Think As Inc

THE POWER OF FLEXIBILITY

August 21, 2009 on 1:58 am | In life coaching | No Comments

I always wanted four pillars in my life:  family; the arts; career development work; and personal finance.  Well, now I’m married with two kids and a large extended family.  I sing and act, performing cabaret and improv around the city.  I recruit, coach, teach and write around career issues.  I have my investment portfolio.

In a way, things turned out exactly as I planned.  Except without any of my original plan:

I always thought I’d get started on my recruiting and coaching career first, have a family when I got some management experience and could set my own schedule, start with acting and singing once I got business and family going, and then invest my by-now substantial savings in the market.  Instead, I met my husband much earlier than planned and had my first kid when my career was just starting.  A chance acting class prompted me to take a break from my career work way before reaching management ranks.  An unexpected suggestion turned me onto real estate rather than the stock portfolio I envisaged.  And my career development work includes starting my own firm, which I had never expected to do.  So my four pillars are the same but the way I have gone about them is completely different.

Follow-through is about discipline and sticking to a plan but it’s also about flexibility to adapt to conditions that are best for the ultimate goal.  If I had stuck to my timeline rather than my end-goal of the four pillars, I would have been in a completely different situation.  I would not have noticed the investment opportunity that was five years ahead of schedule.  I would not have taken the class that was supposed to wait till I had built up the right financial cushion.  As it turns out, my involvement in family and the arts transformed my recruiting and coaching work.  At the same time, my business background informs my artistic pursuits.  Staying faithful to the pillars and not just the plan enabled me to identify the right opportunities rather than wait for just the right time.

If you find yourself in a rut but feel like you’re working hard towards your goal, step back and assess exactly what you are following through with.  Are you following through with the plan or with the goal?  The plan might be outdated or just wrong to begin with.  If you are truly following through with your goals, you may need to continue with your existing plan, mix it up or take a break.  Be flexible enough to choose your best option.