"GERONIMO PHASE" Fastened Seatbelts

Look who's back with a post; it feels like ages but Better Late Than Never; Not that I have a huge following waiting to hear what I want to say, but I am an eternal optimist and have to feel motivated...

Before I digress, which is my usual style, crossing genres and topics that have no relation whatsoever, bouncing back to the title - Geronimo!

A bit of a background - Geronimo Stilton is a best-selling children's book series, which has been in publication since 2004 (English version). It’s caught the fancy of most children who love the narration, the colourful illustrations, and humorous characters not to miss the adventure that comes with it.

I have a 9 year old that had a fierce fascination for these books from a very young age when she started reading books... All was well, I was happy as she moved on the levels of Reading - the "Lady Bird kind" and Panchatantra and was ready to try new authors. It was all fun and nice when she started gobbling up one Geronimo book after the other, year after year, but then, I realised, that she just wasn't open to reading books from other Authors anymore!

She is enrolled to a library that has the most fantastic collection of books but I could not persuade her to try anything other than "Geronimo". I would force her to try something new, and she will go half way through it, and then was ready to return it giving all sorts of reasons - not interesting, boring, dull, too long - You name it, she had all the reasons in the world.

Thankfully, I persisted, and now she has opened up to experiment again, like the good old younger days (Funny I am saying this as she is still young, but I just picture her as this 4 year old who will jump with joy seeing a new book:))She is in the Roald Dahl, Tom Gates Realm now but not yet a Potter Fan (She loves to just watch it, not read it!!!);

Now why is this relevant and why is this blog appearing on LinkedIn, a network of professionals; That's the catch; I am just trying to be plain smart now!

I strongly believe this is what happens in a career progression; My daughter's reading habits actually made me realize that a professional also goes through similar motions when it comes to adapting to change and breaking the shackles of monotony.

When you start a career, you are all excited, yearning to learn, showcase all your talents, jumping at every opportunity that comes your way, just like the early readers who just love any and every book that you give them, well almost:)

Then you move on at a good pace, settle down, still doing pretty good for yourself in you career - this is the Lady Bird Reading level Phase. Solid and Steady and still evolving Level after Level!

Somewhere down the line here, you come across what I like to call - "The Geronimo Phase". You are enjoying what you do and doing well too, but you stopped experimenting. You have fastened your seat belts but you are not in a moving car! There are new things happening around you, Challenging and Intriguing stuff, all out there for you to grab and make the most of, but You love what you are doing, You are may be even too good at it, Why break the Status Quo?

I myself have gone through this phase and am making a conscious effort to "Practice what I Preach". Kids are smart and one fine day, my daughter would come to me and ask, what did you do Mama? Where is the diversity? What new stuff did you pick up? I want to have examples ready to showcase to her!

Don't you all?

So, Here's to New Challenges, Exploring new Ideas and Areas and Genres!

Good luck!