An ex-colleague of mine contacted me recently to let me know she was going to be in Brisbane and see if we were able catch up.
The beauty of having your own business is that you can work your schedule around to suit your needs and so we were able to have lunch earlier this week.
It’s been almost 13 years since we worked together, but it felt like just yesterday. As you’d expect with our similar backgrounds, we were able to bring each other up to speed on our life since our consulting days, including all of the ups and downs of our subsequent jobs and lives.
It was fantastic to catch up and reconnect with Raewyn. She continues to reside in Calgary and has been on a winter break visiting her family in New Zealand and friends in Australia. The perfect time to be away from those ice-cold Canadian winters, especially those of Western Canada.
As you can imagine we covered a lot of ground over our two-hour lunch, but the best part was that the conversation evolved naturally.
Since then, I’ve reflected on those years and realize that the anniversary of my father’s passing is coming up this weekend (Valentine’s day). I find it impossible to believe that it’s been 15 years already.
As many of you know his passing was the catalyst for me to begin writing this weekly essay. At the time Zach and Sam were both pre-teens and now both in their mid 20’s with lives of their own. Where has the time gone?
My father’s passing and me deciding to leave management consulting was also intertwined in many ways…
Another thing our catch up provided me was some perspective on my consulting career, and similarities between Raewyn’s journey and my own including our departures. We agreed it was an incredible learning experience from a career perspective, but also from a life perspective.
During those hectic seven years I learned an incredible amount and was provided opportunities most people will never have, but the dark side was that my time was never my own. I was always, and I mean always was on the clock irrespective of time or day of the week. No day was sacred including weekends and public holidays.
In my second to last year, I had a weekly call at 3:30 am every Thursday morning for one-hour because the team I was a part of was mostly based in Europe, while I was working in Vancouver on the Pacific coast. This was not my full-time job at the time, just an extra project that I was placed on.
Most week’s I would remain up and continue working on this project work until my day began at 7:00 am, then that night take the red-eye flight from the west coast to the east coast and arrived the next morning at 6:30 am.
No wonder I was constantly exhausted!
Raewyn’s experience was similar in that she would fly to Fort McMurry from Calgary on Monday, then fly to Vancouver to spend a day before boarding another plane to San Francisco where she would spend a day on another project before flying to St Louis to end her work week before making it back home to Calgary Friday night. Certainly, a lot of air miles, and hotel nights but at what cost?
And this is why the consulting industry burns out it’s best and brightest!
Fortunately, we both survived to tell the tale and have gone on to other fulfilling roles which now both include being self-employed.
I think the best word to springs to mind is resilience. We had to become resilient to survive, but in that lesson, we also learned that if we could survive this intensity for prolonged periods we could survive almost anything.
We also agreed that mindset was the number one thing that has allowed us to be both successful, then and now. The ability to think positively, and clearly when you’re surrounded by ambiguity, turmoil or confusion.
Waking each and every day with a positive outlook on your day ahead, and even when things go awry, as they often can remaining calm, steady and focused.
These habits and lessons learned have become a guidebook to my success. They don’t just happen – you create, sustain and reinforce them over time until they become a part of your personal make up.
These aspects help us motivate others and whether you are a formal coach or informal mentor the way you carry yourself and communicate with others carries weight thus nurturing those around you.
Our catch up was like a breath of fresh air as it reinforced and confirmed much of my thinking, habits and actions both in my personal and professional life.
It’s provided me with an opportunity for self-reflection both about my career and the things that I learned from my experiences but also, and perhaps more importantly how I have flexed to embrace these lessons and become who I am today…
Thank you, Raewyn! It was great to catch up and look forward to your next visit to Brisbane.
Until next week.
Ciao!
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