The last five months have proven to be the most interesting and challenging, both personally and professionally, in my life. Not only did I have to deal with personal relationship issues, but also the project on which I was staffed was wrought with many problems that tested me in a number of ways. Could I handle the wear of traveling 100% of the time? Could I make the most of a situation that was deemed to be less desirable? Could I affect change where it had to happen? And when would I lose patience if everything I did seemed to lose all meaning? I never thought that this assignment would make me ask these questions and ponder my own worth as a consultant, but looking back, I’m glad that it did. I hope that the lessons I learned from this experience resonate with you, if only a little bit.

Before I go any further, I want to clear up a couple of things.

First, personally, my relationship issues are all my own to deal with, and not worth sharing, at least in this forum. What I can say is that we’ve worked a few things out, we have an understanding of what needs to take place, and it’s up to the both of us to work our issues out if we want this to work. My unwillingness to share more about my personal life and the uncertainty that surrounds it bind me from sharing more, without thinking that I’m draw conclusions too early or divulging too much information. Sorry.

The second thing I want to clear up is that, despite what I may have said in other media about how things have been with this assignment over the past five months, I still think that I’ve been able to find success where it counts. Every project has its downfalls, some more than others, and this one was no exception. The low, low moments I’ve experienced have shown that, no matter how level-headed and even-keel a person is, one needs a way to vent frustrations and grievances, lest be consumed by feelings of hatred and disdain.

After writing a good portion of this, I realize that it’s best delivered in multiple segments, rather than one long post. There are many lessons I’ve learned, all of which require further detail, and it’s probably unfair to try to post them all in one shot. Instead, I choose to post only the highlights here, and hope to elaborate on them in more focused posts:

• Strike a reasonable and wonderful balance between your work and personal life in general, let alone when you’re traveling 100% for work.
• Find ways to succeed in the face of failure.
• Learn to roll with the punches, and take whatever life deals you, because there’s no point in fighting something over which you have no control.
• Take stock of your situation, and realize that, no matter how bad you think you have it, things can always get worse.

More ahead soon…