When you are starting a new job or project, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of it – the additional responsibilities, the team, the new experiences. There are so many shiny objects around that you get distracted and what can happen is that you start without a clear idea of how you want to ‘be’ in this role.
You begin taking action straightaway and have a big impact … responding to what needs doing, making decisions and achieving a lot. Of course, you are working to the organisation’s goals and the objectives agreed for you. What can be missing is a sense of your inner compass determining how you want to show up to your team, your boss, your colleagues. You don’t really have a vision for yourself in this role.
This can lead to you…
- spreading yourself thinly
- losing sight of the bigger picture because you are focused on ‘doing’ all the time
- not being seen as strategic, which is exactly what you DO want to be known for
- losing a sense of your own self in the process
How can you overcome this?
One thing that can make a big difference is to spend time intentionally thinking about where you want to be in a year’s time. Imagine yourself 12 months from now. You have had the most amazing year and exceeded your own expectations. What is happening? What are you telling me about what you have done?
Visualising yourself in the future can be a powerful way to tap into your own creativity and desires. This is about more than just the job responsibilities; it’s about you as a person. When you do this exercise, it’s important to talk about what is happening in the present tense and not to censor your thoughts. Let everything come out and pay attention to it.
You might be saying things like:
- I am known for …
- I have close working relationships with …
- I have started an initiative to …
Write down what occurs to you. Let everything and anything emerge. Then see what speaks to you the most. What fills you with energy and life? And consider how those things will influence how you show up at work now, today, with your colleagues, with your boss. They often pertain more to how you ARE than what you DO, but how you are will certainly influence your actions.
You can keep coming back to these insights and check in with yourself about how you are progressing towards them and change/adjust as necessary.
Let me know in the comments how you get on with this exercise and what comes up for you.
