Are you 50 coffees away from a new you?
Have you heard of the 50 coffees concept? I recently shared an article “Can you change your life in 50 coffees” on Twitter which resonated with a lot of my friends. As a big fan of coffee, I was intrigued to see how someone could turn this daily ritual into a potentially life changing event!
What is 50 coffees?
Lindsay Ratowsky’s journey started when she realised that she was ready for a change in her career, but didn’t want to blindly jump into the next big thing. Instead, she decided that over three months she would meet with 50 friends and mentors to help plan the next stage of her career.
"I try to do my best to surround myself with dreamers, doers, believers, and thinkers because I want my world to continue to expand. I want to do more, learn more, see more -- while surrounded by intriguing people like you. Wanna grab a coffee?"
And while we may not all be at career crossroads like Lindsay, having your own “50 coffees” project may help you open new doors, find a mentor or coach, or even just make a new friend!
Ready to start your own 50 coffees?
For me, 2014 has been a year of change. At the end of last year, I realised that life had got away from me and I needed to make time to remember who I was, and what I was doing (see my blog post here on this topic). So in a subtle way, I have been on my own 50 coffee project.
With this goal in mind, I have been proactive in seeking out events and opportunities to meet new people, to have different conversations and to shake up the routine I found myself in. I have started a process of reaching out to people at work, old mentors, lecturers, people I find inspiring and people who have done really interesting things with their lives.
Its a little nerve wrecking approaching people that you don’t know very well, or don’t know at all. Enter the brilliance of the coffee date. Living in Melbourne, its pretty rare to find someone who doesn’t love coffee!
As Gretchen Rubin discussed in The Happiness Project (if you haven’t read it yet, you should definitely check it out here) it’s easy to say “I don’t have time to meet new people or make new friends”. For me, the experience of meeting new people and learning new things has far outweighed any crazy schedule juggling, and as Gretchen found, making a new friend is tremendously energising, not enervating. Even if you are not meeting someone new, making time to go out for coffee with your boss or an old colleague is a great way to strengthen your networks.
I am really excited to share what I have learned with you, so keep an eye out for the stories of the people I have met on the blog! Do you have a great coffee catch up story? Let me know, I would love to hear it!
Phoebe