It is not uncommon for my clients to express concern; to worry about the attainment of their goals. When they do, my advice is always the same: assume you will get there and then enjoy the journey. Achieving the latter helps to guarantee success with the former. This post is about just that: enjoying the whole process, safe in the knowledge that you will succeed.
It describes my own journey in pursuit of my goal to become a coach of the highest quality. I have relished that journey so far but I know how my clients feel, because I have had similar worries throughout my life. My journal entries are littered with them. Even now, sometimes, I worry that I may not be good enough. Only sometimes. The rest of the time I am fine. More than fine; I am enjoying the process. I didn’t think I would, but it’s been that way from the very beginning.
My training finished at the end of 2003. From then until May 2008 I did very little with it except to continue the work on myself and support the people around me when the opportunity arose. Then I met my girlfriend. And that’s when the situation shifted. The first time I talked to her about the personal development training I had done she simply said, ‘You need to do something with that‘.
I had originally intended to. I only have to look back at the entry, ‘A Vision’, to see that. However, the four-year training had been such hard work and so full of self-reflection, that I wanted to take some time afterwards to get my breath back and establish a more normal life. My goal at the time had been to stay in one place long enough to break my habit of running away. The post, ‘Changing Patterns’, describes that particular process in more detail.
It was whilst pursuing that goal that I met the person who became the catalyst, the inspiration and a source of unwavering support for the next stage of my life. She did for me what I do for my clients. She supported me, believed in me, pushed me, encouraged me and stood by me every step of the way. And she helped to make it all enjoyable.
When she said those words to me I was a little surprised by my initial reaction: I was calm and ready. And I was clear. That combination of clarity and calmness has been present ever since and is one of the most defining and satisfying aspects of it all. The time was right. I had no idea how it would work out but she and I began to talk about it. And when I spoke she wrote. She wrote down headings, lists, ideas, visions, doubts and affirmations. She drew pages of mind maps and we hung each one up on the wall of my flat. That was the start.
At the time I was working for the same software company I’d been at since December 2004. After a word with my boss I began to plan some in-house workshops on communication and personal development as a first step; to test the water. In November 2008 I conducted the first one. Those workshops ran throughout 2009 and into 2010, during which time I moved from Germany to the Netherlands.
There has never been a detailed plan. It has all grown from one comment and from one intention. All the time I have known (and most importantly, felt) I was on the right path. I have taken it step by step, not rushing and not getting ahead of myself. The calmness persists and I am more patient than I ever thought possible of myself.
The more time has passed, the more conscious I have become of enjoying what is happening now. Too often we become distracted by our goal and think we will only be able to relax and savour everything once we have succeeded. But that is to ignore all the little successes along the way. Think of it as a fractal with success at every level, at every scale, including the whole.
Today is a special day because it is officially the final day of my near-seven years with the company I began work for in Frankfurt. At the end of this day, I will be 100% C-volution. It has taken time to get this far. I could have done it quicker, but that would have made it less of a delight. Furthermore, being able to take my time has meant being able to produce the level of quality I wish to see in everything I do. And besides, I have come a long way in the last 3½ years.
Since the first conversation in Frankfurt in May 2008 I have run a series of workshops in Germany, given trainings in the Netherlands, worked with clients of different nationalities in a variety of countries, set up my own company, designed (and redesigned) the logo, the business cards and the marketing cards, set up the website and created an extensive blog which inspires people and which also helps me to maintain my focus on my goals.
I have taken so much pleasure from what has happened so far. I still have worries. When they surface, I tell myself the same as I tell my clients: ‘Know that you will succeed, relax and enjoy what is about it happen’. Because if you wait until you succeed, you’ll find you’ve missed the best part.