One of the pleasures of an event with other coaches is the wide variety of origin stories. Each one unique, each one a signpost as to how meaning and purpose present themselves in our day to day lives, often when we least expect.
One story begins during the boom in financial services in the 1990s and inside a fast growing payments services organization. One of the (then) senior operations leaders spent her days assigning resources, problem solving and streamlining processes. It was, in her own words, "a grind", day in and day out, reshaping the aircraft while in flight.
But she noticed that most days at around 6pm there would be a steady flow of leaders and managers coming to her office, less for problem solving, or to be told what to do, but more to talk over the most intractable issues they were facing: interpersonal conflicts; balancing the need for empowering their teams with reinforcing accountability and; promoting experimentation, while containing risk.
And it was after a particularly tough week she was reflecting on her efforts and realized, she liked the person she was after 6pm, way more than who she was during the day. One left her invigorated, the other left her exhausted. And in that moment she knew it was time for a change.
And it is in that last paragraph I want you to focus. It was in her reflection where the realization popped up.
So take a leaf from the story above. When are you in the "zone" / experiencing a sense of flow? Who are you with and what are you doing? Those answers won't tell you what to do, but they will give you a nudge as to where you might focus your exploration.
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