Author: Audrey Anand

I can’t quite believe where 2023 has gone. August already and I’ve learned tons from my work with clients in recent months.

One thing that’s been brilliant is seeing so many of them discover the magic of committing time to focus on their goals and aspirations. It can be a truly transformational process, even when you feel you’ve been the most stuck person in all of stuck-land and are beyond frustrated that you’re not making progress.

How does it work? Easy. Give yourself an hour each week. Put it in the diary, the calendar, the family social planner and don’t give it up (if you have to shift it to accommodate a meeting or another obligation, that’s find but make sure you don’t delete it – find another hour and put it there).

Take some time to revisit your goals. If you don’t have them written down in any way, have a go at doing that. Here’s a useful template.

Now think about the week that’s just been. What’s happened that has helped you towards your goal? Think about it – maybe there’s a new insight in a conversation you had, something you stumbled on in a podcast or piece of work. What are your take-aways from the week? How can you use those take-aways to make progress?

Next take a look at the week ahead. What have you got planned? How well aligned are the things you’re doing with the things you want to achieve? What can you delegate? What support, advice, expertise will help you? What can wait?

One thing people forget to do is think about ways in which even the dullest obligations can help towards a goal that seems completely unrelated. Where’s the learning? What new perspective can you pick up from what your child, parent or friend is saying or doing?

Make a plan. Schedule time, decide what you’re going to give up (Netflix binge, social media, update meetings that you don’t need to be in) and commit to your Goalden Hour. Pretty quickly it makes a difference.

I’m opening up my weekly Goalden Hour if you’d like to join for free. No obligation to share anything or be on video. Just an hour on a Friday to give attention to yourself and your future direction. Would love to see you there.

I had an interesting conversation the other week with a course colleague who asked why being creative mattered to someone like them – a senior leader in a global professional services firm.

It’s easy to imagine that creativity isn’t important in amongst the meetings and KPIs. I think this is because we’ve separated off the idea of ‘the creative industries’ or any personal artistic practice into some other space outside regular business.

If we think that creativity is only is about painting and poetry, it’s easy to feel that it’s nothing to do with our everyday work lives. And yet employers are increasingly looking for people capable of breakthrough thinking and transformational insights. Why don’t we recognise these skills as being creative?  

I wondered – if we accept that business relies on the ability to be creative in this broader sense, what difference would it make if you were to think of developing your creative muscles in the same way as working out?

We know that even if you don’t go to the gym or do yoga, your body will carry you along and (for the lucky majority) do what you need it to do anyway. It will get you through the demands of the day and deposit you on the sofa when you’re done.

But we also know that if you do go to the gym or do your asanas regularly, your body gets stronger. It becomes more able to sprint to that meeting or play with the kids. If you strengthen your body through exercising, it gets fitter inside and out and does what it needs to do more easily. And it feels good too. Endorphins! Hurrah!

Working out your creative muscles is pretty much the same. It improves your mental agility and your empathy.

Pursuing a creative practice strengthens your critical thinking, opens up your imagination and makes you better at problem solving. It gives you new perspectives. These are key skills in the workplace today. It’s also fun and good for your emotional wellbeing. Result!

My friend hadn’t thought of creativity that way before, hadn’t seen that the kind of thinking required in their work could be boosted by something so apparently unconnected. But if you think about it, creativity improves almost anything – from the interpretation of an RFP, constructing a legal argument, innovating in packaging, to solving an operational challenge. Swap in the words ‘imagination,’ ‘inventiveness,’ ‘questioning,’ or ‘fresh thinking’ and you quickly see that the need for creative muscle is everywhere.

If you’d like to start working on your creative muscle with regular coaching support, I’m running a small-group, 12 week programme based on Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way in January. You can find out more here and email any questions to hello@storyroad.co.uk.

Or if you’d like to talk about ways to boost the creative strength of your team whatever your line of work, get in touch at  hello@storyroad.co.uk.

Sometimes life is hard. This is hardly a radical insight. But it struck me on the M6 a couple of weeks ago when I was making a long drive – which I hate because: lorries, weather, GTA escapees – due to a family emergency.

The following days were just as difficult – again driving unfamiliar roads in gloomy conditions, my head full of what-ifs.

Prior to this, I’d been motoring along nicely (ha!), focused on career and creative goals and making good progress. I was clear what I wanted and had plans to make it happen.

All of which is to say, there will always be occasions when we get knocked completely off course. Life’s unpredictable and we don’t know what’s round the corner. We have to let ourselves be okay with that.

• Do what you have to do and drop the rest
• Let yourself off the hook when you don’t have the headspace to do more
• Allow friends, family and colleagues to pick up the slack when they offer
• Accept kindness wherever you meet it
• Remember nothing lasts forever

I was immensely encouraged through all this by a song on the radio that’s now taken up residence in my head: Too Good for Giving Up by Liam Gallagher. The video for the song promotes young men’s mental health charity, Talk Club, and shows a lad supported as he struggles with the burdens of life by friends and strangers.

The important thing to remember when we get knocked sideways is that our goals will wait for us. Keep focused. Come back when you’re ready. Keep pushing on.

It’s unrealistic to imagine everything will be plain sailing, but in the words of Liam Gallagher – “Look how far you’ve come, stronger than the damage done, step out of the darkness unafraid.”

I’d love to hear about your goals and how you’ve kept working towards them after tough times – so add a comment or email me hello@storyroad.co.uk

For now you can learn more and donate to Talk Club here

The idea of change is something lots of people struggle with – whether that’s change imposed on us (e.g. new management, redundancy or bereavement) or changes we want to make for ourselves (e.g. getting healthy, studying, making time for family or hobbies).

Change is HARD, we’re told. It is. That’s what we have at the back of our minds, even as we tell ourselves that this time we really will complete a project or shed a stone or look for a more rewarding job. The idea that change is difficult weighs on us and holds us in place.

But here’s an idea. What if we were to imagine that change is EASY?

This thought came to me on a recent trip to Yorkshire, standing on the banks of the river at the beautiful Bents Mill near Bingley. I was drawn to the sound of the water tumbling over rocks, flowing on its way, always moving, always finding its onward path.

The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, famously said you can’t step in the same river twice, because both the river and you have changed. It’s obvious when you think about it.

So if, like the river, it’s in our nature to change, maybe that makes change less daunting. Maybe change is inevitable and therefore we can go with the flow. We can find a way forward.

Of course some changes are painful – uninvited, damaging disruptions that can hold us back. It often takes time to get over that kind of imposed change.

But maybe if we were to hold the thought that we are ever-changing, it becomes easier to see ourselves moving towards the things we want in life.

If you were to channel your innate ability to adapt and progress, how would you use that power to change? What would it enable you to do that you had thought was impossible – or just hard work – before?

If you’d like to talk about changes you’d like to make – at work, in your team, in your personal life – I’d love to hear from you. hello@storyroad.co.uk

In the meantime, if you’d like to take some time out in nature, I can heartily recommend Bents Mill at Hewenden.

Kids’ Menu from the Chlachain Inn, Mallaig, Scotland

In the summer, this amusingly original kids’ menu did the rounds on social media. Everyone recognised the humour in it because we’ve all been there – as parents and carers, or as kids ourselves.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that people often come to coaching unable to articulate or even get a handle on what it is that they really want. This shows up pretty much like the Chlachain’s witty menu:

I don’t know (Beefburger & fries): You’re out of ideas, have no time to think, don’t know what options there are. Figuring out what you might want feels like a big, overwhelming task. Easier to pick the familiar option, like a burger and fries. Nice. But is there a more exciting alternative? Something that would be a better, more rewarding choice for you?

I don’t want anything (Haddock & fries): A nice safe place to be. No trouble to anyone ‘No, no, you carry on, I’ll be alright.’ But it can create resentment, build up misery. Fish and chips is tasty, but if you’d rather be out in the fresh air catching the fish than inside eating it, what are you going to do about it? What’s the thing you’re denying when you say you don’t want anything at all?

I’m not hungry (Cheesy pasta & garlic bread): Listless, lacking energy, stuck on the hamster wheel, sapped of all enthusiasm. You do what you’re good at and keep the show on the road. It just doesn’t mean anything anymore. Life is bland and unfulfilling – the cheesy pasta that keeps us going. But it’s hardly inspiring. What is it that moves you? What could bring your appetite back?

I don’t want that (Tomato Pasta & garlic bread): Everyone’s favourite – the list of what I don’t want, don’t like, not this, not that, slinging mud every which way and coming up empty-handed. Like tomato pasta, it’s the more acidic version of not being hungry anymore. You reject all the same things over again and don’t make any progress. It’s bitter. Toxic. What else is out there? What else is within you? Where could you look for fresh ideas?

I don’t care (Battered chicken chunks & fries): Like the chicken nuggets here, people feel battered and forlorn. They’ve given up. If nobody else is bothered, why should you? Better not to care when you feel you’re not being listened to. But maybe you can find a glint of hope, like salt crystals on your fries making the ordinary more special. Maybe there’s a new way to use your care and your commitment. How else could you channel your talent? Where else might your energies be welcomed?

If you recognise yourself in any of these ‘menu items,’ you’re not alone. Have a think about the questions they raise. You could take thirty minutes to free-write your thoughts and read them back the next day. Or do the exercise for a week – you might surprise yourself with what you discover.

And of course if you’d like to talk it through, you can get in touch for a free, no-obligation chat. Email hello@storyroad.co.uk

Whatever you want, I hope you find your way to it.

I’m glad you found your way here. Story Road is a new coaching and consulting practice and this blog is where I’ll be sharing inspiration and provocations about coaching, insight and creativity.

Take a look at the post What Do You Want? for some thought-starters on why people work with coaches, and feel free to get in touch if you’d like to talk about your story.

hello@storyroad.co.uk