It’s been a while since I opened up to you, shared a life update, and told how I’m feeling. It’s often these emails that resonate the most, and it’s a great exercise for me to get things off my chest - by being transparent and open, and casting my words into the wind, I march forward!
I took on a new challenge in July, becoming Head of Marketing for NORTH and our sister agency Silverbean. I’m now managing a team, owning the strategy for two agencies, and working with more stakeholders, functions and global markets.
As ready as I was to tackle this new adventure, every new beginning comes with challenges and learnings and I’ve experienced a baptism by fire on a few occasions already.
At NORTH we follow the situational leadership model. It's a fantastic way to work and not only helps to flex your leadership style as needed, based on where a person sits in their development of a particular task, it’s also incredible for self-awareness.
Whenever we start doing something we haven’t done before, we start at the D1 stage. We’re very excited for the new challenge, but because we haven’t done it before, our competency is low. As we start to develop and gain experience in a new task, our competence grows but our commitment drops - meaning we start to question ourselves, we don’t enjoy working on specific tasks as much, our confidence diminishes, and our mental health can take a big hit as a result!
Well folks, I recently hit the D2 stage (the worst position in the model) - and it’s not a nice place to be. BUT I’m very aware of it, and I know I need to get through it to reach the next stage. This won’t last for long!
But even with knowing I’m at this stage, I was too hard on myself last week. I crammed in extra work, worked outside of my hours, and chose to stay back in the office instead of getting to the gym.
I didn’t give myself any space.
I didn't give myself the chance to breathe! 😮💨
So when the weekend hit, I crashed hard and needed some quiet time. But don’t worry, there is a positive takeaway here… that quiet time gave me the chance to collect my thoughts, reflect, and make some changes for the good.
I’ve made new promises to myself that will keep me grounded, help maintain a healthy work-life balance, and ensure I keep my mind and body fit and healthy too.
My three simple promises to myself are:
1) Make time for the little things
When you’re spinning lots of plates, and need to spend time editing videos, writing content, managing a team, and all the things in-between, little tasks can easily get missed.
And those little tasks add up quickly, which can lead you to feel overwhelmed.
So the solution… I’m blocking out time in my diary!
I’d been doing the right thing and prioritising my urgent tasks but in doing so I’d put the smaller things to one side without scheduling time to get them done later.
So now I’m blocking out time in my diary each week to clear emails, answer questions and complete any small ad hoc tasks.
2) Make time for exercise and passion projects
Staying back and working extra hours seemed like a great idea, but it meant I didn’t make any time for exercise. I usually attend Kickboxing classes twice on a bad week, and three times on a good week, but last week I didn’t go at all.
We all know exercise is golden for both physical and mental health, and by not going at all last week, I didn’t have that time to switch off and forget about everything outside of the gym.
Martial Arts gives me discipline and has helped me to become a stronger person, I have more energy and more focus in my work and my life in general. I need this to keep me grounded!
The other thing I need time for is my passion (outside of marketing of course) and that’s music. I’m setting regular time aside to get in my home studio, record new tracks, and finish existing projects - tracks stuck on a hard drive are no good to anyone, and getting them out into the world creates that space to focus on the next thing and progress.
3) Make time for development and thinking
I’m clearing space and making room for development, and thinking time. I’ve set up recurring slots in my diary and will use this time to:
Complete courses and accreditations
Read blogs and resources on; management theories, marketing psychology and models
Review processes and activity
Advance technical skills
Find inspiring work
Discover emerging trends
Pinpoint opportunities to increase efficiency
and give myself the opportunity to experiment
The bit that excites me the most is the ‘opportunity to experiment’ - this is the fun bit, we’re talking real blue sky thinking. This is what will help us stand out, get noticed, and continuously freshen up our marketing strategy.
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I really hope this resonated with you, and if you’re feeling like you’ve hit that D2 stage in a new role or task, I hope that my openness has helped you to reflect and made you more self-aware too.
Every great story has friction, and overcoming this hurdle will make you stronger, help advance your skills and your career, and become the very best version of yourself!
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