So you’ve had a bad day, a bad week, a bad….?  And you’ve thought about it long enough:  What went wrong, what was my part, what I had no control over.  You already know what and why it went wrong (or at least mostly). You’ve gone through the grief process long enough.  Now what?

Take Action

Time to take back your life and the control you have over yourself and your future,  Set-backs and failure are a part of live and wallowing is the first step to change.  But don’t stay there, or your wallowing in your failure can become (self-)obession! So, look up-

Look at the Stars

A friend of mine told me last weekend that once when she was fired her girlfriend said to her, “You have two choices, burry your head in the sand and go nowhere or look at the stars.”  My friend chose to look at the stars and all the uncountable possibilities in her life.  She has never regretted her posture, nor has she looked back.  Onward and upward!  You, too, should look at all your possibilities.  Maybe you know that the writer of the song “Jingle Bells” had failed at a lot of things before writing this world famous song.  This particular song was sung at me in a refugee camp some three decades ago by little kids who didn’t speak English and had never seen snow.  “Jingle Bells” is a testimony to looking up and seeing the stars.

Get Creative

Everyone has part of themselves that holds a childlike wonder.  Find that part of you and your inner child will help you become more creative with your possibilities because part of creativity is experimentation and play with options, sometimes wildly crazy ones.  On Monday I went to the Female Founder Summit in Zürich and one of the speakers talked about how the “outliers”, the “crazy people” are looked for by business angels and venture capitalists, at least some of these types prefer outliers.  Those are the people who are in touch with the child within them and are ready to play a bit, to experiment, to do something new.  Maybe you need to play games, more.  Maybe a walk in the woods paying attention to the changing seasons would be more you.  Finally, maybe you want to draw (or doodle) your future as you would like it, and remember to include all aspects of your life.

Know Thyself

Remember to take time to listen to yourself, the stories you tell yourself and check them for accuracy. Often we tell ourselves stories that are partially (or even fully) incorrect.  Remember to fact-check those stories with your accomplishments, experience, training, goals, and values.  Remember your emotions are 1) neutral and 2) fleeting, so do not make choices mostly on your emotions, although a “gut feeling” is not the same thing, and that you should consider.  A good exercise on values clarification might be a good place to begin getting to know yourself better.  

I can help you with most of these above activities, including the what’s and why’s as a coach or supervisor, and I am happy to walk through your failures with you to help you to be able to look at the stars.

I wish you a great time of reflection and star gazing!

Patricia Jehle              patricia@jehle-coaching.com