Changing direction is never easy…
Unless you’re a tennis ball bouncing off a brick-wall, that is!
But sometimes it’s necessary.
Sometimes we feel a pull to be doing something different.
Sometimes, we just know the time is right to re-think, re-assess and yes… change direction.
There are times in our lives that the pull is so strong, so powerful that we simply can’t resist. We have to go with it. We have to change direction. We have to evolve.
Now is that time for me.
Just as it was 6 years ago…
I can still picture myself stood in front of 27 less than enthusiastic students. All looking forwards and waiting the lesson to start, wondering what “Sir” would be teaching them today.
I looked around at what had been my classroom for the last 4 years or so…
The work and posters on the pale yellow walls were starting to look like they needed changing – in truth they’d looked like that for the last couple of years at least.
It was too hot today… way too hot!
The room was always either too hot, or too cold. Never just right. And even with the windows open wide, today, it was too hot.
It was a bright day outside. The sky was blue, and the sun was shining brightly. Unusual for the UK in January. But inside my classroom, it was a bit dull. The lighting never seemed to really light up the room properly.
Back to the lesson. Trigonometry. How many times had I taught this topic before? How many times had I thought to myself, “Why am I teaching this topic?” For this class it was irrelevant. These kids would never… ever… use trigonometry in their lives.
I’m sure you get the picture.
I’d reached a point of no return.
It was time to change direction.
Time for me to move on.
I handed in my notice 2 days later. I had nothing planned. No job to go to. But I had a few weeks to work something out. I just knew I had to move on. I had to get out of teaching.
That, of course, was the start of my journey as a “Life Coach”.
I’d always been more than a maths teacher. I often stopped lessons to talk to kids about life, about setting goals, and showing them motivational videos. Sometimes a whole lesson would pass by without any maths being done at all.
Time was better spent, I used to convince myself, guiding these young minds towards more relevant issues than Pythagoras, simultaneous equations and, of course, trigonometry.
And I guess that’s how my coaching style developed over the next few years. To where I am today. Helping to guide people through their issues, either work related or personal.
Sometimes it’s just a case of helping them to get over small hurdles. Other times the issues are more difficult to define and even harder to overcome. But we always get there. We always find a solution and they move on… until the next hurdle.
But lockdown… this pandemic, has given me time to think… time to re-think.
More importantly, lockdown has given me chance to work on myself.
Time to evaluate.
Time to dig deep.
Time to dig deep into my inner thoughts, my inner being, if you like.
At first I didn’t really like what I found.
I felt like I’d been a bit of a fraud. Not because I’d cheated people. I hadn’t.
I’ve done what I could to help people.
I’ve done what I thought was best for my clients.
But there in lies the problem. I’d done what I thought was the best for them… not necessarily what was best for them.
So…
It’s time to change direction… again.
Time to do things differently.
Time to help my clients find their own inner strengths.
Time to help my clients dig deeper than they’ve ever done before.
Time to let go of outcomes and simply go with the flow.
Solutions will turn up…
Solutions will evolve.
Like they always do.
For me, those solutions will start to evolve over the next 4 weeks, as I take part in a 21-day writing challenge. I’ve long been an advocate of writing things down as a way to find clarity… a way to create goals to move forward.
But over the next 4 weeks, I’m going to use writing to help me dig deeper than I’ve ever gone before…
And I’m going to share every moment with you…
The ups…
The downs…
The questions…
But most of all…
The emotions…
As I totally change the way I work with people to help them not just find solutions, but find true, life-lasting transformation.
21 Days of Transformation: A Journey to Dig Deep into Your Inner Thoughts, starts here on my Life Excel Blog today.
If that sounds like a journey you’d like to take as well…
If you feel the need to dig deep and find out things about yourself you never knew existed…
If you need clarity and purpose to be at the forefront of your life…
Let’s take this journey together.
Keith Jones
Living a Life of Purpose