Rising Like the Phoenix

By Mary Ann Faremouth, CPC

I think we can all agree these past few years have been filled with many challenges, both on a personal and professional level. As businesspeople, we all want to achieve professional success, but the Human Element reminds us that there is a vast hidden power in working to help and lift up others. We can learn to fly into the wind, using our own adversity for lift, creating a better more positive mindset, and prioritizing our professional relationships to create a better win for all. So, the next time you literally or figuratively fall on your face, use these tips to rebound in a way that makes your final outcome one of victory and success.

In ancient mythology and medieval literature, the phoenix is depicted as an awe-inspiring bird. Through determination and perseverance, it rises from the ashes of a fiery death to become even more powerful than it was before — the personification of tenacity, persistence, and rebirth. For many of us during the years of the pandemic and even beyond, our professional and personal lives have been through the fire. We’ve all experienced loss in some form, and at times, it has been hard to see our way forward.

But like the phoenix, you can emerge from the fire a better version of yourself. By transforming your perspective and refreshing your skill set, you can reclaim your personal and professional journeys. It might look something like this:

1. Reignite Your Mindset

When it comes to achieving success, mindset is now front and center. A positive outlook and willingness to share ideas that reflect your goals and desire to contribute will take you far in life. Set fire to your negativity and outdated beliefs about what others have done to you or must do for you. Focusing solely on yourself, rather than the team and community, will prevent you from thriving. Transforming your mindset is an important first step to moving your career journey as well as your personal life forward.

2. Shake Off the Ashes of the Old

Old questions are often focused on only the individual: How have I been treated? When will I get promoted? When will I receive increased wages or vacation benefits? These old questions that center around “me” do not work anymore and must be shed. Instead, ask questions that focus on the “we”: the business community, the groups, and associations in which you participate, the teams you are part of or looking to join. Ask how you can expand your skill set to make a bigger contribution to your company. Ask how you might help others, whether through volunteering or perhaps just assisting a coworker struggling with a new system. Shedding the old focus on only yourself will help you make a valuable contribution that is sure to get noticed.

3. Stretch Your Wings and Fly

While transforming your perspective is important, it needs to be complemented by a renewal and re-evaluation of your skills. To do so, you must stretch your wings to learn new skills and embrace what you might not yet do well. For example, how can you help your company become more efficient digitally, and what would you need to learn to make that happen? Explore skills with which you don’t feel confident and consider what steps you might take to improve and gain confidence in them. For example, if you want to take flight as a presenter, consider joining Toastmasters or Rotary Club. Temporarily doing things that are uncomfortable can help you expand your skill set and allow you to offer more to your company and others in the community.

4. Pursue New Opportunities

It is not enough to transform your mindset, renew your skill set, and then just sit around waiting for opportunities to come to you. Once you have emerged from the fire, you must actively seek out new opportunities. Get your ego out of the way, show up, be innovative, and make a concerted effort to demonstrate how what you want correlates with the requirements or desires of others.