The Best Work Of Your Life Is Waiting

You’ve felt it before.

A day so energizing it had you singing in the car on the way home wishing every day was that day. A problem that felt less like work and more like play.

I felt it last week. I was so deep in a client conversation that I was seven minutes into my next meeting before I realized I hadn’t ended the first one.

Most leaders have felt that at least once. But too few have figured out how to feel it most of the time.

Here’s what they’re missing: it’s not just about the work. It’s about who’s in the room with you.

We Hire Ourselves

You’ve seen it in teenagers. Best friends who start dressing alike, finishing each other’s sentences, laughing at the same things.

Mirroring is hardwired into us — it’s how we build connection.

It’s also exactly what happens when we choose our team.

We recognize ourselves in certain people. We feel at ease. The conversation flows. We say yes!

And then we wonder why certain things never get done.

We built a room full of people wired just like us, and nobody in that room is energized by the work we’re not.

The Person You’re Underestimating

The person whose approach feels most foreign to you — the one you appreciate but can’t understand — is almost always the one you need most.

We judge people who are wired differently. We just can’t understand why what comes so naturally to us doesn’t come naturally to them.

Well, they’re looking at us thinking the exact same thing.

The distance between how you think isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a partnership waiting to happen.

What It Looks Like When It Works

I have a client who is a natural galvanizer. He’s relational, energizing, the kind of person who gets a room moving in minutes. His partner is wired for tenacity, energized by execution and results you can measure.

As business partners, initially communication was strained. Each respected the other but solved problems in different ways. Once they named what lit each of them up and realized their skills complemented each other the company moved differently. And rapidly.

Because they stopped expecting each other to be someone they weren’t.

My husband and I aren’t so different.

When we’re hosting, he owns the menu and is tenacious in making sure everything is ready on time.

I am all about setting up the environment, the guest list, and fine tuning the activities until the last moment. I want to make sure everyone has a great time.

We’ve been doing this for decades. Neither of us has converted the other. We don’t even try.

And the dinner parties are great.

Because our talents complement each other and our end goal and our values are the same.

Same goes for the teams that work best. They don’t all think alike. They share what matters and fill the room where each other’s energy runs out.

The Best Work of Your Life

This is what it looks like when it’s working.

A leader who is lit up. Supported by people whose genius covers their frustration. Doing the work they were built for.

That’s when you hear it. I still can’t believe I get to do this.

That feeling isn’t luck. It’s what happens when you stop trying to be everything and tap the people who complete you.

Look at the people around you right now.

Who thrives where you don’t? Who do you count on and couldn’t live without — even if you don’t always understand how they think?

That person isn’t your opposite.

They might be the key to the best work of your life.

And if you don’t have someone like that yet, that’s worth paying attention to.

If you want help figuring out who that is, I’d love that conversation.

Laurie