Sharing - Taking Stock

I had a good couple of sessions with my wardrobe (French cabinet) this week. We concentrated on looking back to look forward. I suppose making use of what was good and bad in the past to set a course for the  future voyage. I am not going to entertain (or bore) you with the details but, like so many before me I now find that when you take the proper time to reflect you do gain valuable insights.

Naturally, so much of professional life is about analysis and judgements made on largely objective criteria. It has to be that way. Keep the unknown variables to a minimum. Recognise the business situation in which you find yourself and act accordingly. And certainly do that as you transition role. Remember the STARS model from Michael D. Watkins in The First 90 Days? No book holds all the answers but so many tell similar stories.  

I just wanted to share what I mean by using the word "proper". I see the word largely as a synonym for "appropriate", but of course curious, I discover other roots. Back to Latin about "belonging to itself", in old French being "suited to a purpose" and in modern French about being "clean". Of course, it's in colloquial English, as an adjective meaning "rather good" e.g. "That's a proper wicked pair of shoes, man". I do not recall hearing that a lot in the Brussels' corridors of power but there are certainly some very fine pairs of shoes on show!

Back to my appropriate message. The first wardrobe exercise was simple. Map out your career to date and set a barometer of how fulfilled/happy/glad to be there/impacting (pick the words that suit you best) you felt during each role. Try to find adjectives that describe the good and bad about what was going on. Maybe simple just means simplistic?

As in many things, you feel the importance to get on with the exercise quickly. I remember a saying by Rolf Harris about "destroying the white" on an empty canvas. Get something on it and then see where it goes. The good thing is my wardrobe has a talking mirror and that's where "proper" comes into play. Take the time. Measure the words and feelings. Is that first memory the true memory? Is that whole time overshadowed by one or two bad (or good) events? Was that a result of you or your surroundings, friends or perceived enemies?

I went back and looked at my efforts afterwards. And took the quiet and proper time to think a little more deeply. What struck me was the gut's feeling about a situation often held up to my deeper, second level analysis, but crucially a couple did not.

I would guess few of us take time even to do this simple exercise. I have been gifted the time to do it now. I do begin to wonder, if things might have been different had I taken "proper" time to do it before. That sounds melancholic but it is not. It just demonstrates the importance of placing self in the career management process.