Andrew Richards CPCC, PCC

In 2010, I was a new Management Consultant at PwC taking delivery of a flashy BMW Z4 that I naively thought would help me belong. That's the bottom picture.

The top picture was taken yesterday. Exactly 15 years later, I'm an independent coach taking delivery of a little yellow Renault 5 that doesn't need to help me with anything other than pootling about where I live.

Back then, the BMW didn't help me belong to a container that didn't suit me. I left my role after 18 months, although I'd learned a lot.

There was nothing wrong with the container, I just didn't have the right kind of awesomeness to fill it.

I'd go on to make 4 more career changes before finally landing in the work I do now.

I'm a different person today, and of course you're all very different people than you were 15 years ago.

We all leap many lily pads and write many chapters, don't we?

We could never have known what our futures held in store if someone had asked us to hazard a guess back then.

So of course, none of us can really tell what we'll be doing in 15 years.

We can't really tell what we'll be doing in 10 years or in 5 years come to that.

Ultimately, we can't even know if we'll be here at all.

That's why there's literally no time to waste on the fear of decision making.

So, this isn't really a post about cars, it is much more about DECISIONS and how we need to take them to move into the unknown and grow.

We can't second guess every aspect of our future or hope to definitely secure our comfort or avoid challenges.

Both will come our way.

But I've yet to meet a ruminating person who didn't feel one hell of a lot better for having worked through their challenges and taken some action.

We can get so paralysed by the fear of getting it wrong, but life has many chapters and we're only ever writing ONE.

Just this one.

So, whatever you're in the middle of this week, be true to yourself.

P.S. what were you doing 15 years ago?

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💡I'm a specialist in coaching people through challenging chapter changes, both 1:1 and in groups. Always happy to help my connections with an intro chat - see my profile.

My amazing Mum's 76, she's inked up and chopped her hair short. She's a bloomin' force of nature and has really taken full ownership of her own 'reboot' because she refuses to wallow in sadness after dad died last year.

The tattoo of two birds flying free was for dad.
The hair was for her - she wanted to feel lighter.

Her default answer these days is always 'yes'

Yes to a dance class
Yes to a a trip to Spain
Yes to new friendships
Yes to volunteering for stuff
She's even running again. Incredible really.

Of course she's sad sometimes and those moments can hit her out of the blue after being with Dad for 60 years. He leaves a big hole.

But he told her to 'get on with it' and that's exactly what she does.

Purposeful. Dignified. Hopeful.

Grief is among the hardest things to adapt to and it puts into perspective how much potential there is to reboot our lives, even in challenging times.

There's so much potential to change things for ourselves if we want to!

Be like Moira and start saying YES to yourself 💪

Have you got an inspirational mum?

📌 A Reboot is often all it takes to get to a better place. If you want to join me with a small, welcoming and motivated group who want to bring some 'yes' into their autumn, there are a few spots still available and you can find out more here:
https://lnkd.in/dA_RGfJA