[00:02.9]
Hello, and welcome along to another episode of Management Matters. I am calling today, not calling, recording today on my allotments. I'm hanging out with the bees, who are all very busy at work just getting things done.
[00:19.4]
And I'm recording this podcast and it feels really nice to be surrounded by the. The buzz of the bees. Bit of a different episode today. I thought I would take a moment to remind you of a few things because I am sure that some of you have forgotten and I think the summer can be an interesting time for people.
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I know I was talking about this last week in one of the Getting Ready for your Next Grade groups about how the summer can be so full of expectations. You know, it's like the time that everybody sort of looks forward to all year.
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Like summer when the sun is out and the days are warm and all of that good stuff. But actually can be really stressful because we set such high expectations for ourselves about how good it's going to be. And for those of us who are parents, it can form quite a struggle as we then go through this period of time where we're kind of negotiating with partners and such about childcare and holidays and annual leave and if you're involved in recruitment and admissions and there's clearing and, oh, my goodness, all the stuff.
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So this is a reminder to tell you that it's okay if summer doesn't work out to be the best moment ever. Totally okay. I also wanted to remind you that you're totally awesome. And if no one's told you that today, I really want you to hear it.
[01:53.7]
You are totally awesome. As, Eddie Izzard would say, you're totally awesome. Like 50 million hot dogs. If you don't get the reference, don't worry about it. And the reason that I'm saying this is because I've had a few conversations with clients recently, both in the Getting Ready for Your Next Grade programme and in one to one conversations with clients who have a bit forgotten how awesome they are and who are going through this process of getting ready for their next grade or their next role.
[02:30.7]
They're doing that preparation, they're kind of unspooling parts of themselves and discovering the flavour of what it is that they want next. And in looking at what it is that they want next and kind of discovering this ambition in themselves, or exploring the ambition in themselves, they are bumping up against stories about who they get to be and what's available to them and what people like them typically do and what their background means for their career and what they can do, what they can't do, what they are doing compared to what their peers are doing or their family members are doing and their friends and all of this stuff.
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And so just really want to remind you, you're awesome. And part of what we do in coaching is rewrite those stories. So if you are holding on to stories about who you are and about how the background that you have means that you're limited in certain ways, or the characteristics that you have, or the personality that you have, or the training and education that you have, that one's a big trap In higher education and all of that stuff, we get to rewrite those stories.
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So on behalf of humanity and culture at large, I really want to apologise for the number that gets done to us. As we grow up through our lives and take on all of these stories either that were explicitly given, often that comes up through family.
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I remember being told I couldn't be a barrister because we're not posh enough for that. What on earth? And I know, you know, clients have told me similar stories about, like, well, I really wanted to do this, but I couldn't because my parents said I had to have a profession or my parents said I had to have a sensible job, or because I grew up in that sort of New Labour era where everybody was meant to go to university and be aspiring to certain ideals and, you know, all of that stuff.
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It's like culture, family and education and culture, society at large, lead us to believe certain things about ourselves and what we should or shouldn't be doing. And I'm here to tell you, quite a lot of it is actually total BS.
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You can do more of what you want than you realise. And we can rewrite some of those stories that you tell yourself about who you are. And that's one of the great things about being an adult, is that you get to reject some of those stories and go, I don't think I believe that anymore.
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I think I might replace that story with something else, might take a different perspective on this belief that's been handed to me, or I might look at this experience that I went through from a different perspective now that I'm an adult and I've got more perspective, but also skills and knowledge and I'm a bit more worldly and can come back and look at some of these things and go, oh, actually, Even in my 40s, I can retrain and do something else, or I can, you know, focus my attention or learn something or try different things, progress further.
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And those stories that are handed to us don't need to hold so much power over us. So I think that's kind of it for this episode. Just, you're awesome. And if you've forgotten that, just listen to this episode again, because you really are awesome.
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If you don't feel awesome, maybe that's the time to consider some coaching. I do hope summer is treating you well. If you're in the parenting juggle, me too. I salute you. We'll get through it. September will be here before we know it and, yeah, take good care of yourselves because you really do deserve it.
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Alright, take care. I'll speak to you next time. Bye.
