Are you in an Autumn in your work life?
And suddenly, it's Autumn. Again.
It’s time for this Summer Lover to hand the baton to the lovers of crisp days, cozy sweaters, and pumpkin spice … everything!
The change of seasons always reminds me that we’re all moving forward, whether we like it or not. It’s a great metaphor for change in our own lives.
Feeling an Autumn of your own?
Autumns are times of flourishing, of enjoying the fruits of our labor. It’s time to show off our brilliant colors and feel good about what we’ve accomplished.
It also is a time when we feel an uneasiness that change might be around the corner. We don’t know exactly what it that means, and we’d rather have everything just stay the same. We like being comfortable.
You could be in an Autumn in one or in a number of areas of your life – your career, your current job, your relationship, the home you’re living in, parenting.
The Change Framework
This is where our coaching Change Framework is really helpful.
It has helped me, and many others, feel normal as we’ve gone through life changes. Just knowing that there are four stages we go through when change is upon us is a relief. They’re like the seasons.
Square 1 – Winter – It gets quiet. We go deep. The mantra: “I don’t know what’s going on. And that’s ok.”
Square 2 – Spring. A time of dreaming and planting seeds. The mantra: “There are no rules. And that’s ok.”
Square 3 – Summer. A time of journeying and “working the fields”. The mantra: “This is harder than I thought. And that’s ok.”
Square 4 – Autumn. I did it! Time to harvest. The mantra: “Change is coming. And that’s ok.”
*Note: You can find a detailed explanation of this in Martha Beck’s book, “Finding Your Own North Star.”
You are here.
Just knowing you’re in an Autumn, a Square 4, of, let’s say, your career, can be so helpful. It’s like a “you are here” arrow on a map.
If you’re in the Autumn of your career, it might mean that you are making the big bucks, you know virtually everyone, you know the short-cuts as well as when to really make your best effort. You’re really good at what you do.
It also means that your impatience with the new super-keen people is normal. It means that your disinterest in the quarterly all-hands-on-deck sales crisis is normal. It means that your disbelief at yet another completely useless new process is completely normal.
If you were a tree, at some point during a Square 4, your leaves would let go and gracefully drift to the ground and you would be done with it. But, you’re a human and things are a little more complex.
You might have to stay for pension reasons, for commute reasons, for any reason. Or, you might want to leave, but you have no idea of where you want to go. You worry about the money.
One of the best things you can do is bring some extra awareness to your situation. For example, “I’m bored. And that’s ok.”
Stay or go?
What got you here, will not get you there. It’s time for a new strategy.
You don’t have to just grit your teeth and tolerate it. You have the power to change the situation by taking stock, reprioritizing, reframing, thinking about it differently, doing things differently.
It might look like delegating better, saying no more often, learning something new, choosing to feel better.
An eye on the future.
This is also a great time to start thinking about what might be next. If you always had a dream, make some time to take baby steps. If you don’t have any idea of what you want, it’s time to finally figure that out. Taking small steps can really alleviate your uneasiness.
Go out and play. If you’ve been working your butt off for years, maybe you have to remember how to have fun. Take a breath and enjoy things.
Navigating your Square 4's.
Unlike us, nature doesn’t want to stay still. It keeps moving forward through the cycles. It not only accepts change as a way of being, but steadily moves toward and through it with grace and beauty.
It’s possible to navigate your own Square 4’s with grace and beauty. It starts with knowing you’re in a Square 4.
