I had recently left a really full-on contract and was looking for something to do that would help me re-set and re-adjust my work-life balance and regain some control on my brain and perspective on my life which I felt like I had lost in managing major organisational changes during a pandemic!
Followed by, I don't have time and this will be an evening commitment that might be restrictive.
The first reaction I decided to embrace as a bit of fun – and the second – well I couldn't really make those excuses stand in the circumstances so just told myself to get over it and get on with it!
I also found the act of drawing incredibly powerful in helping capture concepts that are a bit hard to articulate in words. It gave me a new way of accessing and processing thoughts and communicating them that felt almost abstract because the act of drawing was distracting me from overprocessing and trying to describe things perfectly.
Whilst the drawing element was great, the overall course was very well put together and took me on a journey of just enough reflection on my life without getting in too deep – I could work at a level I was comfortable with and drawing made things seem a bit less serious. Each session provided the opportunity for a bit of self-reflection, awareness and thinking about what things I actually enjoy in life. It helped me realise that I am actually pretty happy with where I am and with a few adjustments to the work-life balance I can get the future I want. I feel like the course has given me permission to spend more time on the things that give me pleasure and energy in and out of work in a way that no other coaching or course I've done before has ever achieved. I'm much happier for it – although my house is not as clean and tidy as it used to be!!
What, if anything, surprised you about the programme?
This shouldn't have been a surprise but because I had been so fixated on work for so long – it took me a while to get my head around the opportunity this course provided to consider my life in the round. I'd gone in thinking it might be a good way to do my marketing strategy – instead, it gave me good ways to motivate myself to do things that were important to me – turns out that wasn't a marketing strategy!
What has been most surprising is that I actually love drawing – not in the classical art kind of way – but this simple graphic illustration is something I can do – and I find it relaxing and something I'm actually happy to share with other people – my drawings aren't perfect but they get the message across and create a more personal sense of engagement. I'm never buying another card again!
Professionally – I have introduced using graphics into my work in a number of ways. As a coach, I'm encouraging my clients to draw things and they also are benefiting from the experience. I've also been using graphics to promote coaching programmes in a more interesting way on social media which has got some really good feedback.
What would you say to someone who is considering going on the programme?
Do it. Don't overthink it just do it. It's a few hours of your time that you'll enjoy and you'll definitely get something from it. Don't worry about not being good at drawing – it's not really about that – it's a really good course for reflecting on what you enjoy, what you're good at and what you want to do more of in the future – what those things are is totally in your control and there's no pressure to do anything you don't want to do. It's not scary and it's liberating to try something new.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I work with lots of different people and organisations and have a really good range of tools and skills to support different styles – I think this course has given me another set of tools and techniques to complement this.
Liz Moss is a self-employed business consultant who specialises in helping people be better than they think they can be and organisations work better together. She provides programme/project management for organisational changes and developments, coaching, learning and development, facilitation and mediation.
All the artwork in this article has been created by Liz.