Hello fellow life leaders and community,
Yes, I am writing this blog as a letter to you because I cannot tell you how excited I am to reconnect with you here. It’s kind of a moment of serendipity as the inspiration and words I wanted to share with you flowed freely in this week of summer solstice. It’s been a hot minute from when I last connected with you, but you have never left my heart or my purpose.
Perhaps it is important to get reacquainted first and I know a bit about you already because if you are here, you are someone who is striving towards a life, career or business goal or you are a leader committed to professional development. No matter what your specific goal is, there is a golden thread that ties us all together and that is we all want to align our life to what is most important and to lead it to what we dream it can be for ourselves, our loved ones, and the world.
That brings me to reintroducing myself. Oh my, where do I begin as so much has happened and there is so much to share to bring you into my present moment. Well, first off, what’s keeping me focused and tying up a lot of my time is I am a learning and development professional for a fast growing company in Vancouver that operates across Canada and the United States. In this role, I have been building leadership training programs in house and also skill development for our employee base. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve a company and its employees, but truth be told, there is and has been a longing in my heart and soul’s purpose that cannot be ignored.
The more I learn and experience corporate culture, the more I am called to reconnect to you, the people who are building their career and business, and the life you want to live. As i see and experience how busy working professionals are and how much they are juggling, it is evident that the last thing they have time for is themselves and their hopes, dreams, and goals. It’s you, the person who wants time carved out for your dreams and future goals, who is looking for guidance and clarity to create what you want, to live how you want, and to lead your life forward, that I am called to serve.
Something that is true for all of us is that we are all in transition and growth in every moment of our lives and career. We are never static and we are always in evolution. I have so many stories to tell you and I am sure you have your own stories of growth, struggle, and transformation too! What’s most important is that we are, whether by choice or happen stance, always evolving and growing.
If you are in a career transition, maybe you can relate to a few of the elements I am about to share of a pivotal and life altering career move I made about 16 years ago now. I will tell you a story of mine that is not perfect and it involves what I call the epic risk of the absolute unknown that was absolutely necessary. If any of you are sitting terrified right now to leap and do not know what’s next, but know you need a career change, then you are where I was in this story so hang tight because it has a happy ending.
You see, I had been in the health and fitness industry for a long time and at the same employer for a big part of that career journey; you know its time to move on when members come up to you and either tell you to go home or give you advice on what your next career move should be. I loved what I did serving clients, healing clients, helping them with their health and fitness goals and by default becoming their coach too for other areas of their lives. My work became who I was; it was a big part of my identity and joy. However, I had not only reached an income limit, but also, what felt like a mastery level that became a tipping point of neon blinking lights forcing me to realize i needed a change.
I needed to decide on a new path because this one was worn to the limit where I could no longer experience growth and if truth be told, there was a bit of burn out setting in too. To the great shock of peers, clients, and community members, I resigned from a 15 year career to move toward a completely undefined, unknown, and uncertain future. Now over 15 years later, what at the time felt like a reckless move, it is clear to me that it was the smart and right decision to make. Even though I left behind a career I was so passionate about and one where I felt I was in the zone of mastery, the change set me up for a future that did support my growth goals and other life values. There was an aspect of this former career that had run its course and unfortunately, I had to realize that it no longer served me.
Is your career and professional journey still serving you? It’s such a hard path to explore and an uncomfortable question to ponder because the answers will require change. Who wants the headache and heart ache of change anyways? But maybe you are where I was…where you had hit a ceiling and knew a change was inevitable and it is just a question of when.
Life is so interesting as I still miss my life as a personal trainer and post rehabilitation exercise specialist. In fact, sometimes, i find myself thinking it was the best time in my career and how great it was to be in what felt like mastery serving people with the knowledge and experience I had gained.
But, and that is but with a capital B, as humans, we are meant to evolve and to change and grow. We get to choose in every moment if we stay static with what we have and who we are or if we choose to evolve which requires risk. Sometimes, only the discomfort or discontent of where we are makes us risk the unknown of growth, change, and evolution.
Honestly, every now and then I think it would have been easier to stay static rather than to change and grow, but I would have missed the adventure of my own career and leadership journey if I did.
What is your journey meant to be or where could it lead you if you said yes to the adventure of the unknown path?
Let’s get back to the longing in my heart and my purpose because that’s where you come in, well maybe you, depending on your own path and where you find yourself in this very moment in time.
Where are you at? Are you happy?
Are you at that moment or in a space of wanting to lead your life to somewhere you get to create and choose?
My purpose is to inspire people to be the leader of their life creating more of what they want and how they want to live. My other mission is to be that space where a leader of people, their career, or business can retreat and design, plan, and reconnect to what they need and want.
Speaking of retreats, some of you may have followed my LinkedIn newsletter called the ‘Leaders Retreat’ and this concept is very much still alive in my mission of serving others. Do you know the definition of a retreat? If not, here it is:
‘It is a time intentionally set aside for introspection, reflection, and spiritual growth, often involving withdrawal from daily routine and distractions. It provides a space for individuals to disconnect from the external world and reconnect with themselves.’
Vey simply and succinctly, creating a retreat space for you is my purpose and commitment to you. My goal is to give you coaching, training, and tools to lead your life and to be that space in the hustle and bustle of life where leaders can retreat and reconnect.
It is more important than ever as the pace of life and work speeds up, that we create space to retreat and reconnect to ourselves. This will allow us to choose and lead our way forward consciously.
If you are seeking that pause, that space, that moment of choice and leadership instead of the whirlwind and if you want a space dedicated to leading your life, career or business, I hope you will join me in choosing to have a leaders retreat space in your schedule just for you.
On this summer solstice, here I sit on my patio in the quiet with flower pots in full bloom and still waiting for some to bloom as I see hummingbirds coming at dusk for their last feed of the night. The night is upon us before a new day and a new season; yet, it doesn’t need to be summer solstice to have a new start.
May I close out this letter blog to you with a quick lesson I have been learning of recent about life, enjoyment, and performance?
I have been learning to golf and learning is the key word there as I will not be a pro any time soon. The great coaches of my life in all arenas have told me to give it my all, put a hundred percent effort in, and go out there and hit a home run. So you guessed it, when I first grabbed that golf club, and being a kid with the experience of hitting a bat a number of times, i swung it like a bat and with all my might. To my newbie surprise, you can pretty much guess that yup, I hit a few ‘air balls’ and had some not so pretty dismal laugh worthy results.
Then enter in the wisdom of 2 former and older golfers and one young male golfer with past experience to give me advice. The 2 female golfers who are in their 70’s and 80’s told me how important it is to swing relaxed like a dance and breathe where your whole body is in a synchronous movement of shifting weight without stress or force. The young male golfer told me, ‘your only ever in competition with your previous self and game.’
You mean to tell me that I am to relax and dance and have no stress and just try to improve from my previous golf game when there is so much to learn? One of the ladies asked me if I am breathing like I would in Yoga? First off, I don’t do Yoga that often and second breath? Really, there is so much to focus on when you are new and your learning and fumbling your way through.
But I heard them, ‘…relax, dance, breathe, and flow with it…use the dynamics of nature in how the body moves freely and don’t force the outcome.’ So, as a student I am learning that it may not be a home run or hole in one, but it is about the connection to the present moment, to the green ahead, my state, my swing, and how I choose to play the game. Hmmm, is golf teaching me something about life too and about how to be when trying new things?
I still have no idea how good a golfer I will become, but is that the point? The game of golf is connecting me to friends, nature, humility, learning and my dad. So, as we all lead ourselves forward, maybe we need to be okay being new, humble, dancing with the unknown, and not hitting a home run, but being on the adventure of a lifetime that connects us to so much more than a result or achievement.
It’s summer time so it is time to retreat, reconnect, and to spend time discovering where you want to lead your life, career, and business.
Before I sign off here, I wanted to share more about my vision of how I intend to serve you and the list below is what you can expect from me going forward:
- For many years now I have been supporting leaders and developing leadership training programs and my goal is to share key learnings, tips, and leadership coaching with you through video, blogs, and to my email subscribers
- As my to missions center around ‘lead your life’ and the idea of creating a space ‘the leaders retreat’, I will aim to creatively infuse your busy day, weeks, and months with a time and space for you! A space where you can step out of the whirlwind and into a retreat creating an environment where you can reconnect
- Lastly, going back to my roots in an area of expertise that i still infuse in all I do and offer, I will be bringing you education and tips on health to keep it a focus even with a busy, full schedule. It will be health tips with an emphasis on connecting you to nature and how important nature is for our resilience mentally and emotionally, our physical health, and even our performance.
I will be sharing some of these on the blog here and some only to my email audience so make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out.
One day soon, I will share with you the retreat conference that changed my life and is actually a big part of my mission that inspires me to serve you to this very day. It happened right at that transition point between ending one career and leaping to something new and unknown. It was an extraordinary experience and one day it will be recreated with a new spin for all of you. That’s the long vision, but for now join me here or in my email subscription to be inspired to lead your life and to have a retreat space so you can create what’s next.
Here’s to you and your adventure.
I wish you space to retreat, recharge, and to lead your life.
Jody
