Hey Friend
Just like that, it’s over. The annual HoganTaylor Firm Meeting, that I’ve gotten to contribute to and host for eight years, is in the books. I didn’t know if it would happen. Last year, after a seven year run, I resigned. I told our little creative team I couldn’t do it again. Which I meant. We’d created the most hilarious videos, experiences and memories over that course of time. Definitely highlights of my decade!
Last year was amazing. Felt like a good time to exit the scenario. However, I love these people and I care very much for the organization. I just couldn’t muster the excitement to top what we’d done previously (we always do) and offer the same format. Have you ever come to the place, even when something is tremendous, you just want something different?
Instead of scrapping the Firm Meeting – which we discussed seriously, or me no longer participating – which was a sad but true option, we decided to reinvent. More accurately, we decided to transition. This past Friday was the first step towards offering another wholly unique and dynamic experience in the future.
It was our intentional pivot point. It clearly communicated “this is not what has been” which opens the door to any direction it goes in the future.
Have you ever found your life rolling along consistently, doing well, but envisioning a different future where the current path doesn’t lead?
Generating a juncture is the essential element!
You and I tend to live life in the context of where we are vs. where we want to be. Particularly still in the haze of the new year, our aspirations to become something more, are strong. From our clearly articulated goals to our thoroughly thought-through strategies, we dream, imagine, plan and hope. We work really hard too.
Often it produces more of the same.
We think of Becoming like driving our car on the interstate. We cruise along in one direction, but want to make a change. So we look at a map, determine where we want to go and exit onto the next highway that has a trajectory towards our destination. Unfortunately, though it’s relatable, it’s not accurate.
We don’t want an exit ramp, we need a hub!
Flying is a truer analogy of how we can lead our life towards a different existence. You never exit one plane and hop on another. You’ve gotta go through the terminal first. It hosts the gates that lead to everywhere. Once inside, we can determine which flight we’d like to hop on.
Transition Terminal
- Conclusive. We must exit the plane! Draw a line. Commit to no-more. Until we do that, all our efforts to change are simply switching seats on the same plane, eventually taking us to the same place.
- Openness. We think we know where we want to go. However, once we enter the terminal, we realize there are potentially a lot more options to choose. Another reason this step is so vital is it gives us space to consider again.
- Unrestricted. The way we get where we want to go isn’t predefined. That’s why the car analogy is lacking – paved roads we must take. But when we fly – as in reality – the WAY we get where we want to go is limitless.
- Fast & Repeatable. We can make a decision to transition and then do it. It doesn’t have to be a long process. We don’t have to know the way to the destination, we just have to pivot. And if that doesn’t turn out, we can pivot again. That’s the beauty of this critical station in between where we are and where we want to go.
Individually and organizationally, the Transition Terminal truly becomes the Hub of Hope, both for those watching and those leading. It indicates the ever-dreaded, yet ever-desired CHANGE is in motion. It offers a buffer eliminating the abruptness that leaving the old behind can generate.
Most importantly it gives us options for the future. In light of the HoganTaylor firm meeting, we can’t go back to what we did before and where we land is still unknown. Since this year entered the Transition Terminal, anticipation for what could be next is high and apprehension is low.
Making changes in our life, big or small, is always accompanied by fear. More like dominated. Committing to the transition and not the destination has a surprisingly buoyant effect on our soul.
What if this week you…
- Looked at your goals and considered inserting a Transition Terminal? What would that look like?
- Reviewed patterns in your life that you’ve attempted to change before but were unable to alter?
- Helped a family, friend, colleague or client look at their future?
- Shifted from road-thinking to air travel in pondering your approach to getting where you want to go?
The terminal is never the destination. It is a resting place of possibility. Enter as often as you like.
Would you rather fly or drive when traveling? Does your company host an annual meeting? Have you found other ways to diminish the abruptness of change? What’s your favorite analogy for living life well? Two weeks in, are you still on track with your stated goals? Either way, you are welcome to say Hello.
At the firm meeting we had Dr. Robert Cooper. He’s a neuroscientist who ironically blows my mind. 🙂 I love brain stuff. He brought an amazingly enlightening practitioners approach to benefitting from data and neuroscience. It was a lot. And all of it was fascinatingly goooooood. Here’s his website.