What’s in this issue:
💭 Thought: The next, best step
🖊️ Reflection: Where might you be trying to “outsmart life”?
📚 Read: Distinctions between cooperation, coordination, & collaboration
😆 Today’s Laugh
In honor of the school year winding down across the United States (my kiddos finish this week! 😱 🏖️)…
💭 Today’s Thought
The next, best step
In an earlier issue, I shared a key learning from my experience pivoting careers: the importance of talking to people about what I wanted to do.
Today, I wanted to share a second thing I learned from that experience that I now apply in multiple aspects of my life (and wish I had learned earlier 😅) …
When faced with an overwhelming or unknown situation, ask yourself, what’s the next, best step? Do it, and figure things out from there.
I used to be very focused on trying to plan things well in advance and making sure I’d thought through every detail and scenario before they happened. I was really good at trying to outsmart life. 😂 It took me a while to fully see how this approach, while it helped me feel comfortable, kept me small and artificially limited.
When I decided to change careers into leadership development and coaching about three years ago, I took a different approach…
I enrolled in ONE professional coaching training course, without having any clue as to what would come next.
Scary? Absolutely. Rewarding? 100%.
Because after this course, the path seemed to unfold for itself. Options appeared. My choices became clearer. Bonus: I now had momentum, and momentum is like a precious gem when navigating challenges.
Whether you’re navigating a career change, a new project, an important decision, or a situation that feels simply overwhelming, pause and ask yourself, What’s the next, best step?
Do it, and build from there.
🖊️ Today’s reflection
If you’re new to journaling, I highly encourage you to read Nancy Adler’s article: Want to be an outstanding leader? Keep a journal.
This week, find a quiet place and gift yourself 10 minutes to reflect on any of these prompts (or invent your own!):
In what instances are you trying to “outsmart life”?
Think about a tough decision, task, or situation you’re dealing with — what’s the next, best step you could take TODAY?
📚 Today’s Read
Cooperation, Coordination, and Collaboration
“Cooperation, coordination and collaboration are terms that are often times used interchangeably to describe the way people work together.” In reality, they mean very different things! This article might just change the way you think about your relationships with other people and teams.
Bonus exercise:
Make a list of professional and personal relationships you have, and categorize them under “Cooperation”, “Coordination”, and “Collaboration” according to what state the relationship is in now.
Notice: do any relationships need to shift? How can you make that happen?
This is a useful exercise for teams to do as well!
See you next week!
xo,
Anne
"What’s the next, best step?" -- that is scary! It sounds silly too, but hearing this reminds me of Frozen II's song "The Next Right Thing" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6g1yQV0dIY
For me, also deciding between two "equally best next steps" can slow me down and have to remind myself that just picking one is better than doing nothing.