In a recent Wednesday Wonder, I asked you how you know it's time to change something in your life - what the signs are, and how you know whether to act on those signals.
The theme was overwhelmingly consistent - it was all about energy, motivation and frustration. Heaps of you suffer physically, experiencing disrupted sleep, gut and poor wellbeing when things aren't right.
Then I asked how you knew whether to act on those signals or not. Here's what you said:
1. It doesn't go away
"Recurrence, frustration, more than one function or team or sector of business is negatively impacted e.g. momentum is waning or lost"
"If the feeling is always there, no matter the external circumstances (no matter the weather, the people I'm with, the work that is being done).."
"If that sense of not learning and growing is still there after a reasonable length of time - sometimes that's a couple of months, sometimes that could be as long as a year. When I know it's not just a blip."
2. You've talked it through.
"I like to give it pondering time and then air-time (talk about it with loving critics - trusted friends who are straight shooters) and usually then feel strongly about a path forward."
"Talk to colleagues and friends, gather thoughts opinions and other perspectives."
3. You've taken space to reflect
"Give it a bit of time - is it me, or is it the situation? Weigh up what is the worst case scenario and test my own comfort with that outcome."
"Typically I have to stop and assess what is really going on. Is it the thing I am working on, or something else influencing me at a deeper level? I also ask if it is something I can control now, or something that I should make sure I don't repeat in the future."
"I explore the factors that are troubling me, practice my mindfulness, and try to determine whether my stressors or real or perceived."
4. You just... feel it.
"When the gnawing in your gut gets too much and you want it to go away."
"Internal sanity check. Listen to myself. I'll know."
"I feel in my gut a deep seated urge to act- like it's self preservation."
Alicia McKay