This month’s recap of my life as a career coach, writer, and human being. My life and work in retrospective.
Update – Friday 6th November 2020
Scribbles and highlights, this is what happens while I learn to play a new piece of piano music. I have been teaching myself to play both pieces; Sonatina by Handel and Romanze by Mozart for months.
You might just about notice from the scribbles and notes that the Sonatina on the left has challenged me far more.
Because the tune swops seamlessly between both hands, meaning that my left has more work to do. My right hand would happily skip through most pieces on its own, leaving the left behind. But over time, I have learnt to slow myself down and avoid the ‘quick’ wins.
And this for me is why playing the piano is my go-to place, it slows me down, absorbs me, and on good days I might even get into ‘flow.’ To play, I must give it my full attention, and that is why I hit the keys every day. It helps me switch off at the end of a working day.
So, what do you do to switch off?
Update – Friday 13th November 2020
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted – Aesop
Today I would like to celebrate and thank those people who have shown me kindness and support over the years. I think of them as my guerrilla fighters, who pop up when least expected with an act of kindness and then disappear until they are needed again.
And here I am reminded of the people who appeared as if from nowhere when I had my car accident five years ago or so. I remember the couple who waited with the other driver and the lorry driver who parked up and redirected the traffic.
And then I still remember the acts of kindness at the start of my career, so have reshared it here.
Update: Friday 20th November 2020
How would Brian get on with Zoom?
I should explain that Brian is my inner slug who first emerged some years ago when I attended a comedy improvisation course for trainers and facilitators.
One of the exercises was based on the idea of juxtaposition, creating comedy by putting two completely different things together. So, when I mentioned I was a career coach, the trainer asked If I would roleplay going for an interview but as a slug.
It did take me a few moments to gather myself and access my inner slug, but once there, I was able to stay in character for the duration of the fifteen-minute interview. Quite proud of that and it still makes me chuckle today.
So proud that I wrote a tongue in cheek story about Brian, and ‘his’ interview pre-Zoom, of course.
And now I am wondering what I can sign up for in 2021 that will promote some creativity, innovation, and a few laughs.
Update – Friday 27th November 2020
It is all about the questions for me.
That for me, is at the heart of coaching, questions that facilitate change and action. Because without them, what is there?
And now more than ever, people may well need to question and reflect.
So, with all that in mind, I have been playing around with Trello to see how I can make more of my career coaching resources more accessible. I do not want to make it too unwieldy – think it will work best if it is kept small enough to make it easier to update.
I plan to turn it into a living thing that can be regularly updated and refreshed without too much hassle, which is why I appreciate the elegant simplicity of Trello.
And for those of you unfamiliar with Trello it is like an Excel Spreadsheet for words. With boards, columns, and cells that you can use to keep track of ideas, quotes, blog posts, storylines etc.
The picture below will give you a bit of an idea.
Until next month
Janice
