This blog post is part of The Business Yogi series – inspiration and thoughts for business based on the philosophy, principles and practices of yoga. Look out for the book of the same name in early 2012.
“No mud, no lotus.” – Thich Nhat Hahn
Running the Digital Assistant Academy has been one of the most challenging things I have ever undertaken. Training women who have never considered using the web to work to be freelance digital assistants in only eight weeks, does seem at times to be an impossible task.
But just as the lotus rises from the mud, so our most triumphant moments in yoga bloom from our most challenging experiences.
After five weeks of nearly crying with exhaustion and frustration after most of the training sessions, yesterday just … flowed. Applications were installed with ease, new ideas gushed, exercises were completed with enthusiasm and skill. It’s all starting to make sense. One of the women commented that she is now rethinking how she spends her time and no longer wants to waste time on Facebook as she can see the wider business potential of the web.
The past five weeks have been challenging for both me and the women. There have been tears both in and outside the classroom. One women quit before our half term break as she could not cope with the course and raise three children at home. As someone without children, I find it hard to advise my trainees on how they can find the time to study and eventually work at home when they have a family. Two of my inspirational women speakers to come are both busy freelance working Mums so I hope that we can learn how they push through their ‘mud’ on a daily basis.
As for me, I believe deep down that this project can help some of the 110,000 single parents (mostly women) who the current Government will force to seek work – or risk a benefit cut – without availability of jobs, adequate job-search support or childcare help. So even through this work is unpaid and sometimes feels unappreciated, days like yesterday remind me that something worth doing is never easy.
I can see the Lotus emerging. And it feels great.
[image with thanks to virdi via CC]
