For many different reasons, we recently sold our lovely home in France. We are now unpacking boxes we have brought back to the UK and are reflecting upon the years of pleasure and wonderful holidays this house has given us.
It strikes me at the time of year when we usually take stock and plan for the future, how many rich and life-changing events can only be attributed to chance. Our purchase of this house was very much a "spur of the moment" decision when we came across it as we were casually exploring the area we were holidaying in ten years ago. The more I think about this, the more examples I can find. For instance, I had no idea that learning tai chi would turn into such an absorbing and time-consuming passion for me after stumbling across a notice for classes in our village hall.
It has also been the case in business. A few years ago I secured what turned out to be a sizeable assignment working in Mauritius, of all places, through a chance meeting at a networking event I hadn't planned to attend. (I didn't even know where Mauritius was at the time!) This led to further opportunities to work in other interesting places overseas, although exporting my skills had never been part of any plan of mine. Also, not belonging to the original Facebook generation, I was completely unaware when I responded to a friend's invitiation to join it, that social networking would become key to my business - I now source several critical suppliers on-line and plan to launch my own materials through this medium in 2010.
As I reflect upon how many unimagined events have had significant far-reaching consequences, I wonder whether my goal-setting could in fact be limiting me? After all, we are only able to set goals in relation to our previous experience and what we have learned from others.
I realise there are two particular states of mind I have been in when such an event has occurred:
1. Relaxed. I was not under any kind of work pressure - I was on holiday, it was the weekend, I wasn't in "selling mode", I was chatting to friends.
2. Open to my environment. I noticed a picture in an estate agent's window, I was scanning a notice board with curiosity, I picked up the clues in somebody's conversation. I read the threads of on-line conversations.
I think these two things comprise what is known as "being in the right place at the right time" and I now believe it is possible in every single moment. Perhaps this accounts for how a good many people, like Gordon Roddick of the Body Shop who revealed this in a recent interview with the Financial Times, are able to reach the heights of success without ever planning for it.
It reminds me of the ancient Chinese warriors I have been learning about in tai chi. How they knew they had to go into mortal combat fully relaxed, not because it was a pleasant condition but because it is a prerequisite for the optimal release of one's internal power. How they knew they could respond effectively to any threat which presented only by remaining fully alert at all times.
I shall continue with my goal-setting because it is an engrained habit and the only way I know of keeping focused. I have also proven the power of visualisation innumerable times. Indeed, I even teach others ways of applying conditions to their objectives that improve their chances of achieving them ("well formed outcomes" in NLP).
However, I have learned some important lessons here. So, I resolve at work to stay more of the way I am when I am "off duty" - no small challenge when working under pressure - and to try not to be so focussed on my goals that I am unable to see the opportunities which may be staring me in the face or lying just beneath my gaze.
A quote I found on Twitter recently attributed to the late writer Dorothee Sollee sums this up more succinctly than I can:
"If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive".
