Flexibility. Resiliency. Two of the most important, sustaining capacities to cultivate in your professional and personal lives.
In the last month, I’ve spent time with friends battling addiction, friends who’ve gotten out of relationships, friends who were fired from their jobs unexpectedly, friends who are being pilloried very publicly, friends who are miserable and stuck in their jobs and wish to leave but feel they can’t.
I spent time leading an offsite for a promising team recently. They wanted to focus on communications and team dynamics. We didn’t even get to the communications training that was a primary focus of the whole offsite - because the other parts were so surprisingly fruitful and were leading us to really interesting spots. We pivoted in the moment - a conscious choice to take advantage of a new opportunity that we didn’t expect but that was better than what we had planned.
These moments teach a lesson. We control so little, and if we adhere to expectations we’re bound to be perpetually disappointed and miss out on all the other good, interesting, possibly richer things that come from what we don’t expect.
Being flexible and resilient means widening the aperture of our lens and being open to what else is possible. It means letting go of our stories about how that person is, what the situation demands, or what we’re supposed to be.
Maybe a new focus for 2019?