Why the crisis offers us unexpected opportunities and how we can use them for personal development.
The current time is characterized by three things in particular: Loneliness, existential fear and excessive demands due to an inscrutable situation that cannot guarantee anyone a predictable income.
Not only as an entrepreneur, but also as a woman and partner, I can feel the pressure, sadness and despair associated with the current challenge in my immediate surroundings.
The more time passes, the more urgently I ask myself: isn’t there more besides these negative feelings?
Due to my current job situation as a female empowerment and business coach, at least one trend is emerging that I didn’t see coming in addition to all the negative consequences that accompany us every day:
An invitation to ourselves that leads to numerous clients consulting me as a mentor, coach or trainer to answer the call for change.
In the course of our collaboration, I am always amazed that it is primarily the possibilities and opportunities that come to the fore.
As we are no longer used to living in a world that does not fulfill our longing for predictability, the current situation has put us in a forced position. This time brings us to take stock.
From restlessness to targeted personal development
The solution is quite simple: we should stop distracting ourselves from the actual problem by constantly distracting ourselves and thus fighting the inner voice.
By distancing ourselves from our egocentric input junkie and turning our attention to the really important issues, we find our way back to ourselves and our goals.
Let’s be honest, the current times also bring some advantages that cannot be overlooked:
More proximity
We know how to value our time together more. This leads to two things: Greater closeness on the one hand and a more intense focus on which connections we may also need to sever in order to be happier in the long term.
Increase in creative alternatives
Hand on heart: now that the professional time structure has suddenly been broken up, we are finding our way back to our creativity in addition to our professional tasks, thereby promoting our well-being. This includes manual work, meditation or sport, for example.
Environmental protection
A not insignificant point. A noticeable recovery in nature can be seen as a result of reduced commuting, an increase in working from home and less travel. We also discover attractive regional places to relax and feel that our own four walls can also become an oasis of relaxation and not just a place where we eat our meals and sleep.
Health
Speaking of meals. For almost a year now, we’ve been saying goodbye to ready meals and quick snacks from the bakery – hello cookbook, cooking app and cooking creativity. Now that we are more involved with our own food, we also pay more attention to quality, are less rushed when eating and discover new recipes, foods, spices and cultural dishes that we may not have thought about before.
Personal Development
At last! We have learned to be bored again! THAT is the guarantee for inspiration, because the best ideas have always come to us during “mundane” tasks such as cooking, cleaning or showering. And now? Now we finally have the opportunity to address issues that have been hidden under the “distraction blanket” for too long: We are looking at our finances, our further education and our personal and professional development.
Of course, I know that with all the positive points, there can also be a lot of criticism. But this article is not about weighing up the negative effects against the positive ones.
It’s about impulses
I would like to extend an invitation in these challenging times.
In my coaching sessions, I clearly notice that my clients are bursting with inspiration and ideas and that all they need is someone who can bring a little structure and planning into the process and contribute new ideas with the occasional impulse.
I would also like to invite you to see this time not just as a crisis, but also as an opportunity and give you 3 tips on how you can consciously use this opportunity for yourself:
My 3 tips for consciously using this time for your own personal and professional development:
1. get into action
Remember: we only ever increase what we do every day. So if you sit in front of Netflix every day, this is only advisable if you want to become a Netflix expert, but not if you are looking for a fundamental personal or professional change. Like all crises in life, this time will pass and then it’s time to move on: Do not fall back into old patterns of behavior. I have already pointed out in a previous article that no one finds his/her purpose of existence on the couch.
It is therefore important not to give the daily “distraction stimuli” a chance and instead set yourself a (small) task every day that only has to do with your own needs. You choose the topics (finances, families, further training, coaching, etc.) yourself. The important thing is: get active! Everyone is allowed to relax in the evenings and watch TV, but this should not become a permanent state, because the TV does not help you to realize your personal and professional dreams.
2. actively look for moments of play, spontaneity and creativity
Through playful ways of acting, we learn to approach an object or situation from a different perspective and thus distance ourselves from the problems that we associate with it.
Coaching exercise – reframing:
I have brought you a little coaching exercise for this. It is a variant of so-called reframing. Reframing means giving a thing or an event a “new frame”.
- I invite you to choose a topic, for example the subject of finance.
- Now go outside or take a good look around your current surroundings. Observe all conditions. Listen to the smallest sounds, notice any smells and touch interesting things.
- Now ask yourself: What does the person, the object, the color, the shape, the material, etc. have to do with the topic of finance?
- Get creative and try to associate freely, even if the thoughts that form from this feel completely confused.
- Write your thoughts unfiltered and without judgment on a piece of paper.
- Then read through each individual point.
What ideas do your key points give you?
Which thought perhaps surprised you?
What measures can possibly be derived from this with regard to your topic?
- Write down these individual points.
- Make a resolution to try out one of these measures in the coming week. If this helps you, you can use the SMART model to bring structure to your thoughts by scheduling and writing them down.
3. take advantage of professional support
Who does not know this? Sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees. We have ideas, make associations, watch exciting YouTube videos and yet we feel that the leap from idea to implementation is more difficult than we thought. In this context, professional coaching can help to bring structure, inspiration and an additional change of perspective to your own personal development. While coaching has long been a common means of professional development in the American context, it is still used rather hesitantly in the European and Asian context.
Free yourself from the belief that you have to do everything on your own. While you are busy organizing your thoughts and developing action strategies for weeks, this can lead to a finished action plan and its implementation in 5-10 sessions. As a coach, I also make use of supervision because I appreciate and have recognized the value of a change of perspective and methodical strategy development: An investment in myself, is an investment in my entrepreneurial, professional and personal life and therefore worth every bit of funding, energy and effort.
Take this article as an invitation to your inner bastard. Look at the need behind consumption, discover the source of inspiration within you and nurture it with professional support.
Only by stopping striving to live someone else’s life and starting to discover opportunities for development in times of crisis will we manage to escape restlessness and actively come closer to our own professional and life dreams.
The only question is: are we brave enough to embark on the journey inwards?
