July’s recap of my life as a career coach, writer, and human being, a month of birthday celebrations, facilitating workshops, procrastinating over my writing, and getting to grips with the garden.
Update – Friday 2nd July
Celebrating small and big wins
I probably don’t do this enough, but I thought I would take the time to celebrate some of the wins we have experienced as a family this week.
- Our daughter has landed some paid work to cover her over the holidays.
- Watching England get through to the quarter-finals – we will be watching later today.
- Accepting that things grow – and it’s down to me to keep my garden in order. Amazed at how quickly the most robust plants will overtake the weaker ones.
- Slowly but surely starting to get on top of the paperwork in my office.
- Posting my fourth set of 5000 words to my writing mentor – I wasn’t sure this would happen this week.
- Posting my 113th article on Pittabread – I have kept this going for ten years.
- Consistently, showing up on LinkedIn – though I still can’t get my head around the latest algorithm.
So, what have been your wins this week?
Update – Wednesday 7th July
Insight or information?
Two sides of the same coin?
This week, a few conversations have given me cause to pause and consider the relationship between insight and information – to wonder about the balance between the two. How much time and space are people given to reach a deep understanding. In a fast-paced world, there is not much time for thinking, mulling things over or, dare I say it, daydreaming.
How often is a piece of information passed across to you, with little context, little time to digest, and little opportunity to make sense of it? How much time as a manager do you get to consider:
- What does this mean for my team?
- How can I translate this into meaningful targets, tasks?
- What is it asking me to do?
- Do I need to know about this?
In a world where we are potentially overwhelmed with information – we need more time/space to gain insight.
Food for thought on a Wednesday.
Update: Weds 14th July
Imposter Syndrome
‘The more you accomplish, the more you feel like a fraud. It’s as though you can’t internalize your experiences of success.’
A quote from Arlin Cuncic’s article: What Is Imposter Syndrome?
In conversations with coaching clients, I have described this feeling as not owning their success, talent, and accomplishments. All very well and good, but what can you do about it?
Arlin includes some helpful suggestions, a few of which I have summarised here:
- Lean into your feelings – don’t try to ignore them.
- Help others – think about how you could support others in a similar position.
- Question your thoughts – how are you talking to yourself?
- Take baby steps – aim for doing something reasonably well and rewarding yourself for that.
There is a lot more in Arlin’s article – it is all here if you want to delve a bit deeper.
I was also interested to see a possible link between Social Anxiety and Imposter Syndrome.
Update: Friday – 16th July
It’s Friday. Playing around with Haikus as you do at the end of a long week. I have only recently discovered them, and yes, I know this is not quite the structure of 5- 7 -5 syllables. But here you go:
Garden gifts
Summer green spheres
Succulent on a branch
Which will fall first?
I’ll keep working on it ????.
Update: Friday 30th July
Whole-hearted listening-
Did you know that the Chinese symbol for listening contains five different elements?
- Eyes to see
- Ears to listen
- Undivided attention to focus
- Heart to feel
- Mind to think
I find this beautiful and a great way to think about how we listen but don’t just take my word for it; read more here.
I also like the actions at the end – how you can make whole-hearted listening a daily part of your life.
Until next month
Janice
