I had a strange and wonderful day in February 2018…
For years, we had planned a move to from New Zealand to London for my medical speciality fellowship. It was going to be good for my career and my husband and I had always wanted to live in Europe for a few years. Now, anyone who has undertaken an overseas medical fellowship knows it can be quite a costly exercise, often with minimal and at times no pay. So while we planned to travel and enjoy the experience as much as we could, we also planned to live pretty simply.
But on this particular day, I found myself at an exclusive coaching workshop at The Ritz Hotel followed by a wonderful dinner in a private dining room at the Royal Society of Medicine, where Honorary Fellows have included Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur, Edward Jenner, Sigmund Freud, and most recently Prince William! I tell you this only to demonstrate that by daring to dream big and unapologetically pursue those dreams, sometimes the outcomes and opportunities exceed what you ever imagined.
But that is not even the best part of the day…
As part of my coaching training, I had been working on building a strong and resilient mindset for some time, and actually felt secure and content, and that I was in many ways in a better place than I had been in my entire life.
But in the workshop that I attended that day, there was one exercise that hit me like a lightning bolt and brought tears to my eyes. It suddenly occurred to me for the first time, that I had already achieved pretty much everything I ever dreamt of a child. If I am honest, probably even more.
But I also realised that I still wasn’t as happy as I thought I was, because I have always given myself shifting targets and bigger and bigger dreams to chase. This in itself is not a bad thing…except that I used it to make myself feel that I was never quite good enough instead of using it to feel inspired and excited about the future. Mind blown.
It just shows that mindset work is never finished. It’s a garden that needs constant tending. Remembering to do that ongoing maintenance has been a game changer that helped me to have one of my most productive, full and fun years ever. In the past year I took 3 online business courses simultaneously, while working a full-time job in Endocrinolog in London (well 9-5pm 5 days a week anyway if you can call that fully time in doctor-land!), parented a toddler, built a coaching business from having no idea what it would look like to launching and selling out my one-on-one program spots, and still made time for weekend outings, getting through a self-development book a week, watching the occasional movie and lovely European holidays away…all within 6 months. Then… I wrote and delivered two coaching programs, took a publicity course had my first features in online publications as a coach, migrated back to New Zealand with my family and started a new job as an Obstetric Physician in the public hospital system and another job as a general and reproductive endocrinologist in private. Again I mention this only to demonstrate what is possible (with the help of mindset work and the 5-layer organisational system I developed!).
Mindset work is all about training yourself to release thoughts and beliefs that limit could hold you back and replacing these with thought processes that will get you where you want to go and beyond. How could a stronger mindset help you in 2019?
Wishing you an inspired, purposeful and joyful year!
Sasha