This week’s blog is inspired by Grayson Perry’s new alter ego ‘Shirley Smith’.

Having been commissioned by the Wallace Collection to create an exhibition based on its renowned paintings and sculptures he hit a major obstacle: he struggled to love the collection. So in order to fulfill the brief he invented Shirley Smith, an artist who loved the Wallace Collection. Genius.

Often, in order to do what we love, we have to learn to love what it takes to get there.

Here are a few classic struggles I have encountered over the last 20 years as an Executive Coach:

• I find it hard to deliver a keynote. I’m not a performer.
• I’m a fund manager not a sales person.
• I just want to get the job done and not have to deal with people.
• It’s just who I am.

Artists know they need to keep reinventing themselves to stay relevant. So take a leaf out of their book. When you find yourself stagnating, change the story you tell yourself.