jalléCafe

Maybe we would have less miscommunication, fewer misunderstandings if...

Yesterday, I briefly joined a going away thank you celebration for a client with whom I have worked for two years now and who took a new role in a different location.  He said he wrote his "goodbye" notes because he was afraid he would get too emotional. And he did get emotional a little. A pause. A choked voice. 

I hope he wouldn't mind me saying that in that moment I stood in awe of how much more meaningful and real it made him. How his show of emotion made his words fresh and effective. Authentic and believable.  This is one reason I'm sure I will miss working with him so often. It was a wholly human experience.

If it were really OK not to be tough, smart and fast all the time. To instead say what we really feel and think even if it made us look vulnerable.  Would the meaning come across crystal clear as it did yesterday? Would we understand each other better and more gently?

I'm going to try it and I'm guessing I will learn something about myself when showing more emotion in all parts of my life. It might not be that easy for this long-time business girl.

The value of contagious enthusiasm

After enjoying the first day of Autumn in Buenos Aires (a city that is definitely growing on me as you can imagine from this view), I took a late flight with my clients to Sao Paolo - scheduled to start our second workshop at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

Landed after midnight and still managed to be stuck in a Sao Paolo traffic jam. Checked-in just before 2 a.m. to a room in a very nice hotel with the noisiest minibar in the history of mankind.  Switched rooms.  Slept well and deeply four hours.  Five minutes into my hair drying at 7 a.m. the hotel-provided dryer konked out.  Nearly 30 minutes later, all was repaired and I dashed to the restaurant for a quick breakfast.

There, a smiling, enthusiastic Maitre d' followed me personally around the buffet to explain the lovely traditional Brazilian options.  He obviously didn't realize that I genuinely do not care to speak before my first cup of coffee (especially on a bad hair day with sleep that could only be described as a nap) which he was delaying. Yet somehow in the extravagance of his effort, I started to smile.  Had a great cup of coffee alongside his suggestions.  And really enjoyed the rest of my day.

And we wonder why communication is complicated

I flew 14 hours straight yesterday for a client workshop this week in Latin America. 

In 14 hours on one airplane, I will read anything and everything in print.  At one point as I stood rather dazedly in front of the toilette waiting my turn, wanting to brush my teeth after our second meal, my third movie and my fourth attempt to read more than 100 pages in my book, I noticed something:  the sign printed on the toilette door said in German, "it is not allowed to smoke in the toilette."  In English it said, "it is not allowed to smoke in the lavatory."

And I asked myself, what is a lavatory?  Had I ever in my American life (Boeing printed this wall) used a lavatory?

I don't think so.  It sounds like a word my father would have made up right along with our family favorite: swedge.  (One of the least used references ever to appear in the dictionary.)

And right below the no smoking in the lavatory sign, I noticed something else affixed to the wall was labeled:  Aschenbecker (an ashtray)

Jet lag or irony?

:-)

A studio moment when I recognized what has really changed

Ok, so that iPhone post yesterday sure didn't work perfectly the first time. (Just like when I try to say something meaningful or emotional via email.  Better to be personal, visual, slower!)

Today I've enjoyed my first strands of sunlight through open studio windows in this new space I acquired in the midst of cold, grey February. Even then, this glimpse of sky over the rooftops through old iron scrollwork was part of what touched my emotions and gave me the courage to sign the contract.  Today, it nearly made me teary-eyed to open the window for the first time to an early Spring breeze. I suddenly recognized how many steps I've taken to have this view - not that I could have imagined it in detail or anticipated exactly how it would feel.

Fortunately, I'm back-to-back loaded with interesting projects.  So no Friday afternoon off to the lake for me.  But there was something deeply satisfying about taking a short lunch with a friend across the street at the Juice Market and realizing I live here, I work here, I know, like and do business with the people I see here.

Took away every deadline stress and worry about if I can make it all work and put me once again in awe of what life can bring when you listen to what pulls you.

Post & go

I send this post to you via my iPhone from a train between client meetings & Zurich. Seems like a productive thing to do with 50 minutes. Fun to try ut,
I am sending this post via my iPhone between client meetings and Zurich. Seems like productive use of 50 minutes.

of course there're will be the usual typos. I will say things s little short & quick because thumb typing quickly feels like arthritis. And maybe what I could use more is sitting still and letting the words float to me for later. Yet it is fun to try it! Adding to the cyberspace chatter...

But it was fun to try it!

When to stop working too hard

My new relationship with snow had its ups and downs this weekends.  The downs included three nice little falls from which once a ski instructor (not mine) helped me get back on my ski's. And this was cross-country! Going too fast or on some curve I didn't quite have enough skill for yet.  Although, when I started Saturday morning, I am sure a retired man and his lovely retreiver were walking faster than me.

So I renegotiated my perspective again - as I have done so many times in life - to recognize I am truly starting at the bottom.  For me, skiing will be 95% perseverence and 5% talent. But I want to do it because I love being outside in the sun and the snow.  Even when my entire body hurts afterwards. And I like the idea that one day, after 100s of small steps over several seasons in my case, I might be even one-third as elegant as the ski-skaters beside me. I have learned that would be huge for me.

After some hours, I realized also something I sometimes notice during the week: that the work of skiing (even though I loved it) was getting in the way of the beauty around me. So I took off my ski's for a while and just walked.  And listened.  And here was my favorite sound, of flow. 

PS, Many thanks to my friends who made this weekend possible!

So much for Spring

Friday night, friends and I barbequed on my balcony.  (OK, it was a bit too cold to stand around admiring the star-filled sky above, but I love the casual times with people together at the table.)  We awoke Saturday to this blowing whiteness.   Perfect day for a fireplace, as it turned out.  And old movies.  On the brighter side of life, I nearly sunburned outside on Sunday.  Great combo of a weekend that I could never have predicted.  I thought I had run out of time to build my relationship with snow this season. I'll take it as a reminder of how life unfolds as it is supposed to, not as we expect it.

Business class - part 3

So did you figure it out - the thing I need to change about my business travel?

I started this trip wondering what I was going to do about the constant parade of black.  Clothes, luggage.  Flying with 60 people in business class, only one obviously a business woman.  Me.  (Maybe not so obvious, the flight attendant asked the man seated beside me if I wanted more wine at some point.  No imagination that I was not his wife.)

During the years I flew like this every month or more, I lost myself.  Dragged from hotel to meeting room to airline lounge.  Learned that I didn't care about fitting in the road warrior club. Carried those images with me as I returned to travel on this business trip.

But a lot has changed since then, when I was new to Europe and on my own entirely.

I travel when the work is interesting and I like the client.  I return home and step off of the airplane into my life: with friends, my own little business, things I like doing, a home I've lived in for five years now. And these friends ask me about my trip (even keep in touch with me when I'm away).

I fully enjoyed learning the Brazilian culture a little, meeting new people, seeing Sao Paolo.

What needs to change is my attitude and what I focus on...as a friend said, not being too hard on myself if the work is tiring, but I still manage to see something new.

Watch this blog soon to see if I can show a new Business Class Jill on the next outing. I'm sure going to try!

Spring interruption

I hereby interrupt this business travel blog saga for a little sparkle of Spring.

Over the weekend (having returned from summer across the ocean), I got outside on Sunday in clouds and slush. Still felt good because I had decided to stand-in for my open spirit and genuine desire to live with passion.  It's a choice.

Then as if life was telling my soul all was going in the right direction, I ran into first little signs of new growth.  Here I share them with you.

I think life gives us signs we read best with our hearts.

     

Business class - part 2

So here's another exciting little excerpt of a typical business trip for me.  Figured out yet what I think I might need to change about how I approach this travel?