This week I 'celebrated' my 3 month anniversary at Sedex.
I've previously talked about the importance of recognising milestones that you invest in and work towards as much as those that come around by default e.g birthdays.
For context, earlier this year I left a company that I had been at for 6 years, where I had grown so much, professionally and personally.
Last year, as campaigns came to an end, the pandemic hit and teams got restructured, anxiety for the future drove me to try and figure out what I want to do with my enhanced experience and updated skill set. Truthfully, I was feeling a bit lost and after some career coaching (which I would highly recommend BTW), I built a new path, that essentially led me to Sedex.
On reflection, the journey to this role was smooth in comparison to previous roles, however, it was clouded by doubt. Should I leave in the middle of a pandemic? The kids are still young, what happens if this doesn't work out? There's more to risk and I'm going to be responsible for a lot more than ever. Should I just play it safe, stay and deal with the frustrations of being unhappy professionally or take the leap and see where it goes?
Over the last 18 months, in my mentoring capacity, I've heard a trend in conversations I'm having with peers who have been feeling the same, so at this early milestone, whilst it's fresh, I wanted to share some of my thoughts, having taken a leap of faith, in the hope to inspire others on the fence to consider.
So how has it been?
Starting virtually was harder than I imagined it would be - I felt a bit lost, and at times a bit isolated. It felt like nothing had changed, as I was in the same home office logging on to a different laptop. You do have to make a deliberate effort to get to know people, to put in short calls with new team members to close that gap of being virtual. Over time the feeling of being new and being lost faded. Hopefully, for some, this will change in the near future but some companies will still have starting virtually as an option.
Commuting again, being back in the city, meeting new people, a new office, a new route all left me feeling extremely overwhelmed at first. I would come home and be completely shattered. Going back to an office, even a few times a week is going to take some getting used to, my advice is to be conscious that it's going to take some time to get used to the sensory overload and be kind to yourself by taking pockets of time to take it all in.
Walk before you can run... if like me you've been at a company for more than a couple of years, you will likely have a strong sense of rhythm; you know how to get things done, you know who to go to, and your timelines for doing tasks are quite streamlined. As I transitioned to a new company, I didn't really factor in that I would need to learn a new business, get to know, and build relationships with new people in order to perform at the capacity that I know I can. I stumbled, took on too much, expected a lot of people I only just met, and that made the first few weeks really tough for myself. Just be mindful that you're new and you have the grace to learn and be curious.
There are natural emotional peeks and troughs in starting something new and one thing that really helped me is speaking about it. My wife is always a good soundboard and I have a handful of close friends and mentors who I'd periodically call on a walk if I was having a wobble. They would either reduce the mountain that I thought I was climbing, into something more managable or remind me of my core strengths. Every conversation helped, even if it was just to get out my own head for a little while.
In summary, any change comes with uncomfortable moments and it really does get better. In just 3 short months I've progressed with my projects, I've started to build some strong connections, the commute is getting easier and I'm really excited about what the future holds for me at Sedex.
As famously said, the grass is greener where you water it, so wherever you put your efforts you'll flourish!
Looking forward to sharing future updates with you and if you're ever near St Paul's let me know, there's a few coffee places I want to try out.
