New Year, New Beginnings: Embracing Endings and Transitions and Navigating Unclear New Horizons
As we embark on a new year, a quarter of the way through the 21st Century, it's a natural time to reflect on the past and look ahead to the future. However, all too often these days the future feels either too scary or confusing to make any plans or even hope. At Xenergie, we advocate for pressing hard on the button of hope, for without spending more time thinking about the long term, or even the year ahead, we may find ourselves stumbling into the new year looking through the rear-view mirror.
For many, this period is also marked by anxiety around transitions - shifting careers, retiring, or simply adapting to a changing work landscape. These transitions, while often daunting, can also be incredibly rewarding opportunities for growth and reinvention.
In the words of Joseph Campbell, author of the Hero’s Journey, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek”.
Let's explore four common scenarios and how to approach them with a growth mindset:
1. Thinking Ahead: Redefining Your Role in an Evolving Workplace
In today's rapidly changing job market, it's crucial to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate future trends. This means taking ownership of your future, rather than waiting to be tapped on the shoulder and instructed. Invest in your own strategic reflection and planning.
Consider how your role or industry is evolving and how your skills and expertise can be applied in new and innovative ways. By understanding the emerging opportunities and challenges, you can proactively resculpt your personal value proposition, rethink your role and its potential impacts, and position yourself for success. This may involve acquiring new skills, upskilling, or rebranding yourself to better align with the evolving needs of the market.
2. The Encore Career: Leveraging Experience for a New Chapter
Retiring from corporate life doesn't necessarily mean the end of a meaningful career. Many individuals are choosing to repurpose their skills and knowledge through coaching or consulting. However, it's important to recognise that the role of a coach or consultant has evolved. It's no longer solely about imparting your vast wisdom, knowledge and experience for some of it may no longer be relevant in a rapidly evolving world, and further, it’s important for people to discover themselves as well as learn from ‘experts’. Relearning or unlearning what we think we know is a useful first step. It's also about co-creating with a new generation of leaders and digital operators. By embracing a collaborative approach and adapting to the changing needs of the workforce, you can build a fulfilling and impactful encore career.
3. Giving Back: From Entrepreneur to Social Innovator
Having successfully exited a business, many individuals are driven by a desire to give back to society. While financial success is undoubtedly a significant achievement, it's not the sole measure of a fulfilling life. By channeling your entrepreneurial spirit and innovative thinking towards social causes, you can make a lasting impact. Consider getting involved in new forms of social entrepreneurship or joining organisations like the Worldxchange Foundation, who are trailblazing how charities and private organisations collaborate in a world where funding is resource and organisations must come together to drive new solutions to today’s problems. Their latest projects are in the areas of building social capital in recovery from addition and in exploring how neuro-diversity can help entrepreneurship and resourcefulness thrive in the world of organisations.
4. End of Life: Enabling Regeneration through your Legacy
The ultimate fear, they say, is the one certainty we all face in life: our own departure from this world. In many indigenous nations, the elderly and dying live in close proximity to the rebirth and young of the community, sharing resources and energetically helping each other through respective stages of ending and beginning. As such, when we are facing endings, we should also consider new beginnings and how we plant the seeds for new life.
The seeds of our essence can be passed on through legacies, not just through our offspring and people mentored and helped directly by good deeds, but also in contributing to regeneration efforts. One area that is under-developed in this regard, is leadership capacity building for navigating the world ahead – we urgently need to build the courage and creative skills to transition to a new way of living. For this, we also need to learn to leave behind what has not served us. Whilst the dying maybe preparing for a new unknown existence, they also have a profound wisdom for the youth of today and resources that might just help the next generation prepare and face unprecedented change. From handling conflicts and working towards peace, to building bridges across divides in society to help build new ways of thinking and working that can release innovation.
Whilst much money is donated to support illness and the afflicted, from cancer care to hospices (worthy as they are), charities that are trying to build the capacity for a better world, are often desperately under-resourced and struggling to evolve. They also need to collaborate more with each other around efforts, solutions, resources and outcomes, shifting mindsets from dependency to inter-dependency and co-creation.
Thus, someone contemplating end of life might consider how they can live on in supporting projects that build capacity to enable such transitions in mindsets and ways of working in the charitable sector. A will that includes provisions for education, skills training, or financial support can create opportunities for countless individuals to thrive. By investing in the potential of future generations, they can leave a lasting mark on the world, long after their physical presence has ended. This act of generosity can provide a sense of purpose and meaning, even in the darkest of times.
Step onto your Bridge- the Time is Now for Transition
Whether you're embarking on a new career path, giving back to society, or adapting to a changing work environment, the key to a successful transition lies in taking ownership and setting your course on a transition journey, well BEFORE it happens. By adopting a mindset anchored in growth and curiosity, you will find your energy and ideas expands and is much uplifted, revealing new doorways and paths forward. Then, by setting clear goals, developing a strong support network, and continuously learning and evolving, you begin to navigate these transitions with confidence and emerge stronger on the other side of the bridge you have created.
Remember, every ending is a new beginning. All you need is your bridge.
Career reflection sessions with Xenergie are a great way to begin, book yours now to kick off January with the power of intention.
