The Whole Enchilada
When working with business people on how to improve their businesses, I don’t always talk about their business. Although a lot of professionals need to brush up on some fundamental business skills, I’ve found that most need much more work on topics that fall under the heading of personal development, areas such as inter-personal communication, self-awareness, and goal-setting. For a business coach and speaker, then, I spend a lot of time talking about non-business stuff.
To see how these pieces work together, I’ll refer to it as: the Mexican Food Theory of Professional Development. If you think about a good burrito, tostada, or enchilada, it is a conglomeration of many great tastes: the meat, the cheeses, the vegetables, the salsa. If one of those components is off, or worse, if it's missing, the whole dish tastes wrong and sometimes is completely ruined.In the same way, if one of the ingredients in your personal life is not clicking, it affects your professional life and really the whole of your experience. For example, I often work with clients who have put all of their energy into their careers, and subsequently only pay lip service to their personal relationships which are subsequently crumbling. Or they focus all of their energy on taking care of others, and forget to take care of themselves (even to the point of personal illness). Although most people aren't this extreme, they are often adversely affected in their careers by imbalance in their life. To take your professional life to the next level, the first step is usually to find the piece in your personal life that is missing or has gone sour (and not the good sour cream kind of sour). For example, a person who doesn't have passion in their career rarely has passion outside of their career. By reconnecting with something that fires them up outside of their professional work, they are able to bring that passion and motivation back into the job.
To see how these pieces work together, I’ll refer to it as: the Mexican Food Theory of Professional Development. If you think about a good burrito, tostada, or enchilada, it is a conglomeration of many great tastes: the meat, the cheeses, the vegetables, the salsa. If one of those components is off, or worse, if it's missing, the whole dish tastes wrong and sometimes is completely ruined.In the same way, if one of the ingredients in your personal life is not clicking, it affects your professional life and really the whole of your experience. For example, I often work with clients who have put all of their energy into their careers, and subsequently only pay lip service to their personal relationships which are subsequently crumbling. Or they focus all of their energy on taking care of others, and forget to take care of themselves (even to the point of personal illness). Although most people aren't this extreme, they are often adversely affected in their careers by imbalance in their life. To take your professional life to the next level, the first step is usually to find the piece in your personal life that is missing or has gone sour (and not the good sour cream kind of sour). For example, a person who doesn't have passion in their career rarely has passion outside of their career. By reconnecting with something that fires them up outside of their professional work, they are able to bring that passion and motivation back into the job.
What is the missing ingredient in the taco of your life? Even if it's not missing completely, what is something you could put into your weekly schedule that would make you happy and also enhance the other parts of your life (including work). What can you do today to start putting that piece into place?
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