Ok, so let’s get real.
There is a big gap between imagining and dreaming about making a significant change in your business and life and actually making that change isn’t there? There doesn’t seem to be a map available that allows for easy navigation of that void.
I have spent many an hour immersed in the land of pleasant possibility. I’ve travelled the world and been to amazing conferences, met Richard Branson on Necker Island, given standing ovation Ted Talks, held retreats at exotic destinations for women, written several best selling books, earned squillions of dollars and bought a yacht for my husband…. The list goes on ad infinitum.
I’m sure I’m not alone in having a very active imagination!
But there is a very important next step in this daydreaming exercise that you might be missing. You know that moment when you find yourself shaking your head and saying “oh get real, that’s never going to happen” and reasserting the practical you?
That’s when you invoke the Power of the Pause and recognise that you are being called…
This is a very important moment
I want you to look for patterns. To recognise that “Hmmm, I keep thinking about, dreaming about, fantasising about xyz. Maybe my soul is trying to tell me something…and maybe it is time for me to listen”.
When I was contemplating my next chapter move I wasn’t regularly imagining hightailing it off to the Circus or metamorphosing into someone completely different.
The central recurring theme I gradually became aware of was consistent – I simply wanted to support and guide women who wanted to positively impact others, who had a message to share, a passion to pursue but who were held back in some way from sharing that message or expanding their impact by their wobbly self-worth or feelings of overwhelm about the steps to take.
I began to recognise myself in this desire. This is where I had been. This is what I had overcome and moved through. The journey from self-doubt to self-belief.
And that’s what I have most often found to be true about Second Act Reinventions. We teach what we have learned. We share what we have discovered. We shorten or soften the journey for others.
And so now I use my skills in a new way – in a blend of confidence and clarity, marketing and mindset. But I apply those skills to a whole new slice of the market – with women who are passionate about what they do and who want to make a difference in some way. And that feels very, very, VERY fulfilling for me.
What is it for you?
What’s calling you? It might simply be that you need to pause and look at what you are doing right now and change tact. Perhaps take your skills and apply them in a new direction.
It might be that what fascinates and captivates you outside of work is what actually now needs to come centre stage.
It could be that you just need to change who you are working with now or how you are providing your services.
Or perhaps you need to reconnect with what used to make your heart sing before the busyness of life got in the way and smothered those desires.
Like many of the women sharing their next chapter stories share, it’s often that we’ve lived our life influenced by the opinions and approval of others or created our businesses running under the rules of the way it should be as dictated by gurus or experts.
And then we begin to wake up and realise that it’s time to do it our way. That the opinions of others just don’t hold as much sway anymore.
But what then?
So let’s say you are awake now. You’ve acknowledged that you do, indeed have a burning desire for change, what are the steps to take?
Get real about what’s essential.
With me, once I acknowledged the need for change I also got real about the need for income during my transition. I didn’t throw all caution to the wind and plunge ahead with a rose coloured glasses belief that the universe would provide…The baby stayed even though the bathwater was being thrown away!
Yep, I’ll happily accept the “Woo Woo” descriptor today and do wholeheartedly believe in setting intentions and trusting that if the desire is planted inside, equally so the ability to bring that desire to life is also there. But I also recognise the need to support the attainment of that desire by taking inspired action and paying the bills at the same time. It’s a bit hard to soar like an eagle when you are concerned about making ends meet.
And so I retained a small number of clients that I did enjoy working with from my Marketing Agency and let go of the rest, introducing them to new service providers in my circle. The time, space and energy that I freed up by doing this allowed me to begin to clarify my new message and connect with new, aligned clients.
That’s been an evolution, not a revolution, so be real but also be gentle with yourself and celebrate your progress towards your dreams.
Get real about disappointment.
There will be bumps on your journey.
Potholes.
Dead ends.
Mistakes (likely lots of mistakes).
And deep disappointments where you doubt yourself, your vision, your ability, sometimes even your sanity!
I promise that this will happen. Often. But I also promise you that you will move through these experiences and that you will learn from them and that will make you a better you. Remember the quote from Jack Kornfield “If your compassion does not include yourself it is incomplete.”
Self-compassion is essential and will equip you beautifully for expanding into Your Next Chapter.
Get real about what’s most important to you
I also took a long, hard look at my values and realised that my business was not in alignment with what was most important to me. It’s difficult to stay enthused, energetic and fulfilled when what you are doing on a day-by-day basis just doesn’t sit comfortably with who you are.
I believe your values are the DNA of your soul. They may change in priority over time, but they are always there. And even now, more than two years into my own Next Chapter I still regularly check in with my daydreams, as I’ve found if something keeps coming up, there is likely to be a clue in there about something I need to explore and develop.
In a key example, for me, this meant introducing Retreats out of the city into the way I work as inspiration and connection are core values of mine and spending time in nature, a passion. I only realised that by staying very aware of what I kept thinking about and dreaming about and imagining what I was doing.
What is it for you? Are your values at the core of your business? If not, what can you change, introduce or let go of?
Get real about taking action
Your imagination is a dress rehearsal for what you can bring to life. Everything, every single thing that exists in the world today started as a thought in someone’s heart and mind.
It’s exactly the same for you.
Whatever you are imagining now for Your Next Chapter can happen.
You just need to break it down into steps. Bite-sized pieces. And you can start the ball rolling right now. Just grab a piece of paper. Write down your vision and then follow this with one simple step, a single action step that will take you just that little bit closer to bringing it to life.
Idea: Hold an event
First step: Decide on a date and research possible venues.
That’s it. Honestly. Just start from where you are with what you have, now.
It’s about trusting yourself
You see I believe success in our Next Chapters is all about trusting ourselves. It’s about self-belief and self-worth. And the way we build that faith in ourselves is by actively and tangibly demonstrating to ourselves that we can take action on our desires. Each step you take provides more evidence that you are a person who has the ability to make things happen.
And as your belief in yourself grows, so does the depth and breadth and scope of what you can do.
Delicious!
So yes, Next Chapter reinventions, realignments, recalibrations and sometimes, reenactments take clarity, courage, honesty, imagination, time and action.
You’ve been exercising those skills throughout your life so far in so many ways.
Now it’s simply time to RE-focus those phenomenal skills on you.
Because it’s true. You are here for a purpose. And that’s to follow your heart as you navigate this thing called life.
So create your own map, look to the horizon and smile – your future is calling you and you are ready to listen and respond.
