The POWER of perspective in making change stick.

I was on a dawn flight to Nelson the other day and from my window seat had a view of the landscape as the sun began to rise. It was one of those ’fresh‘ Waikato winter mornings. From my seat, I could see how the overnight fog had stuck to certain parts of the landscape, how it thickened in sections and lightened in others. How cars travelling through it got engulfed, their headlights dimming as they travelled towards their destinations. Fog can make life difficult.

When we first sit down to talk I hear from many of my clients about their ‘fog’. They express it in different ways, like a feeling of being lost; the feeling of having no MOJO; like they are drained of energy; that they are on a treadmill or are just not sure ‘what next’ or how to get there. They even talk about life feeling like they are constantly ’getting the burnt chop’.

I know what it’s like to be in that place. It can feel like there is no way out, that we can’t see forward from back and up from down and that even if there were a path, the fog keeps us from finding it. 

When we are in this fog it can impact us in more ways than are obvious. It means we have to be more cautious, tentative in our steps; our energy is put into concentrating on things that don’t add much value. We think we need to constantly look out for what may be hidden and coming towards us, just in case. These thoughts drain our energy, not to mention the impact they can have on our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

The work I do with both my coaching clients and the teams I work with, always starts with getting perspective on their “fog”. Together we take time to pause and rise above it. From this viewpoint, we are able to gain real awareness of their situation. We are able to see things from a distance and from there we are able to gain insights into their reality before we start to work on their ‘plan of possibilities’.

With perspective, we can see that what we thought was a huge barrier, may simply be avoided by a side step or a few steps forward into the clearing. We get to see how to navigate around, over, under or through what may lay in front of us. Or sometimes we realise if we pause, that the fog is actually passing right by us.

When starting to talk with my clients about getting out of their fog, we work on creating the optimum environment for change, we simplify things, focus on making proactive decisions and most importantly, taking action.

It’s about deciding to let go of the things that no longer serve them and to start doing the things that light them up and make them feel good both as individual or as a team. The things that bring their MOJO out of the dark. These are the things that most times are put on the shelf, that gather dust and are saved for when we have ‘more time’

For some, what is on that shelf are sometimes simple but important things. It can be the love of baking but never really getting around to doing it; it’s loving gardening but never making the time; it’s loving motor cross but never taking the steps to do it; it’s loving to travel but never booking that trip; it’s loving to read in the sun but always finding something else to do; it’s loving to walk in the sand, but never going to the beach; it’s loving to go mountain biking, but choosing not to; it’s loving getting a good night’s sleep, but instead flicking through Facebook posts until midnight.

So, if we want to move out of our fog, to gain a new perspective, whether it be in life or work, for us personally or for our team, we will need to pause for a moment; to create some distance to get perspective. There are things we will need to let go of; perhaps some of our current choices are no longer serving us. We will need to decide what actions make sense, and we will need to take that leap and act on them.

Through the fog we can find ourselves. It’s us with our MOJO, ready and waiting to be unearthed. So, what will you do to get perspective on your fog?

Transformation Specialist and MOJO Unearther

Jo Shortland is a Transformation Specialist and MOJO Unearther - A personal, group and team coach who specialises in creating and delivering change and transformation programmes for ‘kicking it’ in life and work.

She is a certified Neuroleadership coach, a qualified personal trainer, and has over 15 years’ experience in people development and leading people and organisations through ‘crunchy’ change and transformation.

Having worked in complex and challenging environments she has ‘in the trenches’ knowledge of how to make changes really stick. And with an innate ability to create deep and organic connections she will help you shrug off distractions, feel totally at ease and come back to centre.

Her work is founded on transforming with the brain in mind and a belief that the best ideas and actions are those that are driven from your own intuitive knowledge. This coupled with her uncanny ability for ‘just knowing’ what each person needs to do to make their changes stick, means anyone working with Jo will lock in results that last. 

However you invest your time with Jo, you are guaranteed to be left feeling intuitively grounded, deeply revived, seriously productive and uniquely transformed.

 COMING UP

19th August MOJO Intimate retreat and programme. MOJO Intimate is a customised and intimate transformation programme designed to get you clear, inspired and to make the changes you want, stick, once and for all. Register your interest to find out more.