The Work

There is a sense of loss that I believe is particularly acute in today’s world, especially given the tremendous shifts currently taking place. 

We KNOW there is something greater within us and the changes happening around us provide us opportunities to catch glimpses of what that might be, but we still find ourselves tied to what has been.

So then, what do we do when we are lost in our work, from our work, from ourselves?  When we notice we aren’t getting the results we truly want and that working harder, faster, better leaves us back to the same place -- lost in a cacophony of meetings, deliverables, requirements, and objectives – with sparse connection to the sense of meaning or purpose that originally led us here in the first place?

I have had the pleasure of connecting deeply with leaders to help them navigate these challenges.  What follows is a description of a crucial part of the work that I have led my clients through to great success.  While there are steps to this process and milestones by which to gauge progress, this work is not necessarily linear and thus cannot be reduced to a “4-Step Process to Greatness.”  However, while each person is different and the conversations vary wildly, if the individual does the work, the end result is always reflective of growth and progression.  I have never worked with someone who truly committed themselves to the work who wasn’t deeply changed as a result of the process.

We must first be still and separate ourselves from the daily tumult.  With some distance, we then can examine the planned path ahead and ask in what ways it might still serve us and in what ways it might actually operate as a constrictive cloak that we continue to force-fit ourselves into even though we have outgrown its contours.  We might as a result feel a pressure not unlike that of a water balloon being squeezed at one end.  No wonder we feel “off,” disconnected at work, separate from ourselves and what matters to us.

This is the beginning of what I call “the work.”  I have led many clients through this process of connecting more deeply to where they are currently and connecting to what is true for them at their core.  This work many times requires us to challenge elements of our identity.  What might we be holding onto no longer serves us but instead ends up costing us in terms of well-being and effectiveness?  The answer to this question ultimately surfaces a decision or two (or three) to make that may have been avoiding, and it is not uncommon to bear the consequences of these unaddressed decisions in terms of emotional and/or physical pain and decreased performance in our professional and personal lives. 

This work calls us to wake up and pay attention to everything that we’ve given away in this quest for outer rewards that has led to our being disconnected from ourselves.  We must wake up to all of the games we have played to make ourselves feel safe and untouched, as well as to our creative gifts that are longing for expression.  If we are feeling grief or ongoing frustration in our work or in our workplace, we don’t know what’s underneath those emotions unless we fall into them.  In fact, the effective processing of one’s emotions is a core practice in this work.  I believe that being disconnected from our emotional realities is one of the critical dysfunctions of our age, one that leads to so much pain and suffering.

I help my clients navigate these uncharted waters by giving them the permission they have not chosen to give themselves, that of engaging in the conversation to confront uncomfortable realities, and coming to grips with the decisions that must be made if they are going to reset themselves on their path to greatness.  I help them realize what glories of their future might await them and help them chart a new path towards this greatness, which begins with the simple, but all-important connection to what’s inside.