Taking the Step

T took a really important step the other day. She sent me a message on LinkedIn and it started with I think I need you.

We ended up meeting that day for a Next Right Steps call. We found T’s Spark and her “IT.” And we started working on T’s next program, reframing her professional identity for a post-retirement role that makes T’s soul sing as she contemplates it. I’m excited, happy, and thrilled for her … and of course she’s excited, happy, and thrilled too. And Unstuck. And looking forward to a desired future state that seems so much more reachable than it did two days ago.

“Many Paths” by keepitsurreal is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

T knew when the time was right, she took the step, and an amazingly bright, beautiful future is opening up for her. What really convinced her, she told me, was the story of my friend M, or Ms N, who knew when the time was right and took the step into retirement – and she continues to thrive and take the next step almost 30 years later. She loved the way that M was able to reframe her identity through various roles and stages, and she wanted that for herself.

“If they can do it,” says Ali Katz, another of my personal mentors, “I can do it too. If they can have it, I can have it too.” And that’s important to remember, especially if you’re feeling Stuck and Miserable. Somewhere out there – somewhere not so very far away in our hyperconnected online world – there’s someone who successfully made the move from Stuck and Miserable to Joyful and Free. Maybe they’re available to mentor you directly, or maybe they can be your indirect mentor by example.

Otto Scharmer, who has been both kinds of mentor to me, talks about three “groundings” or “anchor points” that are particularly important in rapidly changing times. We anchor ourselves horizontally, he says, in the people around us – in what Robert Dilts would call our social environment. We anchor ourselves vertically upward in our purpose and vertically downward in our place. And we anchor ourselves chronologically in our practice, our awareness of the past and the present and the emerging future. But when we’re unanchored and ungrounded, even in just one of those ways, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by rapid change.

And so many people, especially teachers, are feeling unanchored and ungrounded in many of those ways right now. Maybe even in all of those ways!

T has been at her current school for well over 20 years, but as the faculty changed and the students changed over time, she’s been feeling less and less horizontally grounded. She’s still got a strong upward vertical grounding in purpose, but she’s feeling disconnected from the place. When it comes to chronological grounding in practice, she knows what used to work and she has some things that still work, but the emerging future of teaching practice – which may be the most important one – felt more and more disconnected.

And then we met. And we shared our Stories, the Stories of what brings us here today. We found her “IT” and her “Spark.” And all of a sudden, T was grounded and anchored again. It’s easy to see your next right step when you’re properly grounded and anchored … and it’s a lot easier to take that step, too.

And that’s what this is all about. That’s my desire for you when you’re ready!