Self-leadership
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Ready to leap past excuses
Hands up if you are a chronic excuse maker like I am. This is the part of self-leadership that I find needs the most work in my own life. I am quick to defend my broken commitments with justifications. Projects get put off as I find reasons why the timing isn’t great. I am quite skilled at creating excuses that paint me in a good light and sound noble. I fool myself too. This requires some digging. Sometimes there is truth and wisdom contained in the reasons I am giving. It may not be wise to launch three new programs within a week of each other! Plans need to change…
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Routines that are giving me life
The adjustment to working from home full time has been so much harder than I expected in some ways. And I don’t even have the excuse of having my daughter around during the day like so many are dealing with right now! Rhythms that I have tried to set still feel off-kilter. Frequent disruptions to my plans, extra errands and events have thrown me off balance. On the days I don’t have those come up, I struggle to focus anyway. Instead of obsessing over the ways that my rhythms are not meeting my ideal, I choose to celebrate the routines that are giving me life right now. Water before my…
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Health reset without losing my mind
Why is it that our health is the first thing that we let slide when life or mental space gets full? Or maybe it’s just me? My exercise routines are now hit and miss at best. My eating habits are leaving me feeling sluggish. Late nights have become more the norm than the exception. I know that taking care of myself physically has a direct impact on my relationships, work and leadership. The choice is mine. This is my declaration that I am pursuing a health reset. Maybe if I make it public the commitment level will increase! “You have one body and your leadership lives in it.” Jo Saxton…
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Diving deep to find what I learned this winter
I sat down to write about what I learned this winter. This seasonal reflection has been a regular practice for me for the past few years, inspired by Emily Freeman. So why did this time feel so much harder?! I couldn’t think of a single thing I had learned or even what I had done for my birthday less than two months ago. I contemplated giving up and finding something else to write about. Do you ever want to move on quickly from discomfort too? I had a choice between pushing through to what was lying underneath or ignoring the issue entirely. I chose to push through. It started with…
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How I lead and work from home
I feel like it may be more honest to write about how not to lead and work from home. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that I am a model for how to do this well. I simply share some tips and ideals that I aim for as one distracted and imperfect home office user to another. Set up a dedicated space I have the luxury of having a large room detached from our house that serves as my home office. If you ignore the fact that this room also doubles as my daughter’s play room and is strewn with Lego, Barbies and craft supplies, it’s just about perfect! I…
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My fears and hopes as I launch out
This journey of leaving regular, dependable employment feels like I am leaping out into a chasm. It is easy to feel courageous when I am sitting and talking with a coach or others encouraging me in this journey. Courage is hard to hold on to when the self-doubt comes, when looking at financial decisions coming up and when anticipating the work it will take to bring in an income in these next few months and years. There is fear and hope as I launch out. Fear I am terrified. Have I made the right decision? Who am I to think I can earn a living from writing, speaking and coaching?…
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The end of an era: preparing to say goodbye
How do you prepare yourself to say goodbye to a workplace that has been part of your life for more than ten years? I made the choice to leave a long time ago and have delayed leaving twice for different reasons. Now it is finally drawing to the end of my time there. This is the next right step for me but pain is still involved. I have to give myself permission to grieve. I am masterful at pushing aside emotion and expecting myself to carry on. There is part of me that feels I don’t have permission to be sad as this is my choice and something I have…
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What I’ve learned since releasing my book
A whole year has gone by since ‘Stepping Up In Leadership’ made its debut out into the world. Honestly, it feels like longer with everything else that this year has contained. This anniversary seems like a good opportunity to stop and reflect on what I’ve learned since releasing my book. The basic facts about the book: The book is called ‘Stepping Up In Leadership: Reflections from the journey’ and is available through my website, Koorong online and most online booksellers. It is available as an ebook on Kindle, iBooks, Nook and Kobo. What is it about? I self-published through Ingram Spark. I paid an editor to work on the manuscript…
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Create more than consume
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Making time for quiet and reflection in my life
On the day this post publishes, I am driving out to a monastic town to spend a weekend with other writers at a retreat. This has been a dream of mine for so long. I am so looking forward to it. What an indulgence to set aside a whole weekend for quiet, reflection and connection! Thanks, family, for this birthday gift. If I am honest though, part of me is also dreading it. You see, I have been drowning out the quiet in my day to day life of late. I have dived deep into numbing behaviour with technology at the forefront. I don’t like the person I have been.…
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My favourite things this winter (and what they reveal)
It’s winter here in Australia. Admittedly, what we consider winter here in Perth doesn’t come close to the experience of winter in many parts of the world! Gloomy, rain-filled days with a chill in the air are interrupted by frequent days of clear blue skies and beautiful weather. I love it! In the midst of this season, I find myself drawn to the same things repeatedly- my favourite things for this winter. I initially wanted to share these with you as a lighter post to ease back in after a two-week break. As I gathered my list of favourites, I suddenly realised that they are indicators of the state of…
