A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilled Sailor
Often in coaching, you are working with a client who is in transition - from stepping up into a more senior role or company or making a career change. They are one place and they want to move to another, find something new, or change how they are now into how they truly want to be.
Sometimes, they have a very clear vision of where they want to be and how they want to live. Sometimes, they don’t and helping them find both clarity of vision and direction is key.
Transition from one state of being can be hard. It can involve getting out of your comfort zone, stepping into the unknown, the unfamiliar, the untested.
I always use the analogy of getting into a boat and leaving one island in search of another. Sometimes you know what island you are going to, sometimes you are searching for an island with the environment you desire.
Any which way, you have to cross the sea. And that sea can be smooth sailing or choppy. There can be sharks in the water or orcas biting your rudder. There can be a tidal wave that capsizes you or a pod of dolphins guiding your way.
Franklin D Roosevelt is credited with saying ‘a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor’ and when I heard that, it really made me think.
We often think about the end destination as the goal but not the journey. Yes, we may wish for smooth seas but it’s only in facing the ups and downs, twists and turns in that transition that we learn and grow in skill and technique.
So if you are feeling out at sea, at the moment, whether you are in-between roles or en-route between the place you don’t want to be at and the place you do and it’s tough then firstly, you have my sympathy - if I could wave a magic wand and make it calm, I would.
But secondly, consider what navigating these seas is giving you...
Is it experience, skill, wisdom or strength?
What are the positive learnings from this journey of transition?
In what sense are you becoming a skilled sailor?
If I can help you on your journey, let me know!
In the meantime, look after yourselves. Make sure you’re wearing your life jacket!
Be fearlessly YOU
Tracy
