Back to chapter one
I have 20+ years of experience, mostly acquired in the areas of aircraft programs, project management, IT governance and lean manufacturing consultancy. This most certainly makes me a senior professional in many aspects.
Then, a little more than 2 years ago I had the chance to embrace a completely new career path, having accepted to work with digital solutions business development. The company is the same, many people are either people I've worked with for years, or people with whom I've at least been acquainted with. Still, business development and digital solutions consist of a very differed animal. On the one hand, that's awesome: opportunities for learning and controlled growth abound, and today is never the same as tomorrow was.
On the other hand, there's me and my anxiety. My perfectionism. My wish to do as well as I can and yet face an inner sensation that it might never be enough. Anxiety and all of these combined can sometimes drive me nuts. That's when putting things in perspective helps me quite a lot.
Two illustrations I've found recently, created by amazing visual thinkers, help me keep my emotions at pace. The first, from PJ Milani. The latter, from Ash Lamb. They're so amazing I should frame both and hang them to the wall:
Like I said, I had the chance to embrace a new career. That was my choice, moved by the passion to be able to learn new things, regardless of the stage of my life I'm in. And for a lifelong learner as myself, there's nothing better. To fight the anxiety that sometimes strikes me, I usually remember myself I'm back to chapter one — in a brand new book. As I keep reading it, I keep learning. As I keep learning I'm slowly moving up the steps of expertise. And I should not compare my current journey to the current journey of other people I work with, and are reading this book for longer than I am, thus having more experience. That's only natural.
I'm again at the beginning. The beginning of what I'm sure will be — is proving to be — an amazing journey. And one day I'll be much farther ahead in this journey. So no need to compare my beginning with other people's middle. Progress will come with time. As it always does. As it has always been.