This morning while I was walking next to a lemon tree in our house garden I had one of those rare moments of total mental clearness where suddenly everything seems so obvious and so perfect that one wonder why it had not thought it before.
I am not sure how it happened, or when it started, but the greatest take away for me was that everything was already inside me, it didn’t come from the outside, it just suddenly came out, from the inside.
For many years I have been working as a manager leading big teams, following the company strategy and somehow feeling protected when I was taking important decisions because I knew that someone above me, like my boss for instance, was aware of it and I was acting in accordance of a common scope.
In such situations I would normally just move fast, apply the plan, often without paying too much attention on what I was really doing, on the consequences, and on the people around me.
I was feeling strong, powerful and in charge.
I am not saying that I was not gathering feedback from my team or paying adequate attentions to their needs, of course I was! I was actually very popular among my team, and I always had a great deal of trust from them, yet I was often just sticking with the plan and instead of questioning my decisions, I was mostly assuring and persuading everybody else that the plan was right.
Now that for the first time ever in my life I am working on my own, leading my own business and working on different projects and not having anyone on top of me, I realized something that before was not so clear, or at least had a different meaning.
I realized how important is to be surrounded by people that matter, that understand how challenging can be to be on your own, people that perhaps has done your same steps before and can share opinions and suggestions in order to avoid falling in the same mistake patterns and avoid losing time and money.
A well-defined support system built on trust, where diversity and non-judgmental attitude can really make the difference.
Today I realized the real meaning of staying humble, no matter the circumstances, to stay open to possibilities and to stay present.
I am not really sure if one needs to slow down to be present, or being present allows to slow down, and in fact it doesn’t really worries me, instead what is important is that staying present and slowing down, allows to create a wide inner space to listen at a deeper level, and to absorb all those useful advises and insights that coming from others can really help to make the difference, to avoid committing common mistakes, to improve the quality of the work done, and eventually to move faster.
I am so glad to be surrounded by such amazing people! Even the word gratitude has now a different meaning…
SWELLCOACHING - expanding perspectives & empowering people 