No regrets, just lessons learnt

I’ve grown tremendously, and in my first blog-post of the year, I’d like to reflect on some of what I’ve learnt and use those lessons to influence how I do things in 2017.

Relationships

I’ve always believed that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime and I appreciate everyone I have met or reconnected with in 2016. The relationships that have formed have helped me to grow. The challenging relationships have helped me to refine my intentions for the kind of people I want to work with.

The relationships that have given me the room to spread my wings and ‘just do me’ have strengthened my resolve to continue to pursue the kind of work I am good at. And the unspoken communication of these engagements has been authentic, tangible and inspiring. And I look forward to more of this kind of co-creation and cross-pollination this year.

Lesson learnt: trust yourself more than you trust other people – only because you know yourself better than you know other people; interrogate other people’s intentions in engaging with you; and walk away when it doesn’t feel right, because your gut will always tell you when something is not right.

The wanted and unwanted

Some people call situations ‘good’ or ‘bad’. I prefer to describe situations as ‘wanted’ or ‘unwanted’ because it allows me to take control of the situation, and acknowledge that my thoughts, behaviour and feelings caused this situation to manifest in my life. I’ve had more wanted than unwanted situations this past year. However more attention and focus was often given to the unwanted, purely because it was that – unwanted.

I’ve recently learnt how to understand the role I play in what happens in my life – simply put – I get what I spend my time and energy focussing on. So any unwanted situation in relation to a project or client relationship etc. was because I focussed my energy on it from a negative perspective. When something wanted happened, I was quick to punch holes in it, and that too didn’t served me.

Thankfully – now I know better.

Lesson learnt: focus your energy on the things you want; distance yourself from people who don’t believe in positive thinking; trust that when you focus your energy on positivity – you will attract it – even in the business context.

New beginnings

I heard a story once, about a frog and a farmer. It goes something like this.

Once upon a time... there was a farmer who had a river running through his property. One day, a frog was on one side of the river – contemplating how he would get across it. Before he could hop in and swim across, the farmer, who was walking by and who saw the frog, kicked him so hard, he flew across the river and landed on the other side.
The end.

The frog wanted to get to the other side. He didn’t expect that he’d be catapulted over the river in such an unceremonious way. But he got what he wanted.

Lesson learnt: the end justifies the means; be open to creative solutions to your challenges; every cloud has a silver lining.

I believe that everything is as it should be.
I am in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.
I am satisfied with where I am and what I am doing and I’m eager for more in 2017 and beyond.