3 Lessons from Another Trip Around the Sun

THE ART & SCIENCE OF LEADING SELF
3 Reflections on Self-Leadership

Many of you know that I completed another trip around the sun in May. Knowing my love for travel, you can probably guess how I chose to celebrate. You are correct: I took a trip. But not just any trip. I finally made it to my 7th continent (Australia). 🥳 And since I was traveling that far, I couldn’t miss the chance to also spend time in New Zealand!

Travel has always been a place of profound reflection for me. I’m still processing everything I learned during my trip, but stay tuned. I have already started to draft insights from my experiences into future issues of this newsletter.

Today, however, I want to share 3 lessons about self-leadership that I learned over the last year.

🧠 Lesson #1: Get out of your head!
As an intellectual person, I’ve always tended to live in my head. I can easily fall into the trap of over-thinking things and processing events primarily through a cognitive lens. The 13-month sabbatical I started in late 2018 gave me a front-row seat to this tendency. Over the last 5 years, I have been steadily investing in strengthening my mind-body connection.

I’m excited to share that something powerful happened in this last year. I started living more fully in my body and trusting its wisdom. I notice small physical sensations now. I observe and listen more closely to the cues my body sends me. Decisions I previously would have made solely from my head are now made by listening to my body and my head.

This shift has helped me bring areas of my business and personal life into greater alignment with my values and my purpose. It has helped me reclaim time, make difficult decisions confidently, transform the way I navigate uncertainty, and deepen what I offer CEOs in my coaching work.

My commitment to leading myself more effectively - by getting out of my head and into my body - empowers me to offer a more holistic, integrative approach to my coaching programs. This translates directly into transformative, impactful results for my clients.

❤️ Lesson #2: Love is at the core of great self-leadership.
The most impactful leaders I have ever had the privilege of working with lead with love. They embody love for the mission, love for the organization, and love for their team.

The love they lead themselves with makes the love they embody in their leadership role possible.

You cannot lead others well if love is not at the root of how you lead yourself.

So, I spent much of last year exploring my ability to lead myself with greater love. Today, I am proud to report that I led myself with more love and respect during this past year than I ever have.

This is exciting because of how it empowers me to lead others from a place of greater love.

🔬 Lesson #3: Stay in your own leadership laboratory.
Growth and development don’t happen over night, but consistency in your actions sows the seeds for future fruit. My commitment to staying in my own leadership laboratory has translated into 3 big shifts over the last year:

1. Greater comfort being “the face” of my business (and promoting that)

   • I wouldn’t have believed there would ever be a time when I would enjoy posting daily content on LinkedIn, but that day is here. 😱 The work I continue to do on my mindset and my courage makes that possible.

   • I also credit this shift with my ability to generate a weekly newsletter that is authentic to me and what I want to share. Now that I am being true to myself, it is effortless - and genuinely fun - to write this each week. 😁 

2. Greater ease navigating uncertainty in my business and in my personal life

   • By “taking my own medicine first,” I have dramatically shifted how I relate to uncertainty. I will share more specifics about how I have done this in future emails.

3. Deeper passion for my coaching work

   • As you can imagine, everything I have shared above has sparked an even deeper passion for my work. Growing up, I was always that kid who wanted to share what I learned with others. Multiply that energy times 10 now!

FROM INSIGHT TO ACTION
Getting Practical

Lesson #1: Get out of your head!
What does getting out of your head and into your body look like for you?

One way to start to get a clearer picture is by committing to a contemplative practice. Consider tai chi, qigong or breath work. Each of those will bring you more into your body.

Commit to a manageable frequency (going from 0 to 60 is difficult to do in an automobile, so why try it as a pedestrian?), and then observe what you learn. Refrain from judging yourself. Just notice how it feels to be more in your body.

Lesson #2: Love is at the core of great self-leadership.
Two ingredients of love (there are several) are respect and care. Spend time examining your calendar, listening to your self-talk, and observing how you treat yourself (rest, diet, exercise, etc.).

As you do that, go back to the chorus of that Black Eyed Peas song and ask yourself, “Where is the love?”

Your answer may be positive, negative, or somewhere in between. Whatever it is, don’t judge yourself. Use the information as a starting point to infuse more love into how you lead yourself.

Lesson #3: Stay in your own leadership laboratory.
A leadership laboratory is not a physical space. It’s that time you make to engage in self-reflection, self-observation, and other practices that support the development of greater capacity to lead yourself well.

What does your leadership laboratory look like?

QUOTE
Parting Words of Wisdom

EXCELLENCE UNBOUNDED
How I Can Help You

🚀 CEO Coaching Programs: Are you a CEO who wants to skillfully navigate uncertainty, lead confidently, and drive results? Developing greater leadership capacity in 4 key domains (Mindset, Courage, Resilience, & Innovation) will empower you to do all three.

Book time here to learn about the bespoke 1:1 coaching programs I deliver. During this call, we will talk about your challenges, your goals, and how we might partner to fully unbound your excellence.

🎤 Speaking Engagements: My mom can attest to the fact that I LOVE to talk. 😂 Now, I put that talent to work delivering talks on Mindset, Courage, Resilience, & Innovation.

A few past clients include KraftHeinz, Amazon Women @ Payments, PAHEi, & the Panamá Chapter of the International Coaching Federation (this talk was delivered in Spanish).

If you are interested in having me speak at your event, please fill out this form.

Until next week,

Shawnette

P.S. Remember, your greatest leadership tool is your own self-mastery.