What’s Your Gift To The World?
On November 2, 2010, my perspective was shifted in a huge and surprising way by a single question. You see, I was asked to answer a six-word question, which, on the surface, seemed very simple. In all sincerity though, I just didn’t know how to answer it and it sparked change in my life.
I don’t think I had even been so totally dumbfounded by six simple words! Have you?
Upon reflection though, I think it may be a question that could quite easily cause the start of a midlife crisis, because when you start to contemplate it, think about it, and feel into this question, it’s like an accident on the freeway, it’s hard to turn away from. You can’t simply ignore it, well at least I couldn’t.
So where did the question come from, that sought to dismantle me?
I was catching up with a colleague who had asked me to consider doing some consultancy work in his leadership development training company. We had first met in 2003, as young executives, when we had been requested by our company to pilot a leadership development program; in essence, to assess if it was worth rolling out to the rest of the organisation.
It was kind of weird, as from the very first time we met; we felt a very strong connection. We were both married so it wasn’t that kind of connection, it was something deeper, perhaps “soul based”, would be a good way to describe it.
We talked even then, about some kind of inner knowing that we were destined to work together at some point. A few years later, when we had both left the company we were working for when we met, it seemed that it might be the right time, as he had a project he wanted my help with.
We had known each other for over seven years by then, so there was no “job” interview; the contract was mine if I wanted it and I did. The contract felt right as I had a deep connection to helping professional men and women grow their skills, particularly around resilience. It felt more of a passion to me than a job.
Instead of a job interview, he asked me to script a short five-minute video, answering one question.
Simple, right? Wrong! So wrong!!
I sat with the question for days, at home, in the coffee shop, and on the grass in the park, but the outcome was always the same. Lots of head scratching over a blank sheet of paper, then added some words, followed by lots of correcting, and back to a blank sheet of paper again. It felt like groundhog day.
I sat mesmerized by the lines on the paper and the question at the top of the page. Then, as we so often do, I’d find unique and usual ways to distract myself. Have you ever done that - used your best avoidance strategies?
You know the ones - you’re thirsty, hungry, need to do the laundry, pack the dishwasher - really anything to avoid something else more unpleasant. None of them seemed to work though. No, that’s not true. Avoidance worked well, but it didn’t get me any closer to completing the task of answering one simple question!
When I did start to write, then read back over it, it didn’t make sense to me and it didn’t feel authentic. What I’d written sounded more like a great analysis of my life, a list of events and experiences (most of them painful), but it didn’t actually answer the very simple question.
Fast forward a few years and luckily, these days I have a much better understanding of how to answer this very simple question because I have lived it for the past five years.
The question, I can hear you asking?!
“What’s your gift to the world?” Click to Tweet
That was a question that sparked change for me.
There is a five-word, simple question which baffles and sparkles change for my community and clients. The question is “What do I do now?” following an event or experience of change, usually a forced change.
So my gift to the world, my legacy, is for you, if you have ever asked “What do I do now?”, following a life shaping event like divorce, illness or career impacts and found yourself in an unfamiliar place, as I...
...provide the guidance, tools, skills, and community
for professional men and women
to easily answer the question
“What do I do now?”
following a change which has forced them to transition
their life, relationship, health, or career
to somewhere new and unfamiliar.
Has the question “What do I do now?” followed a time of forced change in your life?
I know it’s a hard one to answer, isn’t it? Without guidance, skills, and tools it can be baffling and a very long and frustrating process, but I wouldn’t want you wandering around like I did. I’ll help you answer it because finding the answer that is right for you can move you from tired, confused, and alone towards happy, healthy, and connected.
Download the Conscious Living Guide below and take a little step closer to answering it for yourself. It will save you a few days, months, or even years of frustration, and it might even help you avoid a midlife crisis.
Love,
Gai