Friday, February 08, 2008

Juggling in 3D 366: The Jigsaw

It has been great to meet a number of you whilst we have been travelling over the last couple of weeks. A quick reminder that it's not too late to take the last place on the Action learning Facilitator Training course with Claire in York, on Thursday. Call TODAY for more details.
Jeremy writes: "It’s become my custom over 10 years to take a complete day out, a “Whatever Next…?” day for myself, on the first working Monday of the year. I do this partly to reflect on the year ahead and how I’m feeling about it, and also to become genuinely open to guidance, a realignment of thoughts and some inspiration.

The second-hardest part is to book such a day and get there, instead of busying myself with post-Christmas-holiday “catching up” jobs! The hardest part for me is not to use the day to think about all sorts of things and write notes and lists! I really want to listen and pay attention to the silence – it takes me about an hour to do that and then I start hearing what I need to hear!

This year was a special time. I started in quite a downbeat mood, feeling frustrated and sad that I had so many unfinished pieces of work on the go, including a half-written book. I remained quite negative for a while, chastising myself for not “getting on with things” and not focusing on fewer tasks and completing them. Once I quieted down, however, I started to see that this challenging network of 14 different, ongoing and unfinished aspects of my work was the real “Whatever Next…?” – in progress. I became calm and excited about all the opportunities that were now open for 2008, many of them because they had been opened up by varied activities in previous years.

And then a lovely picture came of me doing a very large jigsaw, a family activity which involves progressive stages and considerable patience. We do not do jigsaws to see the completed picture; we could just look at the lid of the box for that! We do jigsaws for the enjoyment and mental stimulation and fellowship of working together on building all sorts of different parts of a whole, and then linking them up. If it’s big jigsaw, that takes time…and it’s all the more satisfying as you eventually make the links and breakthroughs and see more of the whole scene. Sometimes, remember, we get bored or go cross-eyed and just need to walk away and take a break!
So this year I am continuing with the big jigsaw of growing a unique business (without the aid of a box lid!), and I’m now enjoying the process once again. Allowing our thoughts to be reframed is just one of the benefits of a purposeful away day."

Email info@3dcoaching.com or call Diane on 0845 458 0156 if you'd like to come on a Whatever Next Day or if a coaching conversation will help you to take this forward.
(c) 2008 3D Coaching Ltd

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