Deep long conversions for career progression
By Daniel Fuller
Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Sure, you know it is something to do with plants, but we belong to a huge industry! So, how do you find the next step in your journey, especially if you want to progress without the usual linear paths like getting into management or starting your own business?
Unlike so many talented horticulturists I know, my purpose never fell out of the sky and landed in my lap. I have had to feel my way through each step, carefully considering all of my options while putting myself into a position where I have several paths forward depending on how I feel about the following step.
One thing I have found invaluable are those deep, long conversations with someone you respect and who cares about you enough to give you their full attention. One or two of these D&Ms (Deep and Meaningful) may not be enough. My wife, Kirstie and I have gone through phases where we talked for hours late into the night, several times a week, for months before we felt a breakthrough.
There are a number of layers of resistance you will have to push through, including self-doubt, pre-conceptions, and a lack of knowledge of your options. At the end of the day, you do not know what you do not know. There could be a new path for you just around the corner, even though you cannot see it yet. Before you can find the answers, you will need to start asking the right questions. And before you can do that, you need to open your mind.
Sure, we went to TAFE and studied something, like horticulture, landscape design, or parks and gardens or did an apprenticeship, and maybe we’ve been promoted a few times, but that is not the purpose that comes from within. We are like paper boats on the waves, being pushed this way and that by external forces.
The type of effort that I am talking about is emotional labour. It is the challenging work of looking deep within and asking “what can I do?” and “what do I want?”
The answers to these questions do not come easily for most of us. The heavens do not open up and show us our purpose – it is something that we have to earn by facing doubt courageously.
Beware of answers that come easily. Oh, you are creative, so that means you should become a garden designer. Are you sure that is really your skill set?
I am very creative, but I don’t see beauty like Kirstie does. Kirstie is a talented graphic designer. My creativity has more to do with ideas and concepts than visuals. You cannot imagine how many late-night chats I have had with Kirstie about how to make use of those talents without starting at the bottom of a new industry.
It seems obvious in hindsight. I started a blog and a podcast, then turned it into a writing and horticulture consulting career. But we went through a lot of bad ideas first, like starting a daily plant vlog, even though my stomach drops at the thought of putting on a fake smile every day. Becoming a social media manager, even though the famous words of comedian Bill Hicks speaking about advertising and marketing roll around in my head (if you know, you know).
If you have been wondering what you want to be when you grow up, you need to have a series of long conversations where you really dig deep. And to do that, you need someone whose opinions you respect and who cares about you – not somebody who will agree with everything you say, but somebody you can wrestle ideas with. This might be a romantic partner, a sibling, a parent, a co-worker or even a mentor.
Honestly, it could even be a complete stranger or a psychologist. These long conversations are simply a way to reach deep into your psyche and find the gold hiding within.
Daniel Fuller
M: 042 6169 708
E: hello@plantsgrowhere.com
W: plantsgrowhere.com