“How would you like to feel by the end of the year?”

“How would you like to feel by the end of the year?”

I asked him, let’s call him James.

James was the CPO of a SaaS company here in Copenhagen.

“I want to feel energised, inspired, and like I’ve got my drive back”.

Cool, I said.

“Why don’t you feel like that now?”

He didn’t know.

Not straight away anyway.

But slowly things started to come out.

Things he’d perhaps not connected to the current overwhelm, stagnation and frustration.

He wasn’t really sure where the company was going.

He had some big important but not urgent tasks he was procrastinating over but his calendar didn’t really support it being possible.

The conversations he was having with his team were resulting in them demanding a lot of his time making getting to those tasks really tough.

Small things perhaps but small things become big things.

We thrive on growth and progress and when small things prevent growth from happening overwhelm, stagnation and frustration are inevitable.

Fast forward a couple of months and he doesn’t just feel inspired, energised and driven…

The business is driving forward with energy and inspiration.

The lesson here though is to trust your feelings.

They don’t give the whole picture, the words that follow immediately are vague and imprecise.

But they do mark the spot to start digging and they do guide towards the best next step for growth and progress not just interally but externally too and that’s what inspires me. You always have a map, you just need to read it.

What are your feelings telling you right now?