You may remember last year I was focusing on courage and as part of this I had a number of courageous conversations and experiences. Some worked out amazingly, others didn’t, and there were some that needed time to develop. I like to think about this in terms of growing seeds. We plant ideas, we nurture them (or not) and they grow (or not). Today’s blog post shares a recent experience of one that took a little time to develop and what I learnt from the process.
Planting the seed
The first part of this process is planting the seed. This might be having a new idea, starting to plan how you could implement it, discussing it with others, or taking a first step towards it. In this particular example I’m sharing, it’s the one I spoke about in my blog post last – a courageous conversation with an organisation that I’d love to work with (Clore Leadership Programme). I’d been spending a lot of time thinking about the sort of work I’d love to do more of, and Clore ticks so many of those criteria for me. So I (eventually!) bit the bullet and called them to ask if there might be a possibility of working with them in the future and if so, what I’d need to do to be able to be in a position to do so. It was a terrifying (to me) conversation, but I’m so proud that I did it and it started a dialogue. Courage enabled me to plant the seed.
Nurturing the seed
The next stage of the process is to nurture the seed; which could include giving it nutrients and could include giving it time and space to grow. In my example, this involved meeting with Clore and discussing how we might be able to work together. I had an amazing discussion last May and left feeling so energised and excited. Since then I’ve kept in touch and followed the new developments to keep up to speed. Patience and trust are important during this stage.
Letting the seed grow
The next stage is to let the seed grow, and often you’ll find it takes on momentum of its own as it grows stronger and stronger. In my case, this was an email I received a few weeks ago inviting me to attend a workshop, shadow a face-to-face course, and help pilot an online course. All of which are things I was incredibly excited to be offered the opportunity to do, and all of which I have accepted. I attended the workshop last week, I’ve just finished shadowing the course, and I’ll be piloting the online course in a couple of weeks. So far these experiences have been amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing how the plant continues to grow. During this stage, it’s important to keep nurturing the plant and appreciating it – I’ve been doing a lot of that the last few days 🙂
So why am I sharing this experience and learning?
Well, it’s taught me a lot about being brave enough to explore options and plant lots of seeds. Some of the seeds will flourish quickly, some will take more time to establish, and some won’t flourish. All of that is to be expected and all of that is natural. We can plant more seeds than we need, in the knowledge that some will flourish and some won’t. This is the approach I’m taking with new ideas and opportunities now.
Plant seeds for potential opportunities and appreciate those that flourish.
Subscribe to my newsletter
Enter your details below to get regular self-coaching tips, advice and a summary of my latest blog posts sent straight to your inbox.