Focus on the details and take the shot! 3 steps to capturing the moment!
By: Julie Buckingham
Tags: Personal Development, Leadership, Growth, Goal Setting

As a leader or manager in the Health and Social Care or Voluntary Sector, are you waiting for things to get better before getting down to making some changes in your life, developing your team, starting a new project? Do you feel that starting a business, looking for a new job, signing up for a course would be awesome but maybe in 2021, when conditions should be improved?

Procrastination (noun): the action of delaying or postponing something. Photographers need to take the shot when they see it, lose the moment and they might never have that opportunity again. Why don’t we make the most of opportunities and take the shot? As leaders and managers, we could actually lose a great deal of valuable time waiting for the ideal situation (which probably never comes)!

The real issue is that life is never going to line itself up into neat boxes so that a perfect space opens up for your dreams. Thinking back, has everything ever been ideal? In March of this year, I saw an opportunity to start an ILM Level 7 Coaching Leaders and Managers Diploma. The problem was, I could not afford it and I really did not have the time either, so it was impossible (or so I thought). However, I found out more about it, there were some different payment options and I could move some things around because it was online. I decided to go for it. I had to take an informed risk and believe that this was an opportunity I should grab with both hands, I could easily have missed the shot!

Sometimes a photographer takes a perfect shot, they can see its potential and no matter what is going on around them (other people, terrible weather, distractions, feeling tired or hungry), they just point the camera, examine the view and take the shot. They might even take several shots because they know they can take a look later and select the best one.

How about our role at work, are we plodding on and just trying to crawl through the week (maybe things will get better next week — the diary looks a little easier then)? Really, we already know that by next week, it will have filled up again and another week will roll by. How can we be proactive instead of procrastinating?

Step number 1: What do you really want? Over the last year, I have been setting aside time to think (I know it sounds dangerous)! I had a reasonable job teaching English and I was making a living and I was able to work from home too, it didn’t seem to be necessary to rock the boat by trying to develop a business as a Leadership and Management Coach. However, when I thought about the future and what I wanted to be doing in 5 years, I knew I needed to make a commitment to study and develop myself and to consider how to start a coaching practice. Really, now is the only time we have to make change because tomorrow, next week, next month — they are beyond our grasp. Back in February, I was dreaming of having my own successful coaching practice — what would that look like? Well I would be working with inspiring people, improve my work-life balance and really loving the satisfaction of supporting and encouraging my clients, I would be a qualified coach and have time to study and improve and develop myself and my networks (this would be an 8 on my scale — see below). This was what I really wanted. Today, could you set aside some time to consider where you want to be in 5 years, what would you be doing, how would you feel, what would be different? Write it down, this really helps. I find scaling really awesome — on a scale of 0–10 with 10 being a perfect life, where would you be if you achieved all of this?

If you send me an email, I will send you my scaling tool, making it easy to use and re-use (see below for my contact details).

Step number 2: Where are you right now? While dreaming is awesome, we also need to keep it real. You know where you want to go but where are you now — on the scale, what score would you give to the here and now. I am sure that there are things you are doing as well as things you have done before that have contributed to bring you to this point — write them down on your scale. If I looked at where I was back then, I would put myself at a 5 because I already ran my own business teaching English so I didn’t have to hand in my notice, my work was flexible, I had a background in Voluntary Sector Management and I had already coached many clients and seen positive change, I had a Management qualification (ILM Level 5), I was an experienced Project Leader so I felt able to tackle a new challenge — even though there is a huge gap between 5 and 8, I thought I could make a reasonable start. How about you, I am convinced you have already achieved things and built up your skills and resources to get to this point. You know where you are now and you are ready to build a new and exciting future on the foundations you laid before.

Step number 3: What would be one small step towards your goal? Dreams are achievable step by step. Standing still will certainly never move you closer to your hopeful future and especially mentally, getting started takes a huge amount of courage, just one point up the scale, what would that look like, what would you be doing, how would you feel? For me I needed to get to 6 (to show myself that I was sick of passive acceptance and I was ready for an adventure), I made an enquiry about the course and although it was going to be a financial commitment, I knew I could work some additional hours in the short term and pay for it, I talked to my husband about it and he agreed to support me too — I was accepted on the course and got moving! What do you need to do to move one point up your scale? Who can support you? What changes do you need to make to get there?

Looking back, I am so pleased that I took my first step. I enjoyed my course, passed the assignment part and now I am coaching clients in the sectors I love, I have launched my own website: www.juliebcoaching.co.uk, I have published some Blogs to encourage others, I have a growing network of some of the most inspiring people in the sectors on LinkedIn. I have been able to reduce my hours as an English tutor too and will continue to do this as my business grows and develops. I am currently coaching 5 clients — including a Management Graduate looking for their first senior role, a Quality Assurance Lead in an Educational organisation and a Voluntary Sector Middle Manager.

To be truly resilient, we cannot just sit still, we must just take the shot because if we don’t, things will move on and we could lose the perfect picture! Be adventurous, point to the future (what does it look like for you), where are you now and start moving! You will certainly not regret taking control of your own future. One step at a time (as long as you know what you are aiming for)!

If you are a leader or manager in the Voluntary or Health and Social Care Sector, why not take advantage of the gift of a RESILIENCE CONVERSATION or a COACHING CONVERSATION with me? It will be a win-win situation because you will be able to meet me on Zoom and share some of your hopes for the future and ideas about your next step and I will hear more about how you are being resilient (which will help me with my research on the topic) or you could experience some of the benefits of a coaching session?

How to get in touch: find me on LinkedIn, visit my website: www.juliebcoaching.co.uk or email me: joolieb1@hotmail.co.uk