The most important thing for you to do right now...

Life is a constant rush. We spend our time bustling from one deadline, project or task to the next and rarely take a moment to stop and just think about that one, most important thing that would add the most value to our existence. Whatever our context.

The festive season is renowned for adding to the hamster-wheel effect. With family and work pressures reaching a breaking point for many, thinking time and strategy sessions are put on the back burner for when there is more time. And then suddenly you are back to it in January with the added stress of knowing you have to do something amazing this year to “outdo” last year. So the question is, when do you take time out to work on this stuff? When do you take the time to work on yourself? When do you make your strategy? Well in my mind, the best time is now, because if you can land this one thing, everything else should become clearer and easier.

Michael Porter describes strategy as being about making choices and tradeoffs, and I love a good strategy. Strategy is also about choosing to be different for a better outcome. The foundation stones of Traverse Worldwide were laid on deciding to be different in the way I work versus the conventional office worker. I established a consulting business designed to operate from anywhere in the world . I have since been investigating the “how it actually works” elements through Christmas and New Year.

Last week I also had a really interesting conversation with a consultant from Remote Year, a company who manage multiple groups of 70+ digital nomads all over the world, moving them to a new city every month for a year. I wanted to learn more about how they do it logistically, and emotionally and how they cope with the changes in working styles - many of them are consultants too.
And so what is that one thing which would add the most value to my existence right now? It is focusing in on where I add value as a consultant - my reason for being. Some call it the pitch, the elevator conversation, the value proposition.
This is a pretty overwhelming feeling for me as I am constantly excited by how many things I could do and so have been struggling to think of what I should do.
To help me through this situation, I reflected on the words of Dr Derek Roger who says if you are feeling overwhelmed in circumstances where you are surrounded by change that the answer to successfully navigating this stress is simply to wake up and stop daydreaming.

So, armed with Roger's words, I "woke up" – stopped thinking about what Traverse could be and started focussing on what strengths I have and what I can do. I have been noticing the small things in life that give me pleasure in a job well done and identifying how to position Traverse as a consultancy through expressing my own unique specialism because apparently people hire specialists in things. I've even written some lists!
And so it seems what I was worrying was a gap in terms of specific depth in one career is actually a highly desirable strength. So here goes what I know so far…..

My specialist value is business-synthesis. Absorbing and refining the best of what is out there and applying it in innovative new ways. I am well read, well-educated and have experienced a range of industries and careers in several different countries, cultures and contexts (see my LinkedIn profile for a summary). Each of these experiences has given me new tools and highly desirable skills that can be applied to solve business challenges. It is precisely this breadth and versatility that has allowed me to see opportunities others can’t and pull practical solutions together in ways not previously considered. I have done this successfully many times over.

And this synthesis is something I live and breathe. I'll be developing Traverse through absorbing the best I see over the next few months and incorporating that into my service offering. That’s the best part – everything I learn can be translated in some way into client value at some point. (Remote worker strategy anyone?!) How many consultancies can say that?

So what is the most important thing you could be doing right now - because I'm sure it isn't doing what you were doing in December....

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