Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder
Hope it doesn't take too long
Can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter?
Come a day when you'll be gone, whoa
I understand about indecision
But I don't care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind
Take a look ahead, take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Boston, lyrics from Piece of Mind
We have developed high pain tolerances, learned to persevere, to delay gratification, and out-endure most. Our professions have often become our identities: we are a doctor, a lawyer, a business professional. And there comes a time, which many of us are in – mid-career, mid-life, mid-relationship (married or divorced), middle-parenting and perhaps caring for aging parents, where, by design or default, something gives. Maybe it’s your physical health or your sanity, your piece (or peace) of mind, as Boston referenced. And if we look at the statistics, they’re sobering: we are dying younger, and we’re not living very happily. In the United States life expectancy has declined for three years in a row and we rank 19th in happiness according to the United Nations World Happiness Report, relatively void of some of the key drivers of happiness such as community, trust and sense of security.
How can we reconcile or better yet, optimize what got us here, with what we need or want to get us there: to think, dare I say to feel (that other f-word) and most importantly to respond and behave differently? What does it take? Changing behavior requires learning new skills and understanding the root causes of our thoughts and feelings. The good news is that as successful professionals, we are masterful at learning – it’s what in part made us successful after all. And, we understand coaching. Most of us grew up with memorable and impactful coaches - they were trusted advisors, mentors and confidentes. Heck many of us still have a coach, even if just for a golf swing. Coaches understand what you are saying, feeling and doing - and they know what they are saying too, at the same time. Why not take this familiar and effective paradigm and apply to what matters most – our health, our well-being, and our future. This is where personal coaching comes in.
We work way to hard not to love the lives we have been blessed with, and to live them in a way where our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are attuned, attached and attended to – with the same degree of precision with which we attend to our jobs and to others. Self-care and self-improvement are not selfish. Let’s not become another statistic. What got us here won’t in fact get us there. Working harder is not an option. As we say in the emergency department: Time is muscle: brain and heart. Let the time be now for you and yours.