SELF LEADERSHIP

Jan

2019

Leading in Health and Fitness

I was sitting across the coffee table from an individual who is passionate about helping people reach their full potential in their wellness. This man had spent years in another industry, but through his personal journey and tapping into his passion he walks a different path now with his company Alignment Nutrition.

Jeremiah is a certified health coach who continually learns and grows in understanding of his industry and craft. Awhile back he took a leap away from the monotony he was experiencing in his job to launch out and build a business helping change people’s view on themselves and specifically their view on food and nutrition.

As we talked I wanted to learn his perspective on leadership as it relates to health and fitness.

FOUR AREAS

Jeremiah suggests four areas of our lives help create balance. As we seek to bring reasonable balance to these areas our overall well-being improves. He recognizes we will never be in perfect balance and there is a constant ebb and flow of these areas even in one day let alone our lifetime.

Spiritual – this can be as simple as creating quite-time or thinking time

Relational/Emotional – are we aware of our personal mindset and how it impacts those we interact with daily?

Passion – look at your heart. I have heard the questions: what makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What makes you sing? Answer these questions clearly and you will have greater clarity on your true passion.

Physical – This area Jeremiah focuses on the most in his business as all other areas are manifested in our physical care. If we are not right in the other areas then others will sense that in your in our physical appearance and the energy we exude.

HIS DISCIPLINES

I asked Jeremiah to provide insight on how he leads himself in these four areas. The following were some of his thoughts:

Surround yourself with the right people. This is a factor of self-leadership and one way he leads himself is by bringing three types of people into his life: coaches, mentors, and accountability partners. All three play a role in helping him continually move toward his goals.
Intentionality. In order to maintain this balance Jeremiah chooses to block time to engage with his family. He also intentionally invests time in developing, learning, and growing his business acumen.
Habits. Whether the physical discipline of exercise, proper nutrition, etc. or mental discipline of daily moving toward his goal Jeremiah cultivates habits that help him progress in balance. Although he is very disciplined Jeremiah encourages himself and others to “give yourself grace when it is not perfect.” Changing habits takes time, give yourself room to grow.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON GROWTH

As we concluded our time together he shared some insightful thoughts that may help us as we pursue our goals. We all want to live a fulfilling and purpose-filled life but as Jeremiah reminded me through an idea many of us have heard: “until the pain of change is less than the pain of remaining the same, you will remain the same.”

Growth requires change and change is not easy and Jeremiah reminded me of a key truth.

We ask for success, but then prepare for failure.

Move in the direction of success today by preparing and expecting it. Battle those limiting beliefs with truth. Provide yourself with a framework for success and accountability. Need help with any of this? If you need help thinking into your leadership results contact me. If you want help with your health and fitness results learn more about Alignment Nutrition Coaching with Jeremiah and become the person you were created to be. Lead well.

Dec

2018

Perspective in Holiday Self-Leadership

Are you like me during the holiday season? Life gets crazy with the expectations at work and at home, but then we pile on the holiday expectations, and sometimes they’re unrealistic. Whether it’s a pressure internally to buy gifts for lots of people which creates a financial pressure to buy beyond your budget.

Add to all this the excessive commitments to be at holiday experiences with your family, extended family or events at school. Everything’s constantly pulling at us, and it creates so much pressure! What can we do?

We all have a lot going on. Maybe one of these ideas will help you lower the expectation level and help you maintain perspective during this time.

Community. When you are around others ask questions to connect and be in genuine authentic community with others.
Solitude. Maybe you need to take some time alone as we are so busy with everything going on. One practice I implement is starting each day reading from an inspirational book. That could be a faith-based book or something else. Find something that can help you maintain perspective and dive into it.
Realistic goals and expectations. Are we expecting too much or ourselves? “I have to get the perfect gift,” we think. Chances are, this person cares more about you being present than the gift you bring.
Serve others. I know during the holiday season our family tries to help other people. In the past we’ve helped with giving gifts to families in need. During Thanksgiving time we have helped deliver meals. During Christmas we have helped wrap gifts at a community gift store. All of these help us maintain perspective.
Inexpensive fun. One tradition our family has is driving through the local Christmas light show that is right down the street. If we have time we visit the neighborhood light show with the lights flashing in connection with songs on their own music station. Either way we drive, enjoy the display, each other and it only costs a little gas money. At the same time it helps us keep perspective, connect as a family, and lower stress.
Be Kind. If you are like me you like to be in control and that can create problems. The biggest problem being when people do not do things the way we want them to. Sometimes when we let go of the need to be in control it enables us to treat others with the kindness they deserve.

I don’t know what will help you manage your perspective, and not be so flustered during this time, with all the expectations and added pressures on top of leading at work and leading at home. Which one of these can you apply to help you maintain perspective? Maybe you have something different you do that you can share. Whatever it may be, please share with me ways that you maintain perspective during this time of year. I hope you have found this helpful. Thanks for reading, and lead well in all you do.

Nov

2018

Fighting the Voice of Self-Doubt

Confession here. . . I talk to myself.

If you are honest, you know you do too. But the problems come based on the voice I listen to.

No, I am not insane, but I do fight the voice of self-doubt. . . maybe you do too or you have figured out how to neutralize it . . . or you are busy and don’t hear it or . . .

What do we do about this voice? It’s amazing isn’t it? I spend some of my time doing youth leadership training especially during The John Maxwell Team Global Youth Initiative and I talk to youth about this idea. We discuss how self-esteem impacts our leadership, but here I am many years along and it still can be a battle.

About a year ago I was at the International Maxwell Certification and listening to Seth Godin who mentioned the author Steven Pressfield so I went on Amazon, of course, and purchased one of his books.

As leaders we have to create in some form or fashion, but the voice of self-judgement creeps in and this is what Pressfield says:

“Suspending self-judgment doesn’t just mean blowing off the ‘You suck’ voice in our heads. It also means liberating ourselves from conventional expectations – from what we think our work ‘ought’ to be or ‘should’ look like.”

He continues on with the encouragement to follow your unconventional crazy heart. What does all this have to do with self-doubt? . . . . everything.

A few ideas:

Suspend the need to know how. When a crazy creative idea comes, think on it and process it with your team. Many times the need to know how gets in my way when it comes to taking risks. Sometimes we evaluate the risk/reward equation enough to make sure we aren’t being too foolish and then jump in and figure it out as we go. . . . just like when we learned how to walk. We take a few steps, stumble, fall, learn, get back up and try again.
Kill the Gremlin. One of my mentors calls this voice of self-doubt a “gremlin”. If you don’t know what a gremlin is then google it . . . and I’m not talking about the car. Once you kill the thoughts the gremlin feeds you then replace those thoughts with truth. What are you good at? What ways do you lead well? Is a “no” a rejection of you as a person or simply a “no”?
Get feedback from the right sources. When we are starting a creative new venture we want to be sure the voices we are listening to are honest, but also encouraging. These voices should not amplify the “should” and “ought” voices Pressfield talks about. These voices should be both honest and visionary to spur on your creative growth.

Leading is hard. The hardest one to lead is me. What helps you suspend the voice of judgement and doubt as you lead? Share with me. Stay connected and get my free e-book by signing up to receive updates, just click the button on the menu. Lead well today at work and home.

Oct

2018

Lead Yourself Like Rocky

I was sitting on the couch watching Rocky for the first time in a long time. This was the introduction of this iconic movie series to my children.

I don’t know if you remember or have even watched the movie, but there is a scene the night before the fight where Rocky walks around the ring. You can tell he is battling the voices of self-doubt. After returning from his walk he sits next to his girlfriend, future wife, Adrian.

In that moment he makes a decision as he contemplates the reality he was about to face the world champion. He tells Adrian he is going to do something no one else has ever done with the champ, Apollo Creed, he is going to go the distance. Rocky set in his mind that he was going to fight him to the final bell.

What does this have to do with leadership?

Everything!

I have heard people pose the question to me: do you buy you? As I think of Rocky in this movie three key principles of self-leadership come to mind.

Clear Vision. One of my mentors uses the phrase “hold your image” and this is a challenge to hold the image in your mind of where you see yourself. As a leader what is the vision you have of where you are going? Do you have a clear picture in your mind of what it looks like? I know a leader who over twenty-five years had a picture of what he wanted the organization he leads to look like and now twenty-five years later he gets the chance to see that image becoming a reality.
Persistence. We have a clear picture of where we want to be, but as another mentor of mine says: everything is uphill. Rocky had a once in a lifetime chance to contend for the heavyweight championship of the world and in the beginning he barely could complete his run, but he continued to train to the best of his ability and pressed on toward the goal. Why is the leader I know seeing his vision becoming reality, because he kept climbing even during the uphill battles when he was the only one who could see where they were headed.
Inspiration. Rocky had a team who inspired him. One of his biggest inspirations was the woman he loved. She believed in him and was by his side no matter what. He had a manager who stood beside him during practice and fortified his belief in himself through words he said to help Rocky see where he could be.

Where is it you want to go that you may not believe you can go? Who is in your corner to encourage and inspire you? Maybe there are people you know or people’s examples who inspire you like I am inspired by the fictional character Rocky or the words and stories of authors I do not know personally. Anything worth having is worth working for, so are you willing to persist toward your goal and pursue what might seem impossible right now? Rocky’s first step . . . he got up at 4 AM, drank a glass full of raw eggs and went for a long run. What is your first step in leading yourself today? Lead well friend.

Oct

2018

What is Your Stress Level Like?

Have you ever chosen to create stress in your life? I do it on a daily basis.

I know, you are thinking I am crazy, but this stress is for my own good . . . to avoid the natural course of gravity as I age.

For years I have made it a daily routine to workout and that includes lifting weights. A brief course on the stress of lifting weights. We overload the muscle with a certain amount of weight in order to stress the muscle. This stress causes micro-tears in the muscles which if we allow time to recover appropriately will heal and the muscles will grow.

Have you ever over done this process? I did it to my father-in-law once. . . . I promise it was not on purpose.

He and I went to his local YMCA and I took him through a workout using all the strength training machines. He seemed fine during the workout, but a week later he was still sore! I didn’t hurt him, but I did work him a little too hard since it had been awhile since he had lifted any weights. The man could barely move his arms for days. . . . I felt bad.

How do we know if we are taking ourselves or our team outside the appropriate stress range?

Observe. Just as there are ongoing physical signs of us overstressing our bodies there are signs of ourselves and those around us being overstressed. Some of those signs can be increased anxiety, a short temper, fatigue, and even depression just to name a few. If you are seeing these in yourself or those around you then pay attention. Does the workload need to be adjusted or the time working?
Communicate. Spend time talking and listening to others on your team. Not only do we want to listen to their needs, but also their feedback. They may be seeing something in us that we are blind to. If we listen, we may get a step ahead of our own overstressed situation before it derails our performance the performance of those we lead.
Pain. When we overstress our bodies we have nagging pain that doesn’t seem to go away. When we overstress ourselves in other ways it can be manifested physically by illness or the pain of strained relationships.

Stress is normal and appropriate stress stretches us and helps us grow, but when we get outside of the appropriate range we are becoming ineffective and will negatively impact our results.

What about you? How are you doing in this area as a leader? Do you have a good sense on how appropriately stressed or stretched your team is? Do you need to adjust personally or for those you lead? What is one way you can stay in the appropriate stress range today? If you found this helpful and have not joined the other people who receive these directly to their inbox then go here and click on “receive updates” and you will get a free e-book on leading better and other great tips and encouragement straight to your inbox. Lead well!

Oct

2018

What voices are you listening to?

I was in a leadership conference listening to a speaker as she shared a concept that I was familiar with, but with a different twist. I talk to people about “the rule of 5” . . . the five people closest to you most impact the person you will become. Not only is this true, but also what we allow in our mind and focus on impacts our results.

I have heard about John Maxwell’s Law of the Inner Circle in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership which states “a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him”. This speaker took this concept to a more detailed level and called them your “personal board of directors” which I will explain in detail in a moment.

Two days later I was reading a newsletter I receive about the challenges specific people of faith face in other countries. Now I am not trying to force my beliefs on you in any way, but this thought I encountered has relevance for all of us.

I will not go into detail about what led the individual to this thought, but you are welcome to reach out to me and I will gladly share. Here was a thought she had after getting out of a very challenging environment:

“We respond more to the beeps on our phone, I find, than to the Holy Spirit.”

As I reflected on this thought and the speaker’s statements I gathered a few leadership insights from both.

Slow down to listen and think. I know my phone or drive to have a clean inbox continually pull at me and keep me from being quiet and still enough to hear that quiet voice which guides me to know the next step. You don’t have to be a person of faith to agree there are times you get a “gut feel” on what to do, but if we are constantly busy we struggle to slow down, think, and tune into the “gut feel” or “spirit” or whatever you want to call it.
Have a counselor. As a leader is there someone in your life that helps you reflect and process the pain points in your life? A true counselor helps you reflect on the past, but a coach helps you think into the future. Both can be helpful, but a coach looks to the future while a counselor will help you dig out of the pain of the past. Whichever you need . . . or both. . . are these people on your personal board of directors as this speaker discussed?
Have a mentor. I have in my life multiple mentors who help me build my business. I don’t know all the answers and these individuals have been successful and are further down the path. What mentors do you have in your industry to help you grow?
Have a spiritual director. This speaker is a person of faith and this is important because the reality is we are all spiritual beings. You can define this however you want, but is there someone in your life that helps you when you are out of sync spiritually? Why is this important? We only have a short time on this planet and this person will help make sure you are leading yourself and others in a way that matters for the long haul.

These thoughts prompted me to evaluate the people closest to me and the thoughts I pay attention to. What about you? Maybe this is not the right make-up for your personal “board of directors,” but it resonated with me and I hope this helps you think into how to lead better at home and work. Who would be on your “board of directors,” let them know. Lead well.