Like a needle pulling thread, our work with its joys, frustrations and some sadness will reveal a picture of our endeavours. A tapestry over time of effort, anxiety, pride and likely occasional disappointment. Each CV a steppingstone path mapping the hindsight of our choices and (hopefully) our triumphs.
Every career starts as a story to be told; the archetypical tale of tyros and magic beans, of dragons and daring do, that one day will tell of how we became the all-conquering super heroes and masters of the universe.
And yet, I so firmly believe that the relentless pursuit of a destination story is going to be flawed. It is never where we aim to be that matters nearly as much as how we travel in the moments, months and years before we arrive.
Most weeks I am in London for at least one day, and one of my familiar Underground tube journeys is from Baker Street to Moorgate on the Hammersmith and City Line. A newer train with open carriages and weak but still welcome air-conditioning. Passengers, young and old, quietly nodding within their AirPod worlds, or earnestly focused on a book, or staring stoically ahead waiting for their stop. Each person is an extraordinary story. A birth, a country of origin, a life with or without families, adventures, relationships, memories, hopes and fears. Each with a future that they want to shape, to be the architects of their destiny and not the tenants of their past.
Each carriage is a kaleidoscope of shapes and colours, and all of us are gently shaken into one unique pattern of people as we pass through stations until it is our turn to step from the train and into London’s overground world. I sometimes long to know their stories. Where have these people been, what have they seen, what do they feel?
Being so close to their stories, but knowing I will never hear them, intrigues me and amuses me and is, in its way, my meditative pause between my meetings above ground. It is also the microcosm of my concern about our careers. It does not really matter if we get off at Great Portland Street, or Euston Square or Farringdon; but what did we learn from the stories of our fellow passengers?
Did we learn? Did we share? Did we grow, because between us we will know so much more together than we will ever experience on our own. Our careers should not become a silent ride to Moorgate where all we do is count the stations towards our destination in studied avoidance of the all riches around us. Instead, may our careers become the gently shaken kaleidoscope of what we can learn and apply in the times we share to make all our journeys richer, fuller, and more memorable.
Please do have a destination in mind and, by all means, know when and how you want to get there; but love the company of those who share our journeys too. Your CV will become the map of your Underground tube line; but let your heart be full of the stories between the stops, like a needle pulling thread, a tapestry over time, telling your story in the colours of all who we meet along the way.
Take care. Paul xx
