Every year at this time, I've published a post recounting new (and reconfirmed) lessons from the past year. It is a way to mark the anniversary of another year away from living the corporate life in a Fortune 500 company.
I tried stopping last year, but had requests to keep going the annual article going. This year, however, I think is going to be the last one. I've been realizing how much I've changed since living the corporate life full time. My frame of reference for recognizing new lessons isn't the same as it used to be.
25 Lessons Learned (or Reconfirmed) in Year Six Away from Corporate Life
For at least one more time though, here are my twenty-five lessons learned (or re-confirmed) in the year six away from corporate life:
- You can afford to take your eyes off of some balls, but needing to take your eye off the business development ball is killer.
- Not all DIY initiatives make sense. I’ve learned a lot about using Hubspot but feel like I’m barely scratching the surface and not getting far enough, fast enough.
- There are some things you do even if they make absolutely no sense.
- Going to confession once a week can have an incredible impact on your life.
- Even when they don't get used as much, those old event planning muscles get right back into shape - even when you're doing it from home and not in Las Vegas.
- Taking more speaking risks always seems to lead to rewarding experiences.
- You can tell how good a conference is by how many blog posts it inspires on the way home.
- It's great to have a navy suit in the closet.
- Just as you accumulate stuff around the office you think you'll use but never do, you also accumulate prospects that talk about wanting to work with you but never do. I need to clean out both more frequently than I have been.
- God will withhold what you think you need right when you don't really need it as a distraction.
- You'll never be able to harvest when you need to harvest if you haven't planted a lot more seeds when it didn't seem you needed to plant seeds.
- If a situation doesn't look like it's going to provide sufficient value, don't hesitate to re-frame it to create a more equitable value distribution between your brand and others.
- It's not always easy to know when patience has outlived its usefulness, and the time to definitely act has arrived.
- Just because every situation seems like it is different from every other situation doesn't mean it really is.
- Judging whether you are making progress can be way more abstract than you would think it ever should be.
- The mind games you play on yourself can go from helpful to harmful with little notice.
- Some people will simply never speak up no matter what.
- The little, mundane graces God is willing to give you are almost more incredible than the big ones.
- In this day and age, attention seems to be less like a dimmer switch and more like an on-off switch.
- Starting over seems like an attractive option, but it’s scary. More power to those that are able to do it successfully.
- Every time I see a picture of the Director of Enthusiasm, it makes me stop in my tracks.
- Trying, even trying earnestly, only goes so far.
- You can adapt yourself so far you don’t even recognize yourself anymore.
- This has been a year of multiple homecomings, although none were the formal kind of homecomings that happen at football games. I like the surprising, informal ones a lot more.
- A lot changes at your old corporate home, but a lot seems to stay the same.
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