Who do you want to be next?

When I ask myself who do I want to become it feels heavy. Weighted. And not in a good way – but in a too big way that construes too much self-importance. Yet, when I switch a few of the words to capture the deeper meaning in the question, the meaning that implies the plasticity of humanity coupled with the potential of our humanity the question becomes light, possible. empowering for action.

Switch out become for be next.

Who do you want to be next?

It’s an innocent question to ask myself. I’m training myself to ask this question frequently and repetitively so that it becomes a reflex. So that I can retrain my mind from thinking that Cate is a fixed person, or a type of person, with a cemented personality. The question invites me to get up close and personal with what I’m working on, and to show up fully, present, enthused about that.

Right now, I have many projects, too many to be honest, that have to do with Yogahealer growing. We’ve been together, going steady, since 2001. And now there is unprecedented growth and opportunity which is super fun. And, quite honestly, who I was didn’t have the skills to manage the growth, to manage the opportunities. Who I needed to become is someone who could be more, who could handle more. Indeed, I needed to become a manager and an executor (or is it executive?) in my business. I’ve been hiring coaches, taking trainings, and learning how one becomes a manager, becomes an executive. The training has been great, and yet. And yet, there comes a time when all of the training and the coaching can’t get you there.

There came a time, the now-time, that I awakened to that I fundamentally need to become a manager. Not forever, not primarily, not as the end all be all of who I am and what I do, or even who I am at Yogahealer. I simply need to be this next. And I need to be this fully in the next phase. I like Steve Chandler’s advice in “The Story of You”. Steve advises his coaching clients to OVERWHELM THE PROBLEM. Just overwhelm it, he advises, and it can’t survive. When I look back, that is indeed my pattern. I overwhelm the projects I’ve developed. Now it’s time to overwhelm the my organization with structure, with systems, with order. I am becoming the person who can do that – who can lead a real company with a solid team.

Now that I’m beginning to overwhelm my organization and team leadership insufficiencies, I can see how resistance arose. I can see where my old pattern was weightier than than the new. It reminds me of passage in William James chapter on Habits where he talks about the necessity of resistance. Basically, he says, resistance to change is necessary. Necessary. Without resistance, we would change so fast our physical structure wouldn’t survive. Or something along those lines.

I get that. When we step into who we want to be next, change seems to be everywhere. Our personality changes or evolves, our relationships, our habits, our skills. When we get this, the resistance is helping. It’s arising in time so that everything doesn’t happen all at once. Befriending resistance we can navigate those changes gracefully.

My team is growing. We’re using structure, systems, a good project management tool. We’re in the beginning phase of the next stabilization of personality as a business, as a brand. I’m fundamentally more than I was a year ago, and in that more-ness I have a much broader perspective. I have much more respect for those who have built institutions and organizations and enterprises of all varieties. I’m amazed at how humans can come together to make something bigger happen.

I leave you with the simple question. Who do you want to be next?

You are plastic. You are evolving. This whole thing is plastic. This whole thing is evolving. This is the mindset of thrive.