Find time to let your minds
wander and pursue other possibilities
The same 10 minutes you’re using to scroll
through social media could be all it takes to get started.
By Meg McKeen, CIC
Lately I’ve been daydreaming about opening a bakery. Except I don’t know much about baking. And I’m not a morning person.
While I love them, when I sit quietly with this bakery idea, I know it isn’t about the sweet treats; it’s about joy. It’s about creativity and challenge and growth.
And it’s about the itchiness I’ve been feeling lately that grows from knowing that, while I have a career here in the insurance industry that I’m proud of and provides for my beautiful life, I am more than a business owner, a leader, and insurance professional.
And so are you.
Permission to dream
Somewhere along the way, many of us lost the ability to let our minds wander. To lose track of time and to let our imaginations lead the way. To see possibilities and not limitations. To ask, “Why not?” rather than “Why?”
As it does, life—and the responsibilities that come with it—takes center stage and spreads to fill the time and sap the energy that we have to manage it.
But what could happen if we welcome this part of being back into our lives? Let me share more about some folks here in the insurance industry who are doing just this.
Carmela, a carrier relationship manager, is baking the most beautiful loaves of bread to share with friends. Another industry pal, a field underwriter, is planting a flower garden and gifting her blooms to others. And another, along with her sister, is building a custom lettered sign hustle. Another? She’s a niche product manager by day who’s blogging about her other-than-insurance life while Katie, a carrier communications professional, is having great fun and success building a podcast.
Chris, a longtime industry technology expert and author, spends time playing guitar in venues throughout his community. When I asked him what this exploration provides that his corporate role doesn’t, Chris shares “My pursuit of music allows me to completely unplug, tap in to my insecurities, to get hyperfocused on bringing a vision or a melody to life, to learn about the tools of the trade, to meet new people, to experience the humility of making a mistake, to feel the exhilaration of playing and performing well, and to turn a feeling into a story and connect to others.”
Like Chris and Carmela—and you, we are multi-faceted individuals with histories that shape us, and these histories change how we embrace uncertainty, explore experimentation, and welcome change.
Permission to pursue
When was the last time you were truly awful at something? Or do you find yourself gravitating towards pursuits that you inherently know you’ll excel at, so you can avoid the clumsiness that often accompanies trying something for the first time? Let’s acknowledge that it’s fundamentally hard to be a beginner again, particularly when you’ve achieved traditional success in your professional life.
My own latest passion, crochet, is a masterclass at this. By necessity, I’ve become really proficient at “frogging” or the unraveling of my work by going back to the place where things went sideways and beginning again. It’s frustrating in the moment (ask me how I know!), but it’s a humbling reminder that imperfection and inefficiency are parts of this learning I can’t skip over.
Permission to write your own rules
Is it pickleball for you? Dance? Painting? Writing a book? Restoring old cars? Perhaps you’ve found your thing, or perhaps you keep trying. As you shift to create room in your life for the learning and growth that comes from exploring another expression of yourself, a few gentle reminders:
- Not everything you do has to become a business or make money at all.
- Output—and outcomes—are not the measure here. Consider joy and growth instead.
- Embrace the before and the after—the wisdom you’re gaining that you couldn’t have otherwise.
Resist the urge to go all in; there’s pressure in buying all the supplies/tools/equipment as you experiment, only to realize your new thing isn’t for you after all.
- The same 10 minutes you’re using to scroll through social media could be all it takes to get started.
And lastly, for those of us who can’t fathom spending time doing something that doesn’t directly elevate our professional persona, don’t forget: You were a beginner in insurance once, too.
P.S. If you eat, sleep, breathe insurance, I see you. As we welcome a new generation into the industry, here’s an invitation to those of us already here to hold space in our own lives and others’ for both what pays our bills and also fills our souls.
The author
Once told “you’re someone I’d like to receive bad news from,” Meg McKeen, CIC, founded Adjunct Advisors LLC in 2018 with the simple belief that we can and must do more to support the individuals who choose a career in the insurance industry. Now in her 26th year, Meg’s experience working in underwriting, leadership, and sales within the industry informs her work as a consultant today, in which Meg now holds space, at the crossroads of personal and professional development, for insurance professionals as they navigate their shifting relationship with work and this current hard market. Meg’s work includes private and small group coaching, workshop facilitation, industry event speaking and planning engagements, and the podcast she hosts, Bound & Determinedsm. Learn more at www.adjunctadvisors.com.
