The scenic route
It’s hard to tell how far away they are. (Image by B Wellensiek)
Not having kids allows me to waste a ton of time.
Or, to be more charitable about it, to spend a lot of time doing things — anything, really.
At this point, I’d rather have the kids. But I do enjoy having the freedom to experiment.
Right now, my experimentation is in the realm of positioning myself as a coach. Or am I a consultant? Both? Neither?
You’d think I would have figured this out after three years of doing this type of work. But I’ve avoided putting my stake in the ground and saying, “This is what I am and what I do.” I’ve enjoyed helping various kinds of people to solve various kinds of problems. That’s been working so far.
You could definitely argue that my approach has been inefficient and that I have indeed wasted a ton of time. But whenever I’ve tried to pursue strategy first, it’s been a dead end.
You know how when you try to take a picture of the mountains, they always come out looking small and feeble? Trying to capture a strategic plan feels like that right now, whereas exploration and experimentation feels like seeing the actual mountains, majestic and grand even though they’re miles away.
Nevertheless, after three years, I’ve gotten a little impatient with how long it’s taking to clear on who I want to help and how I want to help them. I’d like to update my LinkedIn profile at some point. I’d like to be able to go out and find clients instead of waiting for them to come to me.
So I decided at the start of the summer to step up the action. If each interaction with a client and each piece of content that I create is giving me information, I’ll see more clients and create more content.
Check and check! I’m doing it. Is it more efficient? No! I’m still definitely taking the scenic route. But wherever I’m going, I’m getting there faster. I’m learning so much every day.
Most importantly, I’m having fun. Yes, this is time that I’m taking away from hobbies, recreation, and family. But I’m enjoying what I’m doing, which makes the high degree of effort just about sustainable.
Is there a moment when I need to finally call it, like parents disagreeing over the name for their one-week-old child and finally compromising on something unobjectionable? I don’t know. But I think I will know when I get there. I think it will be like finishing a piece of art — you can’t decide what to add or take away next, and at some point you realize that means it’s complete.
The strategist in me knows that I could simply decide. But the artist in me understands that trying to impose finality will only prolong the process of becoming. After two years or twenty, I’ll be desperate to break out of the box. Might as well not get into it in the first place.
Compared to some hypothetical correct path, I’m costing myself a lot of money and effort. But that correct path doesn’t exist — or, if it does, the only way I seem to be able to find it is by going the way I’m going. So I’ll continue on the scenic route, taking messy action and evolving little by little.
What about you? Where have you taken the scenic route in your life? Where have you made a decision up front instead? Where have you acted with certainty? Where did that certainty come from?
