Categorized | Blog

Jumping into the deep end … in work and in life!

My son Ethan turned one year old last week, and it gave me the chance to reflect back over the past year and think about what I’ve learned, what worked well and not so well, and what I might have done differently if I wasn’t so sleep deprived! And I realised, of course, that I wouldn’t have done anything differently.  Because you don’t know what you don’t know, and some things you just have to learn by jumping in the deep end.  You can worry about what to do next once you’re in there!


Now some of you know that I’m not at the younger age spectrum and when it came to being a first time mum, I was terrified!  I had no idea what to do with a young baby – in fact I still find it hard to believe they let me walk out of the hospital as clueless as I was!  And after being relatively in control of my adult life for the past twenty years it’s true to say that there were quite a few adjustments to be made.  Babies, I now know, don’t operate to a schedule, don’t respond all that well to feedback and performance review meetings, and are also not that good at giving feedback on what I could do better to improve his satisfaction levels!  

Which is probably true of most of the people I’ve managed over the years.  And that fear factor, it’s not that different to putting yourself forward for any other major challenge in work or in life: it all seems so monumental at the time, but after a year in your new role you look back at the long hours and steep learning curve and you think “maybe it wasn’t that bad, after all”.

For those of you who are embarking on new and exciting challenges this year, in work or in life, good luck!  And my advice?  Don’t think about it too much – just throw yourself in, be confident, and don’t forget to celebrate the little wins along the way.


PS.  If you are planning to come along to our Ascend leadership development days in February, our Sydney or Melbourne events are now SOLD OUT.  You can contact us to go on the waiting list for these events.  We have a few places remaining in Adelaide and Brisbane – but be quick because registrations will be closing soon.

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