I have shared that several years back I had put everything I had into my job, my deals, the high of getting the deal and being the superstar. I got completely caught up in that big, powerful pendulum of success – the paradigm that says you do what it takes and then you get the client and then your life is good because you are a part of that pendulum. The pendulum keeps moving higher and now you are part of it and you are swinging wildly, loving it all. Until it swings back. The higher it goes up the lower it swings down.
I woke up and realized this was not me. I decided to get off. So I did. But I hadn’t left the area where the pendulum swings and I hadn’t quite learned the principles or timing of the pendulum. So when it continued to swing, I was on the ground, thinking I could simply stop playing. And I got clobbered. So I moved a bit, found a slightly different pendulum and again decided not to get on it, standing firm on my own ground. Again, very soon I got clobbered.
It took 7 months to find another pendulum that I thought would work better. I knew, even at the time, that it wasn’t as good of a pendulum as the one I had just experienced but by this time, I had to get back in the game. I settled. I tried to actually get on the pendulum. But the pendulum knew. It knew my heart wasn’t in it. It knew that my approach was half-hearted and half-assed. So again, I was released, but this time was easier. It was better. I was relieved and ready to step off of it and onto yet another. So I did, I rode one straight into another without skipping a beat.
My current pendulum is different. It is much better suited for me now and more flexible and forgiving. It is much kinder and gentler. But it is still a pendulum. I have to remember that and I do. I am aware. This time, I know that I will leave this whole arena soon and step to a whole new category of pendulum, that of the self employed.
This time, I know the pendulum and its tricks. I know its timing. I know and see it for what it is. It is neither bad nor good. It simply is. It keeps swinging, doing its thing. I can get on and I can get off at will. Or better yet, I can do my thing, provide as much value to as many as I can and step out of its way when it comes down and let it swing right by. I must do the same when it comes to swing ever higher. I must resist the urge to get comfortable on it during the powerful upswing, lest I forget my long-term goal. No, I am here. I am giving all I can. But I choose to no longer get swept up by anyone else’s set of beliefs, values or agenda, which is what the pendulum is at its core. Today, I have my own roadmap. I build my own momentum and help others to do the same.
