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“When you look at people who are thriving in their jobs, you notice that they didn’t find them, they made them.” When I talk about “owning” your story at work and in life, this is part of what I’m talking about. Pave that cowpath. (fyi, thread below) nytimes.com/2019/04/07/sma…
It might sound daunting, but rearchitecting and reengineering your work life is doable when you put your design, lean, and agile brain to work. Buzzwords aside, the gist is: *What's working? Do more of that*. As an experiment. Get data. If you're on the right track, keep going.
Think BIG by setting quarterly and annual goals and metrics along the way. And think SMALL by running tiny experiments to make sure you're on the right track as you build your life. You think you want to do X? Prototype it today. How does it feel? What did you learn?
How do you prototype your life? The same way you do a product or service. Write, sketch, role-play. Those are fast, cheap, and disposable ways to prototype an idea. In the room. Right now. Alone or with a human. Data = thoughts, emotions, physical feelings. You'll learn a lot.
When you're ready for more data, get out of the building. Scope a larger experiment for 2 weeks, not longer so that you can avoid lengthy rabbit holes. If you're on the right track, great! And if you're *not* on the right track, adjust and pivot quickly and as necessary.
What you'll see in thinking and working this way with your life is that your dreams (and your fears) are not as out of reach or daunting as they seem. You don't have to wait months, years, or even decades to figure out how to be more super at work and in life. You can do it now.
Working iteratively will give you quicker wins, better data, and momentum along your journey. It's how good stories and adventure tales work. It's how your brain wants to work. And it's probably already (in theory) similar to the way you already work (or want to work).
Btw, if you want to chat with me more about this, reach out! I can geek out about this stuff all day long...which is how I got into leadership coaching in the first place. One prototype at a time. I can't take on new 1:1 clients at the moment, but I do have time to geek out :)
I decided to package my thoughts into a semi-coherent blog post about how to find your story and architect your path forward at work. Not in the service of happiness (that's a silly construct), but so you can be your best and most effective you at work. donnalichaw.com/blog/2019/4/11…
