Mind The Gap: Bridging The Gap Between “The Life You Live & The Life You Dream”

I’ve been having some very interesting conversations lately, and thought to share one of the more recent ones with you. Do share your thoughts with me when you’ve read through, especially on the last question. Enjoy!

X: How did you know what steps to take in order to navigate such a critical Life & Career transition?

Me: Well, in the moment they did not actually feel like steps…but with hindsight and time invested in improving my knowledge, I see that there’s a method to the chaos.

X : Okay so not steps, but a method?

Me: (Smiles) Steps, Method, Process, which ever language works best for you. But here’s what’s important to note about it, there’s a gap and you need to Mind The Gap.

X: Mind the gap? Meaning?

Me: Picture yourself standing on one end of a bridge looking across, hoping to get to the other side, but the bridge is broken, there’s a gap in the middle, and except that gap is closed you don’t get to safely cross over. Emphasis on Safely!

X : hmmm, keep going…

Me: Now the rungs, blocks or pillars you use to fill up the gap are what enable you close the space and get across in 1 piece. These could then be what make up your steps.

X : So what would these then include or be made up of?

Me: You’re in luck, because I’ve reverse engineered the steps I took, and that of many others who have made similar transitions, and these are what I consider the most relevant

• Awareness: Do you have a good understanding and awareness of what is motivating your want/need to transition? How long has this been with you? what if any actions have you taken connected to strengthening your self awareness? Basically, what convinces you that you’re ready for the change. Transition should not be done on a whim!
• Vision: What do you imagine the other side to be, have you even seriously thought about it? do you know what you’re heading towards or what you’d like it to be? Who’s already there? Paint a picture, may not be a perfect picture, but it has to have some shape & form.
• Strategy: So you have an idea what’s on the other side, good, now begin to plan concretely towards making it across, what you need to take across, what you need to let go off, how you plan to balance things as you make it over etc.
• Timing: You have to consider the best timing to set things in motion and see it through, think of others involved, the resources you need, the weather even as you make it across the bridge
• Relationships: You’re crossing a bridge not burning a bridge so be as respectful,  empathetic and considerate as possible to those you’re leaving at your take off point.
• Action: Okay, you’ve done your checks, you have the most critical elements, now BEGIN, else the other side remains exactly that. The other side. A whimsical dream.

X: I agree with this approach. Still, what if the change/transition is dropped on me, and I did not necessarily seek it out?

Me: True! good call out. I’ll share my response in a minute but what do you think? Would it require a different set of steps?