The Swirl

We spend much of our lives searching. Seeking answers for a better way to a better life. The questions abound, How can I be successful?... What is holding me back from reaching my goals?... How can I be my best self?… We know the path to self-learning can be circuitous and bumpy, filled with blind curves comprising a swirl of life that is always laced with challenges.

I’ve been thinking about this swirl a lot lately. The distracting nature of life's constant movements; the ups and downs, the circle arounds, losing control, the uncertainty, the enormity, the learning, leaning, preening, growing, and showing up. The swirl. Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with Lara Hodgson about life’s many swirls on Generation W’s REfresh virtual conversation series.

Lara Hodgson is an all-around wonder woman – an aerospace engineer, entrepreneur, mom, athlete, charter school founder, and the co-author of the recently published book LEVEL UP: Rise Above the Hidden Forces Holding Your Business Back with her business partner Stacey Abrams. It was one of those conversations that you know must continue as the insights shared were so illuminating and practical that I look forward to Part II. These are from my notes:

• All progress happens in the middle and the middle is messy – The middle is an uncomfortable place for most of us to be, but innovation happens when we thrive in the messiness and ambiguity.
• ??Success is finite. Significance is infinite! – Success just means you won the race, but the bigger goal in life is significance because significance means you had IMPACT.?I have quoted this a dozen times since the conversation, what a powerful guiding principle!
• You never know where a chance conversation will lead you – Talk to EVERYONE and build your network through interactions. The most important person to your network could just as easily be the person bagging your groceries as it could be the CEO of a company at a networking event. ?

To emphasize Lara’s last point, it was my outreach to Lara when I saw the news on her new book on LinkedIn that resulted in Lara coming to see us at Generation W and this very valuable REfresh conversation. The book is terrific, our whole team is reading it.

REfresh your spirit by listening to the full conversation through Generation W’s REfresh Replays or join the Generation W community for our next REfreshing conversation – Wednesdays at Noon on Zoom and Facebook Live.