Honouring a New Cadence
Sometimes, life turns on a dime. Or it feels like it's turning on a dime and when you get a moment to catch your breath, you look back and realize that the "turn" in question was something you'd been moving toward all along. This has been my experience in recent weeks.
Two weeks ago, I took on a new professional role. After over 20 years of self-employment, entrepreneurship and essentially being my own boss more often than not, I stepped into the world of working full-time in an organization.
Not as a consultant.
Not as a contractor.
Not as a temporary fill-in.
But as a "full-time (think 40 hours a week), reporting to someone else while having others report to me" manager. It's a role that feels tailor-made for me. It's a role that uses my skills meaningfully. It's a role that allows me to bring a long-held vision to life, in a way that I couldn't quite see before. And, it's a role that has thrown my carefully curated and crafted schedule for a loop.
For the last 20 years I have had entire control of my calendar—of how many hours I work and when I work them. Now, I'm working 40 hours a week, every week. I still create my own hours—I build my work-week to look the way that works best for me -- but I need to consciously take a lot more into consideration than just me.
Such considerations aren't in any way bad. What they are is an opportunity to embrace and honour a new cadence, a new rhythm, a new way of being in the world.
At the end of each day -- each VERY FULL day -- I feel beautifully well-used. The feeling of being well-used is a combination of knowing that I'm working in service of something bigger, of knowing that my skills are being put to meaningful use, and knowing that I am collaborating with like-minded folks. Being well-used is about seeing how I fit into the creation of something that is beyond the scope of what I might do on my own. It's a glorious thing, and I'm loving it.
Don't get me wrong. It's not that I haven't felt well-used in the last 20 years; I absolutely have. And, this change in my life circumstance has felt like I've somehow "up-leveled" my game. That I'm serving in a bigger capacity.
What this means, of course, is that there are some parts of my life, my calendar, my commitments that need to be adjusted. There are tweaks that need to be made in order to honour what is here now.
At first, I was scared about this, I'll admit it. I mean, would I have to let go of things that mattered to me? Would I have to stop doing things I enjoy? Would I need to spend less time with friends and family?
Intriguingly, the answer to each of these questions and others like them has been a resounding, "no". I just need to adjust. I need to find ways -- create ways -- to honour this new cadence. And it turns out that finding these ways is not all that hard. It requires thought, yes. It requires me to remind myself of what matters. And it requires me to give myself permission to continue to include what matters while culling away what doesn't. It's all very doable.
For those who are wondering, my new role is officially titled "Manager of Faculty Enablement" for the Co-Active Training Institute. This is my coaching Alma Mater, and I am beyond delighted to be holding this role as we move into the future. I love working with faculty, I love developing people, and I love collaborating across the organization.
The implication for me is that I'm currently exploring what it looks like to honour this new way of being in the world, the new cadence that's required in my days. Part of that includes exploring how I will continue with this blog. I know that I want to keep writing; it just may not be as frequently. And I hope that you will stay with me while I figure out what things look like in this new professional paradigm.