The other day, my wife was telling me about a colleague of hers who is now branding herself as a coach. I told her that was pretty common and that I have several people that I know that I’ve done that. She then mentioned that she didn’t know why this person would be coaching since she didn’t have any relevant experience. I had to agree with her, and I’ve seen enough bad coaches to know that you really need to find somebody that knows their stuff.
And then I begin thinking. One of my newfound passions is pottery . My wife’s been doing it for a while and I thought it would be fun so I joined in. One of the teachers at the pottery studio told us about a program called the Great Pottery Throw Down. It’s a competition show from the UK. Done in the same format as those baking competitions, contestants are given a couple of challenges and then throughout the season, they will be voted off. Because we started this late we were able to binge watch the first five seasons on Max. Early in the episodes, there was a guy who ran the kiln. His name was Rich Miller. In the first few seasons, he was the one to tell the potters if their work survived the firing in the kiln. Then in season four, we noticed that he became one of the hosts. At first, it was hard for me to see him since he was just the “kiln guy,”but we realized as the series went on that this guy was actually an artist himself, in fact, provided in depth feedback that some of the other host did not. It was really hard to see him in that role, but after a few episodes, it became normal.
Now, what does this have to do with you? I think for many of us we believe that we are destined to play one role in life. Anything that we want to do that goes outside of it we often look at as a place that we don’t belong. You could’ve said that about any of us. I do management training for a living, but in previous positions, I was an IT manager, Clinic, manager, dental, assistant (all of those in the Navy), dental laboratory technician, and grocery clerk. Does that discount me from being a management trainer and Consulting today? I wouldn’t think so. But if you knew me years ago, you might think that’s the truth.
I want to challenge you this week to not allow your past to define what you can do in the future. If life always went that way, people like Rich Miller would be forever chained to the kiln, unable to create great art. I might still be stuck, sucking spit as a dental assistant. And who knows where you might’ve been? This week let’s all think big!