Somewhere over the Irish Sea, cup of tea in hand, a brief glance down at the cup has something catch my eye and pause. “Where are you going?”
The question is printed on the cup, a standard issue Ryanair cup; one that I have had many times but never really noticed. It’s meant to be literal, as we are on a flight, and this one is headed to Edinburgh, where I am headed to work. But this time, I really notice the question, and it invites consideration.
Where are you going, Joanna?
Pow! It hits hard. I’ve had times where the answer was foggy, where I found myself pulled along by the direction of others.
Supporting their ideas.
Their needs.
Their timelines.
Of course, it was meaningful work, and I was all in. But the compass needle wasn’t always mine.
I suspect this question hit me now, because now, there is clarity. There is movement, and direction, in the direction that I feel good about choosing.
More than that, this is a powerful question in the coaching space. Not always explicitly, but it’s often what is driving the session at its core.
Where are you going in your role? With your leadership approach? In your life?
Clients often arrive to session time-poor, head full of noise. The doing is constant. The urgency is loud. But the courage to pause in the busyness, the doing-ness is what unlocks so much. Without it, we are drifting, and we default to the needs of others. And busyness becomes confused with progress.
That little question on a coffee cup is not just about the flight. It’s about intention.
What about you: Where are YOU going?
Consider it for a moment.
Not just today, but in the bigger sense. Where are you going? And is it somewhere you have chosen to go?