Leaders need quality habits to enhance their leadership presence, and sharpen their thinking.
I like to keep it simple. Energy flows in and out, like the ocean ebbs and flows. There needs to be a balance of giving and receiving. And for growth, there also needs enhancement! The ocean needs refreshing and purifying, just as we do.
Take a look at this table that outlines my approach to boosting energy habits:
Photo By Angela Mabray, CC License
We know that we ‘get what we focus on’. We know that the ‘better it gets, the better it gets’. We know that ‘if it’s to be, it’s up to me’.
The thing is, we know the theory, but we do PRACTICE it? Or is our law of attraction magnet a little dusty and dull?
Here’s how to tell our magnet needs a bit of amplification:
We are no good to anyone when we are grim and grey. Our dreams and skills and talents are wilting, our purpose deflated, and our hearts a little shrivelled. Leadership presence is prickly, and relationships sour and insipid.
Decidedly unattractive, and definitely not magnetic.
I have a whole page of notes on why and how we get ourselves all bent out of shape and decidedly unmagnetic. I’ll save these for my book, and gift you the prescription cure instead.
Here’s Dr Zoë’s Law of Attraction Magnet Amplifier Cure-All Intervention Prescription:
As I start writing The Book, I take inspiration from other fabulous work.
Looking for some good brain food? Here are some good juicy books from my fellow Thought Leaders:
The New Rules of Management by Peter Cook
How to Revolutionise Productivity, Innovation, and Engagement by Implementing Projects That Matter
Productivity re-written. Hot tips with implementing meaningful projects in 90 day blocks, and the use of Shakti as a guideline.
The Game Changer by Dr Jason Fox
How to use the science of motivation with the power of game design to shift behaviour, shape culture and make clever happen
Scintillating wit, cute cartoons, and simple and effective strategies to make work less like work and more like fun. ‘Make progress visible’ is my new mantra.
Amplifiers: The Power of Motivational Leadership to Inspire and Influence by Matt Church
Matt’s thought leadership is elegant, thorough, and conscience-shifting. I have recommended his work to Vice Chancellors, CEOS, coaches – to those who have message and need to get it heard in a way that expands and uplifts.
Practical Performance Measurement: Using the PuMP Blueprint for Fast, Easy and Engaging KPIs by Stacey Barr
She’s the go-to girl for everything measurement. In this seminal work, Stacey takes you through step-by-step to measure what matters. ROTI (return on time invested) changed my life when I learned about it from Stacey.
From Me to We: Why commercial collaboration will future proof business, leaders, and personal success by Janine Garner
This well-researched, example rich book makes a solid case that collaboration trumps competition in the new connected economy. Another evolved human being leading the way in uplifting those around her, with her. You go, girl.
Got any books to recommend. Please add them in the comments! I’m a book junkie and love, love personal recommendations.
© Loren Kerns, CC License, flickr
Without fail, leaders I work with struggle with their confidence from time to time. Even the most influential C-suite well-titled leaders have the occasional quiver of self-doubt.
And it always looks like a version of one or more of these three questions:
1. Am I good enough?
2. Do I know enough?
3. Am I worth it?
Let’s take a look at these suckers and see what’s going on.
1. Am I good enough?
This is about Ability.
This has a number of different causes, and we won’t go there. Likely something in our upbringing or early work career set us up for self-doubt. This is for our therapist/energy worker/healer to sort out.
Helpful reframe: EVERYONE has a first day on the job. Even Obama.
2. Do I know enough?
This is questioning Credibility.
A Vice Chancellor I work with said to me, “I wish I’d read these books before I wrote the about-to-be-published book chapter.”
Yup. There will always be something more to learn. Get over it – what we know got us here, where we’re going next will need new stuff.
Helpful reframe: Leaders are learners, suck it up.
3. Am I worth it?
This is questioning Market Value.
This leads to fear of asking for the sale, the promotion, the payrise.
Helpful reframe: we get what we ask for. 100% true. We will attract clients/opportunities/jobs that reflect our own internal barometer of what we feel we are worth.
So let’s try this instead:
Flip the first two words in the questions.
Try it on for size! Like a new pair of jeans – it takes a little while before they feel comfortable.
CC License – Tom Kelly, Aerials Sprint US Freestyle Champions, flickr.com
Alisa Camplin was the 2002 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist for aerial skiing. What’s remarkable about the story is that she did not know how to ski when she decided she wanted to win gold in that sport.
How did a non-skiing Australian (aka land of sun, desert, and beaches) woman become the Olympic Champion in a sport that needs mountains and snow?!
I listened to Alisa tell her story at an event a few months ago and a couple of things stayed with me:
One needs to be closer to the extreme end of obsessive compulsive to see through years of rigorous training and nutritional discipline to achieve an Olympic Gold medal. You’ve got to want it. A lot. Like, really, A LOT.
However, there are some aspects of her story that fit neatly into taking an champion attitude and strategy to our own personal and professional goals.
It boils down to this:
We’ve all grown up with stories of Heroes – from the comic book characters of Superman, Spiderman, and WonderWoman through to fairy tales of the dashing prince saving the damsel in distress, through to religious icons like Jesus and Mohammad. The Hero story pervades our psyche.
Joseph Campbell writes extensively about the common pattern of the hero story across human cultures. It’s part of who we are, how we think about life and its challenges, and what it means to have a life of purpose.
But the hero has gotten a bad rap of late in leadership thinking.
The idea that there is one person – usually male – who can save the day, make things better, and bring hope to the world is rife. US Presidential candidate races are run on this premise – it’s all about the individual.
We idolise and make much of the person ‘out in front’: the army general, the CEO, the politician.
Why has this now been seen as a problem?
What’s your Quest for this year? I love the beginning of a year as it has that sense of freshness, of embarking on new adventures and discoveries.
Adventure is one of my core values. It’s taken me up mountains, down many miles of wild rivers, across hemispheres and cultures, and through the darkest rabbit holes of my own psyche.
I bring adventure in to all aspects of my life and work. It’s not always ‘extreme’ like running a marathon or going back country skiing, but it is intentional and deliberate. It’s how I keep enjoying the ride, as well as ensuring there is a ride to be had!
Each year I choose a new ‘quest’ theme word to help frame the nature of my adventures. Last year’s word was “Joie de Vivre” – I wanted to savour all the moments of a busy and brilliant year. It helped to remind me of how to approach my day, my projects, and my reflection time. It’s not so much what you do, but how you do it. And I wanted a change from ‘hard’, ‘struggle’, and ‘tense’ that is my Achilles’ heel in the stress management department. “Joie de Vivre” helped remind me to say yes to fun, and no to crap – crap attitudes, crap decisions, and crap in general.
Choosing a quest word is rife with pitfalls, and I urge you to choose wisely as it will saturate and steer your life experience this year.
The obvious pitfall to list first is not to have a Quest word at all. This is like drifting through the year without a keel. You get taken – and dumped – by the current of events. So let’s take a look at the other challenges.
CC License – Howard Lebowitz “Sunrise”
Slamming the alarm clock and groaning is one way to start the day. Crawling into bed bleary-eyed and jittery is another way to finish it.
I want neither!
I want to skip out of bed full of energy and happiness, and I want to sink into bed blissed-out and smiling at the end of the day. Both are possible without Pollyanna or drugs.