For the last 8 months, I’ve been working solo. A lot of writing, a lot of thinking, a handful of one-on-one calls each month. In my very first Insights post, I wrote about this transition: redefining what it looks like to be productive and shaking my long held image of what “work” looks like (meetings upon meetings upon meetings).
Over the last three weeks, I have had the pleasure of running my first workshop series: Foundations of a Purposeful Career. I had a fantastic group of 8 women join the three-session series. We talked about our personality types and how they show up at work. We talked about goal setting, balancing both the here and now goals and the longer term “where do I want to be in 5 years” goals. And we talked about (and practiced!) giving feedback.
I cannot even begin to describe the boost I got from the workshops and these women. I was highly motivated to prepare for the sessions, I was energized during the sessions themselves, and I could not get enough of the constructive feedback I got from the participants. They were appreciative of the content and opportunity to engage during the sessions and they had great ideas of how to tweak the series for the next time I offer it. (Coming again this fall, tell your friends!)
Reflecting on these past three weeks, I noticed two things.
- Increased motivation and momentum after delivering live workshops – it felt really good to finally be putting some of my ideas out into the world.
- An impact on my routine – it threw it way out of balance!
I know that as a mostly introverted person, I enjoy interacting with others, but also recognize I need to recharge and refocus after I have done so. I hadn’t really noticed explicitly how little “group work” I have done over the last year. This month I discovered that I have a clear need – even as an introverted person – to engage directly with groups of people. I definitely love my quiet alone time, and I do love writing; it helps me process my thinking and I appreciate the reach that writing has. But it can be lonely! Talking to others, getting real time feedback, engaging in conversation – it fueled my soul in a way that I had forgotten.
So – is it possible that something simultaneously fills the tank and drains it? I think so! This first workshop series has confirmed that my path is right…and I just need to figure out how to keep myself going with live engagements and retain my writing a processing routine so that I can fully recharge.
What about you? Are there things in your life that fill your tank and drain it at the same time? Or maybe they are different tanks? Hmm… Analogy under construction… 🤔🔨🧰
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