OOO: Lessons Learned

I had a plan for today’s post.??

I planned on writing about how to assess where you are in your life now that you’ve Started with Why (if you read last post) so you can state clearly your priorities. But, I’m throwing it out and waiting until next week.

Why?

Because the point of this newsletter is about setting intentions and creating boundaries so you can live your best life. And in doing so, this week I came to a realization of just how much of an impact that approach has not only on yourself, but on those closest to you as well. At least it is proving to be the case for me.

I’m in Portugal with my family. It’s my kids’ first time in Europe; they’re 9 and 7. We’ve been talking about the difference between going on vacation and traveling for a few months to get them ready for it and they are getting a taste of everything that means. The highs that come with seeing a new place; experiencing a new culture, allowing yourself to get uncomfortable and ordering in and speaking in another language, walking around a beautiful city at night and realizing that you’ve never seen tiles on the buildings like they have here, that you’ve never walked small streets and alleyways like in Alfama, you’ve never been in a stunningly beautiful building built 500 years ago like they did in Mosteiro Jeronimos yesterday, eating food you’ve never tried before.? All of the highs that come with an amazing trip.

And experiencing the lows too – where the lessons are.?

When you have to take 3 flights because you no longer live in NYC :) When your flight is an hour and a half late and you’re confident you’ll miss your connecting flight to Lisbon but run like hell anyway through the full airport, arriving sweaty and exhausted to gate agents waiting to usher you on (mom even get knuckles from her 7 year old which is in his speak means “That was really friggin awesome!”) But, your bags didn’t make it. You see what it’s like to wait for an hour to speak with someone about how and where to get them the following day.

You’re told to be patient.

You wait at the car rental place for a while. There’s traffic getting to where you’re staying, and your parents can’t find the apartment easily (it’s Alfama:) - so you walk more than you expected.

You’re told that’s part of traveling; get used to it.

Parking is a pain. The machine doesn’t take cards. Your parents have to find an ATM.

You’re told to wait. Again.

Then someone has to make change because the machine only takes coins. You have to walk *back* to the car (and they’re still saying just be patient; this is part of traveling). Then the clams that you tried for the first time and loved at dinner came aggressively out all night so you can’t sleep and you’re throwing up in a new place.

You’re told sometimes that happens when you try new things.

Keep trying new things anyway (tomorrow; for today - just eat some dry toast).

Traveling comes with amazing highs and frustrating lows, but for me it’s worth it. Every time. No matter what the experience is. And not only have I learned that in my life, but in being here - my kids are getting to experience this as well.?

And to think, I hesitated to go on this trip.

In my industry, March is a really busy month. On top of that, one of my clients was planning an in-person meeting and in the planning stages I said “I can literally make it any time in March or April, except for this one week. I’m taking my kids out of the country for spring break this week.”? Unfortunately, they had to choose this week based on all of their schedules and I had to make a choice. A hard choice.

That meeting, or keeping the promise I made to my kids so I could share this experience with them.

Well, here I am.??

In having to make this decision, I realized this is my 20th March in my industry. I’m not planning on retiring anytime soon so I will also have a lot more of them in my future. But - it’s the *only* time my 9 and 7 year olds will be 9 and 7. It’s the only time of the year it’s spring break, and instead of griping? about it not being the right time I made it the right time.

Choosing to live with the boundaries that you set up comes with risks. I am not naive that I made a choice that some people may not understand about missing this in-person client meeting. I risked them deciding to find someone else who can facilitate large in-person meetings for them, for not respecting my decision, and thinking it was a lack of commitment to them.

I had to live my intentions and take the risk that comes with the boundaries I’ve set up to live the life I want to live not only for myself - but for my family.?

Luckily, I get to work with pretty amazing people who respect me not only as a professional, but as a full human who has other priorities and had to honor those.

Next week we’ll get back to how to assess where you are, but this week was worth letting life into this post. As I sit in an apartment building while my sweet 9 year old daughter is catching up on much-needed sleep after a rough night, this is what came most to mind - the highs and lows always come with these types of trips, but it’s the experience overall that counts. And I’m beyond thankful for my clients who respected my decision and my team that is covering me in the craziness that is March so that I can be here to experience it.??All of it.

#intentions #priorities #boundaries #worklifebalance #worklifeintegration #ooo #lessonslearned #research #marketresearch #marketdevelopment #marketinsights #insights #research #travellessons #traveling #travelingwithkids