Is this the year to “buy a ticket”?
You know that old joke? The one where the guy is praying and says, “Please, please, let me win the lottery.” And then the higher power replies back, “Please, please, buy a ticket.”
I’ve been reflecting and writing a lot lately about the ways I don’t “buy a ticket”. The ways in which I limit myself and the core beliefs that underly those limitations. The times where I don’t even let myself fully want what I want, but instead placate myself with something more reasonable, more attainable, more mainstream.
At times in my life when I feel most connected, I have a sense that there is something bigger at work in this world than just me, toiling away in my little office. Sometimes things happen which are inexplicable in concrete terms – the person I’ve been thinking about reaches out to me, I’ll write something in my journal in the morning and by the next day something has happened relative to what I wrote, I reflect on goals at the beginning of the year without fully knowing how to manifest them, and yet, many of them I do manage to bring to life.
If there is a flow or a universal energy or a way to tap into something greater than each of us doing our best, then how do I engage with that in a meaningful way?
I’m not one for magical thinking. I’m way too practical and have way too much of an overdeveloped work ethic for that. It’s not, for me, about a complete surrender, and certainly not about abdicating my own agency or ability to act. It’s more about noticing, I think. Paying attention to what is happening around and within me. And noticing the places where there is flow and the places where I’m swimming against the current. As a “hard worker” I can’t always see when I’m working really hard to get nowhere. And it’s even harder to let go and redirect.
This year, I’d like to bring my attention back to those questions. Where is the flow? Where do things want to go? And do I want to go there too? Where do I actively resist – because it’s the right thing to do? To resist and rebel against those things that feel inherently wrong or unjust. And where do I let myself step into a flow that supports and carries me forward?
This includes the systems and structures of my life. Can I build structures that support me, build in the reflection time I need, bring me together with powerful, fun and inspiring collaborators and friends?
If this is something you’re thinking about too, maybe this is the year you “buy a ticket” and join us for the Women’s Leadership Intensive program. The year looks different for everyone who takes the journey, but one thing I can promise is that you will discover more about yourself and what you value than you ever have. You will make new choices that will have profound impacts and outcomes. And you will do so surrounded by structures of support. We’ve built it exactly so you can step into that flow, with time to reflect and connect. A space and a cohort of women who are behind you and beside you. Because who you are and what you do matters, deeply. And at WLI the real name of the game is to lead as YOU. Why not make that easier and buy yourself a ticket this year?
