Remington notices things I don’t.
We can walk the same path we’ve walked dozens of times, and suddenly she stops. Her head goes up. Her ears become alert. Sometimes her nose goes directly to the ground. As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing has changed.
But Remi knows differently.
There’s a new scent. A sound in the distance. An animal passed through earlier. Someone is approaching something that I haven’t seen yet. Something in the environment is different, and before she continues, she wants to understand what it is.
I’ve learned not to immediately pull her along. Sometimes I give her a moment to investigate. She doesn’t necessarily need to do anything about what she’s discovered. She simply needs to notice it, decide whether it matters, and then continue on her way. The more I thought about that, the more I realized that we could probably learn something from her.
How Often Do We Ignore What We Notice?
We receive signals all the time.
- I’m not enjoying this work the way I used to.
- Why am I so tired after doing something that once energized me?
- I keep thinking about trying something different.
- Why do I feel relieved when I imagine giving this responsibility to someone else?
- I haven’t thought about that interest in years. Why does it suddenly seem important again?
It’s easy to dismiss these thoughts. We tell ourselves we’re just tired, going through a phase, being unrealistic, or perhaps even being ungrateful for everything we’ve accomplished. So, we keep moving. The problem is that what we repeatedly notice may be giving us information we need. Not everything you notice requires a decision. But everything you repeatedly notice deserves your attention.
Noticing Is a Leadership Skill
I’ve spent much of my career studying, teaching, and working with leaders, and I’ve always believed that effective leadership requires observation.
Good leaders notice when the energy in a room changes. They notice when a previously engaged employee becomes quiet. They notice when people stop asking questions, when a process that once worked becomes cumbersome, or when everyone seems to be working harder without accomplishing more.
They don’t necessarily react to every observation. They become curious about it.
What’s happening here? What has changed? What do I see that deserves a closer look?
We need to be willing to turn that same leadership skill inward.
As experienced leaders and professionals, we have spent years learning how to read other people, organizations, and situations. Yet when something begins changing within us, we can be surprisingly quick to dismiss it. Perhaps we need to become better observers of ourselves.
Something Can Change Before Anyone Else Can See It
This may be especially important during a life transition. From the outside, everything can look the same. You’re still running the business. You’re still going to work. You’re still taking care of the people who depend on you. You’re still serving on the committees, attending the meetings, solving the problems, and doing all the things you’ve always done.
But something feels different. Maybe you’re less interested in work that once excited you. Maybe you’re beginning to question responsibilities you’ve carried for years. Perhaps you’re becoming curious about something new—or reconnecting with an interest you put aside a long time ago.
Nothing dramatic has happened. There may not even be a decision to make yet. But you’ve noticed something.
That’s often how transitions begin. Not with an announcement or a dramatic decision, but with a quiet awareness that something that once fit no longer fits quite the same way.
The temptation is to immediately ask, what am I supposed to do about this?
I think there’s a better first question:
What is this trying to tell me?
Curiosity Before Decision
One of the reasons we ignore these signals is that we assume noticing something means we must act on it. It doesn’t. Recognizing that you’re tired of running your business doesn’t mean you have to sell it tomorrow. Wondering about retirement doesn’t mean you’re ready to retire. Becoming interested in something new doesn’t mean it needs to become your next career or business.
You’re gathering information. Give yourself permission to be curious before requiring yourself to have an answer. Pay attention to what gives you energy and what drains it. Notice what you look forward to and what you continually postpone. Listen to the conversations that stay with you long after they’re over. Notice the ideas that keep returning even after you’ve tried to dismiss them. There may be clues there.
And just like Remington on our walks, you don’t have to chase everything that gets your attention. Some things deserve a quick sniff and nothing more. But when something keeps getting your attention, perhaps it’s worth stopping long enough to understand why.
Remi’s Takeaway
You don’t have to act on everything you notice. But don’t ignore what keeps getting your attention. Awareness doesn’t require an immediate decision. It simply asks you to become curious about what may be changing and what that change might be telling you.
A Question to Consider
What keeps getting your attention that you’ve been too busy—or perhaps too reluctant—to explore? Instead of immediately asking what you should do about it, spend some time asking yourself why you keep noticing it. The answer may tell you more than you expect.
Where Are You on Your Journey?
If you’ve begun noticing that something in your life no longer feels quite right, you don’t need to immediately figure out what comes next. Start by understanding what you’re experiencing.
That’s why I created the Life Transition Profile™. It helps you identify where you may be in a transition and put words around some of the thoughts, feelings, and changes you’ve already noticed.
The Profile isn’t designed to make the decision for you. It’s designed to help you pay attention to what may already be trying to get your attention.
Because sometimes your next chapter begins long before you know what it’s going to look like.
It begins when you finally pay attention to what you’ve been noticing all along.