right now and brainstormed possible solutions. Based on her core needs, her focus now is to do more design work and less manual labor like hauling gravel, digging holes, moving dirt, etc.
Now, when she gets bored, she can visit her 17 post-its to meet some of her other needs for creative expression, indulging her interests guilt-free. Use them as spices to enhance her daily life.
Whenever YOU feel overwhelmed or stuck in your thinking, consider doing a brain dump exercise. Write one idea per post-it and write with a magic marker instead of a pen, making each idea easier to read from a few steps back. Once you have everything out of your head and on the post-its, stick them up on a wall or window.
Then step back — and ponder. What do you see? Any patterns? Can you cluster them by themes? Order them by significance to you? Or something else. Just be prepared to be surprised!
May your 2020 be filled with wonderful surprises!
Something fun to check out –
https://www.dwell.com/article/architectural-gingerbread-house-designs-836c2481?fbclid=IwAR3TpYCd3iCywvGwnucnpmGxKjfHImd0lzg160suu2n42k55WTn7G6IdBmY |
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