Michele Woodward

Powerful Coaching. Powerful Results.

reinvention

The Iron Is Hot

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It’s not like many of us have extensive blacksmithing experience, but we all seem to understand the phrase, “Strike while the iron is hot.” Smiths know that to best shape a piece the iron must heated to the proper temperature and the blow of the hammer must land with force in a particular place.

With repeated heatings and repeated blows, the smith can create something beautiful, useful and strong.

But, of course, the blacksmith knows what he or she is doing. They understand the materials they are working with, and know how to calibrate the force of the hammer. They trust the solidity of their anvil, and use its different parts to achieve different effects in the end product. They also know their own strength, and bring it to bear in every step of the process.

Now, from where I’m sitting, I see something. I see that right about now the iron is getting pretty hot for you.

You’ve got to make that decision. Angle for the promotion. Find that new job. Start that new business. Heal that challenging relationship. Take better care of yourself. Do that thing you’ve been thinking about for all this time.

And you’re anxious.

You ask: Do I have the strength?

Can I manage the hammer?

Do I trust the anvil to support this work?

Will I strike right? When the iron is exactly hot enough?

Do I know what I’m doing?

And, from my vantage point, I say the answer is… yes.

You are strong enough, and you know what you’re doing.

Your strength? Comes from your entire body of work, and every one of your accomplishments, big and small.

Your hammer? It’s the unique ability and perspective you bring to your work.

Your anvil? Is the support of your family and your network of friends and colleagues.

And the hot metal is this very moment – right now, right here – and is just waiting to be shaped.

Trust in yourself.

Have confidence.

Take that hammer into your hand and strike the first blow.

With purpose. And intention. With clear-eyed energy.

Bang! Craft a stronger alliance with your boss, or with that key colleague.

Clang! Ask for what you want, and need.

Crack! Offer a great idea, and shepherd it into life.

Wham! Do the thing that seems hard, but not really impossible.

Now is the time. The iron is very hot. Will you take up the hammer and begin to fashion this part of your life’s work?

 

 

 

 

Life In The Balance

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“Suffering is normal.”

“Work is supposed to be hard.”

“I have to keep busy.”

“No pain, no gain.”

“Idle hands are the Devil’s playground.”

“Life is not supposed to be easy.”

Damn that Protestant Work Ethic.

It’s those deeply ingrained PWE messages that hold us back from making changes leading to more satisfaction, happiness and meaning. We’re all so nose-to-the-grindstone, unhappy-as-hell, but-hey-what-can-I-do-about-it people.

What frustrated folks may not know is this: the key to a balanced life is a fair measure of joy. Of purposeless fun. Of play.

Which is diametrically opposed the good old PWE.

Know what I mean? We take something that is supposed to be joyful fun, like, oh… running through a forest, feeling the wind on your skin and your hair, smelling the fragrance of the deep woods, spying a shy fawn, or a curious fox. And we turn it into, “Gotta go nine today so I’ll be ready for the marathon.”

Sure, having a purpose gives us something to strive for, but often bypasses the underlying joy of simply doing a thing we love.

A woman I know was lamenting this week that her just conferred Master’s degree didn’t seem to be that valuable in this job market. I asked, “Why did you decide on that field of study?” She answered, “Because I was really interested in it, and I thought it would be fun.” I paused a moment. “So you enjoyed the learning?” She said, “Oh, yes!” I asked, “Isn’t that enough?”

Learning for learning’s sake — ever known that feeling?

To achieve balance in your life, sometimes you need to allow yourself to do something for the sheer fun of it — and not because it will lead to something else. Something “productive.” If you have the time, the money and the interest, why not take a class? Or get a Master’s degree? Or a PhD, for that matter? With no eye toward where it will “get” you?

Why not enjoy yourself?

There’s a point that comes in everyone’s life — and for some of us it comes more than once — when you know things have to change. Yet you ignore the stirrings of your heart, the urgings of your soul, because making a change might seem indulgent.

Which is a definite PWE no-no.

There’s the doctor who would really like to open a bead shop, but how would that look? All those years of medical school — a waste?

Or the lawyer who would like to be a non-profit case worker. Law school down the drain?

Or the one-time-CPA mom who would like to go back to work, but do something that doesn’t involve numbers. At all. Ever. Shouldn’t she just keep up her certification, just in case?

Not necessarily.

We are all the sum total of our life’s experiences. I know that nothing I’ve ever done in my life — the good, the bad, the extremely ugly — was a waste. It’s all added up to make me the person I am today, and that feels pretty daggone good.

When you get the chance to reinvent your life, you get the chance to use everything you’ve got. When you get the chance to increase your joy, and, nifty by-product, achieve that elusive life balance, take it. Regardless of the little messages that tell you that following your heart is indulgent or purposeless.

If you are stuck, or itchy, or worried, or out of balance — forget the PWE. Focus on joy. And the rest will follow.