Exploring, safe harbours and ‘I’m proud of…’ lists (Weeknotes 15–8 Feb 2021)
The last couple of weeks have been intense. A lot has been happening at work and at home. The days feel so full that the weeks have flown by at quite a pace!
Where’s my brain energy been going these past 2 weeks?
Well, I’ve been teaching my kids all the school things. Mostly, this is a battle of wills, which I usually win, but it’s hard fought! Last week I tried to take things a little slower and a few days in a row I lounged in bed until 8am while the kids played ‘school’ — weirdly their new favourite role play game. We also had a few pajama days which felt good :-)
And at GDS I’ve been:
- content designing — working with smes to make content clear and accurate and making decisions on the best formats and structures
- planning ahead with the team — thinking about what content work is coming up, what the priorities are and what capacity I might have to do which bits
- serving on the content requests rota, monitoring requests from government departments to update content on GOV.UK — I had 4 new starters shadow me, which was fab — great to get their input and perspective
- delivering training to our newest content recruits on how to use our ticketing platform
- onboarding a new starter to a couple of our ‘stakeholder management’ groups — we regularly meet with gov departments to discuss upcoming content work and blockers or issues
- planning some ‘bumper’ training on our publishing system to deliver to new starters next week
- supporting my new line reports — always a joy
- drafting up problem statements and questionnaires for our cross-gov heads of content discovery work — I got some useful feedback on these from colleagues and crowdsourced a couple of blogs on how to write decent problem statements
- brewing an idea for a show and tell slot I could do in a few weeks
- organising a few coffee meet ups with people I haven’t ‘met’ yet
- thinking about team wellbeing
- managing to keep on top of my email inbox — my aim used to be under 10 in my inbox, now the target is under 80, haha :-)
Exploring — coaching, mentoring and career development
I attended another career share session by a senior leader at work — I learnt a lot and was really inspired, especially by their openness and candor.
One tip that’s kept coming up in these career sessions is the value of mentors. So I’ve been pushing some doors to try and find some people I could learn from. A very kind colleague put me in touch with an experienced civil servant in another government department for a chat. He asked me lots of useful questions to help me reflect on my own development and career journey. I learnt a ton of stuff in the 40 minute chat we had! You need a plan if you don’t want to tread water was my main action point.
So I’m working on a plan — I find the whole ‘3/5 year plan’ quite tricky — I’ve always had a ‘I’ll know the next step when it’s in front of me’ kind of approach. So far I’ve managed to identify and articulate my purpose, values, and the kinds of activities that most excite and energise me.
Excitingly, I also had an email at work this week matching me up with a potential mentor in GDS. We’re meeting in a couple of weeks for an initial chat.
I’m also exploring various options to get properly trained up as a coach or mentor myself.
Safe harbours
There’s so little space for reflection but I know I need it. Last weekend I sought out my ‘safe harbour’ — that physical, mental and emotional space of safety and rest.
When the busyness during the week is relentless I sometimes feel like I’m in a hamster wheel that I can’t get out of. I feel a driveness and a striving inside me that I need to do more, keep pushing, keep growing and stretching. But it’s not a productive or healthy place to be. It ends up with a ton of cortisol and adrenalin in my bloodstream, and my head a ball of spaghetti, full of white noise. Where it ultimately ends, if there’s no intervention, is burnout.
So I force myself to stop and steer into the harbour. I remind myself of my purpose and values — this helps me re-simplify and re-focus. I read and listen to some stuff that helps me find my centre again, my anchor point, my compass. Reminding myself that I only need to try and be the best me, not the best everyone else — and follow the unique path that lies before me. My faith really helps me with this process. Gradually, the re-centering and re-strengthening happens. Every weekend I need to find my place of calm and become strengthened for the next week ahead.
I’m proud of… list
Every Friday evening, I now write a list of all the things I’m proud of that I’ve done that week. It’s really helps me take a more positive view of myself and counters the internal voice of ‘you’ve not done enough in all these ways’.
