What was your hardest learning last year?
Two tools to help you reflect, integrate and cross the chasm of change.
I know what mine was.
It still sends shudders down my spine. Underneath the shame that it evokes is a complex and vital insight about myself. Something that, if I don't face and reconcile in the next few months, will continue to create the risk that I take my company in the exact wrong direction (and with it, my bright-eyed and excited new employees).
I got to the root of why it happened after a three-hour retrospective I facilitated for myself. That day, as if on cue, the universe tested me. I received an email tempting me down the wrong path again. I marked it unread. I wasn’t ready to make the change.
I was watching the final episode of Lessons In Chemistry (a great show) when Brie Larson said something that knocked the wind out of me:
"Courage is the root of change - and change is what we're chemically designed to do."
A higher version of me knew how I needed to respond to that email, but fear held me back. As Warren Bennis would say, it was a "leadership crucible moment." We all experience them. There's magic (and usually discomfort) in these moments.
Ensuring that those alchemical crucible moments yield a better version of yourself requires the capacity to reflect to turn the failures of the everyday life of a leader into hard-earned wisdom.
This is about going inward. Getting to know the story of you. And that's the biggest obstacle to becoming the version of yourself, a better leader.
As Jerry Colonna says, "The frenzied frenetic 'do-it-now, answer the email now, or the company will die even though it's 3 a.m.' attitude is precisely the wrong process of becoming yourself."
Now, let's talk about the tools:
Here is a quick neuroscience hack adapted from an excerpt from Reboot by Jerry Colonna to embed real change in your mind and body right now:
Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Engage your core so your back is strong. Drop your arms to your sides and turn your palms out, spreading your fingers. This is the warrior stance. Strong back and open heart. Now say this to yourself: Here I am. I am intelligent, unstoppable, and I am becoming. I am meeting the world and myself as we are, and just by having this mindset and this stance, I hold space for the alchemy of change in myself and the systems around me.
If you're ready to pluck the hard-earned wisdom from last year, I invite you to use this incredible free resource called YearCompass to reflect.
Bonus: Send to your team and on your next weekly call, invite them to share one or two a-ha’s with the group.
Don't let a juicy insight about your (or your company's journey) of becoming slip through your fingers because you're too busy chasing the next thing ;)
And yes, I'm saying this to myself as much as I'm saying this to you. Let the change begin.
Happy New Year. Let’s make it a great one 💪🏼
Steph
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