Happy Spark Day!
Never heard of Spark Day? That's because I just invented it… this morning.
On Spark Day we take pause celebrating and reflecting on a moment in your life when you had an idea that was more than just a light bulb - it was a spark! A spark that ignited within and happened when the conditions were just right sending you on an incredible upward life changing trajectory.
I’ve dubbed today “Spark Day” as it was two years ago on the day before Thanksgiving I woke up and decided I was destined to take my personal mission to help people live impactful and fulfilling lives by entering the coaching profession.
In a way spark day is timely as it occurs in the month of giving and gratitude. On spark day we give ourselves gratitude for trusting in ourselves to do something bold that made us, our team, or organization better. For me this includes gratitude that while my career was successful, it no longer fit and so much so that I was brave enough to make a full dead stop exiting corporate and launching my own business.
I have experienced unmeasurable personal and professional growth these last few years. Like a root bound plant squeaking by with limited sunlight, now being planted directly into the Earth with a newfound freedom for my roots to go wherever I choose feeling the sun and rain on my face.
It felt impulsive at the time. In hindsight, maybe, maybe not. I needed something out of the box and out of my comfort zone. Actually, it was more that the fear of making a big move going to a new company would not be any different or possibly worse was greater than my concerns about stepping out on my own. All while knowing if I came to a point where I decided entrepreneurship was not for me, I would have scratched this itch, developed a new skill set, and could rejoin the corporate world because I chose to.
This idea of impulsivity versus logic was a topic of discussion with a client the other day. We were teasing out what impulsivity meant to her and its value in her vision and decision making. While you can assign impulsivity on the opposite end of methodic and logical, it doesn't make any end of that spectrum bad. It's yin and yang. Sometimes we need that impulsivity and spontaneity to fuel our creative side, snap out of autopilot and try on something new.
You don’t have to follow the spark to the end of the earth. Being playful and employing curiosity with new ideas and how they may succeed rather than fail helps us tap into creativity and create the mental shifts gaining new perspectives. For example, a client of mine had a detail-oriented project that included catching and correcting errors that they found very stressful. We opened it up for a brainstorming session to get silly stress and move away from the stressful side.
She came up with some fun and crazy ideas that she knew she would NEVER act upon. While she didn't walk away with a "plan" of how to prevent the errors. She walked away with a new mindset that was playful. She later reported that there weren't as many errors as she'd thought, it was the weight and power she'd given them that was the bigger issue.
Yes, while impulsivity has implied action behind it, indulging "crazy” ideas have value even if their lifespan is the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Being silly and having fun DO have value in the workplace. It's where those important sparks can be generated and momentarily fanned before they are snuffed out. Sparks don't mean you have to leave your job or that reaching your goal will be easy. Sparkes are ideas that land on dry kindling that you fan for a moment or two to see if the conditions are right. If they aren't, that doesn't mean it’s a failure, it means you have data now to make a choice if creating conditions for that spark to ignite in the future.
