By the time you read this, I will have graduated from my most recent coaching certification program. Actually, it’s been much more than a certification program, and I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, I want to talk about graduations in general.

I think that graduation ceremonies are really important. They mark the milestones of significant achievements with ceremony and celebration. I didn’t always think that. I didn’t graduate from high school and didn’t attend my college graduation. I was too interested in moving on to the next step, in climbing the staircase and getting to the next level.

I didn’t care much about spending any time on the landing, which is the resting place between levels on a staircase. Well, that was fun. I just googled to find out the name (landing) because it escaped me. You know, there’s a lot of technical information about staircases available, which just shows how possible it is to go very deep on one subject. But there are so many subjects to explore. How is there time to go deep on all of them? Yes, this does tie to the topic today, I’m not just rambling, and I promise to get back to it. In a minute.

These days, though, I am all about the landing. I am a queen of recognizing accomplishments and celebrating them. And not just the big life events, I mean the smallish things that we usually let go unnoticed. I’m constantly telling my clients to pay attention to what they just did – that improvement, that insight, that growth, that discipline, that mastery – whatever it is – because when we name it and claim it as evidence that we are progressing.

So…I am celebrating my graduation. From what? Thanks for asking! I’m graduating from Miracle-Minded Master Coach training. I’ve been working with Marianne Williamson for a year and a half and now I have another certification as a Master Coach.

I didn’t do this to chase a certification. I have more pretty certificates than I can fit on my wall. So, I’m not celebrating the certification, but I am celebrating reaching the landing. I definitely got a lot more out of the experience than a certificate. I’m in an incredible community of coaches. I clarified a lot of what I deeply know and believe, and a chunk of that doesn’t align with what Marianne says, thinks, or teaches. Contrast is hugely educational, as long as I can be curious and stay away from judgment when it’s not necessary. Sometimes judgment is necessary, because there are things that are just wrong and…oh crap, look at that shiny rabbit hole that I just tried to explore.

A year and a half is a big chunk of time. It’s a lot of hours of class time, practice, writing, studying and the like. It’s not 10,000 hours, but it’s a lot. Oh, and you know that 10,000-hour rule? The one made popular by Malcom Gladwell that says it takes 10,000 hours to master something? It’s bullshit.  How long does mastery take? Research says, “it depends upon the subject. It depends upon the person. There’s a range of 728 hours to 10000 or more.”  It depends; it’s not a formula. It’s just a theory, not a rule. It’s a rule of thumb…and you know the rumors about the origin of the rule of thumb, don’t you?

And that was another rabbit hole and this time I did fall in.

Back to graduation…I do love learning. I also love chasing squirrels. So I’ve learned that a year is too long for me. It’s not ego, it’s attention span. There are so many interesting squirrels to chase, rabbit holes to wander, metaphors to desecrate. That’s right, I’m back to that thought from the beginning. There are just too many interesting topics to explore. I want to get to as many of them as I can in the time I have here. My mom always told me that as a child I never wanted to go to sleep. I didn’t want to waste my time; I didn’t want to miss anything. That held up for years – well into adulthood – until I discovered that there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in dreams, too.

There’s just a lot of interesting things to explore when you’re a curious soul. That’s really what I’m celebrating in this graduation. My curiosity.

In the meantime, remember these things: You are loved. We are all loved. Let’s all be kind. And in all things – progress, not perfection!

Maggie

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I have room for a couple of one-on-one clients right now. Send me an email if you’d like to talk: maggie@maggiehuffman.com