Just because you're good at doing something, does that mean you always do it?

A Mony moment :-)

Just because you’re good at doing something, does that mean you always have to do it?

That question came up in a conversation Alberto and I were having about the many to-dos of running our business. The more he kept telling me it was easier for me to do the planning or marketing, the angrier I felt. It brought back memories from my seven years at Microsoft that saw me moving from one role to another: seminar presenter, product manager, marketing manager, account manager, business manager…

The management roles were all similar, in the sense that I was usually responsible for planning and executing whatever was needed to reach a new market segment or launch a new product. I didn’t have a team, and although I really wanted to grow into that leadership role, it never happened. I often wondered if there was something wrong with me until a manager confided: “We see you as a doer, and know that you’ll do a great job no matter where we put you.”

I’m sure this manager meant it as a compliment, but it deflated me.

How was I going to grow and develop new skills if I was using the same ones over and again? How would I ever grow professionally and personally?

As you all know, Alberto and I write, translate and publish our own books (with the exception of our Chinese book!). We do all the marketing, public relations, distribution and all aspects of running a business. It is our full-time work, and I am applying the same skills to our business as the ones I honed at Microsoft. Most days, I love it.

But there are days I want to give that job to someone else, and go off exploring the uncharted waters of those waiting-to-be-discovered talents.

How can I do both, and well? Is it even possible to do each path justice?

I’m navigating my way through this, and this is what I’ve discovered so far.

I’m not ready to hand off the running and growing of our business to someone else (yet), but I can ask myself:

WHY I am doing this work?
WHO am I BEING in the process?
WHAT is the HIGHEST PURPOSE that I am serving?

I can remind myself that my work is, above all else, an expression of who I am. That, in updating our website, I am sharing a part of who I am with others. That, in doing the accounting, I am appreciating our prosperity. That, in contacting agents and distributors, I am moving the engines of creation and expanding the reach of what we offer.

I’m not always in this place, btw. It is spiritual practice finding the love and the extraordinary in the routine and familiar. It’s much easier to embark on the next adventure! But when I am in that place, I am alight, let me tell you!

I also practice being present, and opening myself to the next steps in my journey as a soul in continual transformation. I especially do this in the moments when all is flowing beautifully because it’s so much easier to do than when I’m disgruntled.

I especially practice patience :-). For I have seen that when I am able to practice pouring love into what I do, and placing myself in the direction of my soul’s expansion, then all seems to work out almost effortlessly. What I have outgrown resolves itself and what I am growing into pulls me along.

In our life’s journey, this is a fork in the road we will all face, with our hearts the only beacons guiding the path we will choose.

May love and courage always guide those steps.
Blessings,
Mony