What about your expiration date?

I use reading glasses to figure out the numbers on the wrapping and my eyes and nose routinely do a freshness check. I don't have the time or the appetite to hang over a toilet bowl vomiting because I've eaten something wrong. So when in doubt, food sometimes disappears into the green bin.

It's really odd, that this best-before date check is less common for other important matters. 'I'm not going to throw away my work, relationship or friendship,' you probably think now. That is indeed more radical, but not illogical or impossible. Look at your life as an overflowing refrigerator. What goodies would you make room for and what can go because it has lost all taste? 

My talents lay unused for a long time in the golden fridge of ABN AMRO. If I'm not careful, this will happen to me again as an independent professional. 'You're only as good as your last assignment', so my schedule fills up automatically with what I was and am good at. That's as comfortable as that good job that many people get stuck in. But I won't let my talent remain unused any longer so I do a regular expiration check.

It takes a good dose of guts to throw away the familiar. And it opens up space for healthier alternatives. These alternatives emerge when you are clear about what you really want, enabling you to be clearer to others. A recent example is the request I received for horse coaching from an agency where I myself had just terminated my freelance agreement as a trainer. 

How do I decide when to say goodbye? My reading glasses scan my schedule while I look into the self-reflection mirror with a sharp eye for an honest answer to my most important check question: Does this provide me with more energy than it costs me? This way I create space for my favorite flavors; now guiding leadership experiences and (horse) coaching.

I'd like to challenge you to a quick expiration check on your current work in three steps:

1. Give your work a rating from 1-10. How do you currently rate for yourself on the:

• Energy it gives you?
• Degree to which you can use your talents?
• Satisfaction you get from it because you are doing what is important to you? Note; this is different from being busy with what your boss or co-workers think is important. 

           Are you satisfied with these scores or do you long for more? 

2. Dare to dream away. Use all your imagination and step into the premiere of the movie about your ideal life. What if everything is possible? Which turn does your story take? What do you envision changing? What kind of work do you do? Where do you live and with whom? How much time off do you have and how, where and with whom do you spend it? 
    
3. Imagine your alarm clock rings on a dark cold Monday morning. As you wake up, you realize what is on the agenda this week. How do you get up now in your current job?  And how would you get up on a work day within the script of your film? 

What is the aftertaste of this freshness check for you? Does your current work taste like more or are you longing for something more delicious? Only you can answer these questions, draw conclusions and take action if you wish. But that doesn't mean you're on your own. Involve people around you or find an independent coach to teach you how to discover your favorite tastes and make them a new reality.