On the road again

Working predominantly as a coach I don’t do much in the way of business travel.
However, this evening finds me in a small hotel finishing a presentation for tomorrow morning and the start of two days of training delivery in one of my other skill sets, mediation.

I used to travel a fair amount for work. When I was in the military I was always on the move, often to new and exciting places which sadly, were being rather ruined by people fighting. I also worked for London Underground and whilst the travel wasn’t what one might describe as glamorous it was challenging, interesting and came with it’s own battles. In fact looking at it, I’ve never lasted long in pure desk jobs. I get bored and restless with a sedentary role. I like to be on the move, getting on with things and making change happen. As time has gone on, I’ve come to realise I’m about the journey, not the destination. Even when I owned a hotel (see told you I was restless) it was located where roads joined, where people met but never stayed for long before moving on to bigger destinations. I was always fascinated by the visitors journeys and why they made them.

In some ways this is actually useful for a coach. That way I don’t have a destination in mind for a client, I’m just about making their journey easier. Coaches are often keen to use metaphor to describe what they do. Luckily for me I’m also a qualified mountain leader so it is real when I tell clients that whilst I can help I can’t climb the mountain for them. See, yet again, it’s about the journey – I almost can’t help myself.

It’s interesting to me though. Sometimes clients make their happiness conditional on reaching a certain destination, a promotion or a new relationship for example. They refuse to countenance anything bar that goal. It’s a shame because all change is incremental and they are in danger of overlooking how far they have come or of missing important milestones on their journey, such is their focus. It’s the same when I walk up hills. Very few people stop and look around until they reach the summit. Ignoring all the wonderful views on the way.

So, a slightly rambling post, as befits the subject perhaps. My call to action this week? What bits of the journey are you missing out on? What might you notice and appreciate if you slowed down and looked around yourself right now, rather than racing on to the next location?