The Roadmap Exercise, you should try this!
The Roadmap Exercise is an oldie but goodie, sometimes a trip down memory lane can ignite us!
The roadmap tool was introduced to me by one of my leadership mentor’s Andy Lacavita, love him.
I am in the middle of curating some ideas for tools that I want to offer to my coach and mentee clients and this brilliant tool gave me the most bang for my buck when I was stuck in a shitty job.
This roadmap tool reinvigorated me and reminded me that I am a legit bad ass. Give it a try and share your story with yourself and others if you wish.
WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?
Shelly's Roadmap was created after going through a self-reflection exercise to identify what you are good at and enjoy doing.
Just because you are good at something does not mean that you enjoy doing it. You can be good at something and hate doing it.
I wanted to discover the things that I was naturally good at that gave me joy.
The Roadmap Exercise
I used images to plot my roadmap. A short introduction to my parents, career entry, school, and hobbies. Including challenges like divorce, getting sober and stopping smoking. The stuff that defines beliefs and values.
I walked through all of my past jobs and framed them with milestones and goals.
Driving big trucks, training for competition, and managing data to tell stories brings me joy.
I love data. Tracking, normalizing, and telling stories with it. Inspiring growth and improvement by measuring productivity and celebrating progress.
Training for dog sport victories is fun. Its rewarding and addictive. Block chaining micro achievements into major wins works.
Navigating a big truck across the country safely is one of my proudest endeavors. If you ever feel defeated and not capable, look back on your achievements. Believe in the impossible.
I dropped out of High School.
I wanted to be a roadie.
I used to ride my peddle bike from my Fort Avenue Apartment to Little Italy.
I ran away to Los Angeles with a stranger
Planning a 3,000 mile road trip driving a tractor trailer without GPS or weather app is a triumph. You did that!
You also used to deliver sport horses, driving a 6 horse head 2 head trailer for the show barn you worked for. You can manage grooming multiple sport horses for 3 phase events and compete your own while doing that.
You survived a divorce, quit drinking and smoking.
Winning over professional handlers in the American Kennel Club (AKC) Show ring.
UPS Package Car driver story.
Bell Atlantic Mobile aka VZW failed interview turned around by introducing myself in a retail store.
Thinking outside the box when you could not find an apartment that would take your 2 large breed dogs. Trailer Park living hello - I did that.
Tenant Farming - I did that.
Letter of interest that opened the door to my dream part time job working for Sagamore Racing and then I wrote more letters of interests to the Maryland Horse Breeders Association (MHBA) and MD Jockey Club (MJC).
Letter of interest to Lift Off Distribution story.
4 weeks Coding Boot camp. I am a developer! I just need to figure out what kind.
The roadmap exercise revealed my love of going after everything and anything I have ever been curious about. Driving a big truck, dog sports, learning to code, and branding myself a technologist.
I discovered my knack for writing letters of interest that have led to many amazing adventures. I will be using this post to write creatively about some of my adventures. They will all eventually link back to my roadmap.
Here is Shelly's Roadmap
1986, Baltimore Maryland native but lived in Los Angeles for 3 years
2005, drove a big truck and met my Husband on Match.com
2014, went back to school to grow and develop who I wanted to be
2016, branded for a bigger career LinkedIn
2020, graduated from Stevenson University in December
2022, land a new role (I did it Jan. 3rd, 2022 was my first day working at Amtrak)
Ongoing, compete our sport dogs & build a mobile app
Tomorrow, live the RV life full time
The New Role
Land a new role where I can leave an intentional legacy. One where I find joy in planning, putting repeatable systems in place, sharing knowledge and being mindful of the user experience. A role where inspiring others to grow and work for success is a recurring theme.
That’s the roadmap exercise back story
and the beginning of my tool curation. yay me. This was a fabulous and valuable journey back in 2021, glad that I journaled and blogged it back then, so I can now repurpose my own experience to share with others.
WHO AM I & WHERE DO I BELONG?
Tool Number One
Wishbone Collective Coaching | Life