Morroco has long been a dream of mine so I set an intention at the beginning of 2016, this would be the year I would make it happen.

The culture and design of Marrakesh, carpets, mosaics, gold and silver lights, mirrors, ceramics and so much more, shopping and haggling in the souks was a must.

Typical of most Women, my friend and I had a list of the kind of things we wanted to buy for ourselves and our loved ones for Christmas. For the first hour or two, we didn’t buy much, but rather wandered around not really being able to make decisions.

We started talking to one of the older and wiser souk sellers about his pouffe’s and my friend started to explain that nobody had the kind of gold pouffe that she wanted to buy as she had something very particular in mind. The seller nodded in understanding before stating ‘ahhh those that come here knowing what they want leave with nothing, those who come an open mind leave with more gifts and surprises than they dreamed of’. 

Whilst sadly, we didn’t buy the shiny gold pouffe from the wise seller, what he said massively resonated with us both. When we stopped for a mint tea, we agreed that he was right, we would go back to the souks with no idea of what we want to buy and cast our lists aside.

Let’s just say we came back with more than we can of imagined and absolutely nothing on our lists! A turquoise gold studded suede handbag, bronze sinks, a treasure chest and lots of delights from the amazing city that is Marrakesh.

The advice from the wise Moroccan seller applies for a successful life and career as well. As a coach, of course, I am a huge believer in setting intentions and goals for the future, but we must also stay open to all the gifts and delights life and the world has to offer us along the way. If we stay fixated on a goal which is sometimes no longer aligned with us, we can miss the things we want which are standing right in front of us.

We can become so focused on the next promotion, training contact or goal being the thing which will make us happy and move us forward that we end up in a place of feeling empty and lost. Sometimes we do it within relationships and focusing on a particular person being the thing we want the most.

But the real key and secret to success is to be really open that if what we want or what we think we want does not happen and is keeping us stuck, trust that something far better is coming along.

So write down your answers to these questions, where are you keeping yourself rigid and stuck?

What have you been focused on for so long that may not actually be the correct course of action for you?

What can you open up too and trust that something better is coming your way?