Unboxing Your Brilliance from Unexpected Places
One of my daughters is currently learning to play the piano.
As I encourage Mia to practice, I have been assuring her that just a few minutes each day really builds up.
What’s more, those super tricky bars and difficult fingering patterns get easier and easier the more we slow down, take them one by one, and keep at it.
When I was younger I played the violin.
I remember that there were bars that were super tricky to master, but if I spent time working on them slowly, I could eventually rely on my fingers and brain to work together so it became a fluid connection between muscle memory and my instrument.
There are so many takeaways from learning an instrument and being part of an orchestra:
- The first play through is usually pretty awful but it always comes together (and it’s amazing)
- You need to work together as a section on the details to make the big picture work
- Controlling nerves before a performance takes self trust (and you will be on an adrenaline high afterwards!)
- Theatre and appearance is part of the experience (aka, if you can’t play a few notes, keep your bowing like the rest of your section and no-one will know).
So, what’s the point here?
We all have so many experiences in life that give us unique insights.
We may not immediately equate a non-professional experience which what we “do”, but it is, of course, all unboxed and connected.
Working as a writer gives me a unique viewpoint, as does my experience as a designer, a consultant, am artist, a waitress, a yogi, a mum of twins, an invisible illness warrior, a meditator, a vegan.
Every single project, experience or role that we partake in has valuable takeaways, and many experiences that we subconsciously bring to how we operate and how we serve others.
It’s easy to discount your backpacking stint as irrelevant to your work, or to wonder how on earth your part time job at a retail store can have any bearing on how you roll in your professional life now.
However, by looking at your life experience, skills and choices, and choosing to unbox them with fresh eyes we really get a sense of just how unique and powerful your lens on life is.
I call this your Personal Power Paradigm.
It’s the baseline on which you build everything else; when you really dig into the depths of experiences and skills you already have, it’s an incredibly powerful exercise.
You can begin to see out of the box connections of how to really make your approach aligned with your values and natural way of being.
You also find a profound sense of reassurance and confidence that you are already enough, and that you have SO much to offer.
Journal prompt:
Choose 5 of your previous roles/experiences/hobbies and unbox them in a journal.
What were the key takeaways?
How can you bring some of these into your body of work now?
I would love to hear your takeaways in the comments, join in the discussion.