Commit To The Gift of a Better You For Yourself & Those You Love
In my last article, I discussed the importance of investing in yourself this holiday season. You can go back and read it here.
The main thing we focused on is that if you want to improve your overall day-to-day effectiveness and experience, it’s important to prioritize your personal and professional development. When you ignore your own growth and personal development – even if your business or career seems to be on track – you risk more than losing the day-to-day enjoyment of the benefits of your success. You risk not seeing the results you’d set out to achieve in the first place.
It’s easy to find yourself working hard and long hours without making the impact you’d like. Other areas of your life suffer or you may even feel like you’re stuck in a rut when it comes to life outside of work.
After all, most of us are seeking not just success – but a richer, more meaningful and fulfilling life. All the success in the world does not mean a lot if your health is suffering, or if you’re unhappy, or if you find yourself without close personal ties, people you care about to celebrate and enjoy it with.
Check out the video for one way to give the gift of a better you this holiday season and beyond:
If you are seeking more balance, and meaning, a richer, more fulfilling experience of life – you have to start with you first.
That’s why I’ve put together 6 simple ways you can focus on you this holiday season, whether you’re running a team meeting or attending a holiday party.
1. Take Care of Yourself
As much as you may see vast room for improvement in your workplace, your business, your community or in the country, your key area of influence and control lies within you. After all, you don’t have control over many of these external factors, but you do have control over how you choose to respond to them.
By taking care of your needs – getting regular exercise, drinking plenty of water, eating well, and getting sufficient sleep – you can show up as a better version of you for those you care about the most.
This can be especially challenging during the busy holiday season. By taking basic but sometimes elusive steps to care for yourself, you empower yourself to become a more effective leader, spouse, parent and member of your community. And that is powerful not just during the holiday season but throughout the year.
2. Connect & Be Present
Slow down long enough to take a few deep breaths and tune in to where you are in this moment. Think of someone in your life who has presence…
Are they more dynamic, influential, authentic, dynamic? What being present really comes down to is your ability to connect with and to inspire others.
And it starts with your ability to connect with yourself. This is not just an airy-fairy concept. The more of your presence you bring to any situation – whether it be a team meeting or a conversation with your significant other – the more power you have to influence others and to impact positive change. This is about your inner game and your outer game.
By carving out the time to connect with yourself, you’;; discover untapped wisdom and knowledge you may not have realized was there. You may also begin to recognize some limiting beliefs or ideas (we all have them) that it may be time to clear and release.
3. Challenge Your Thoughts and Beliefs
Notice the narrative that’s running in your head. (We all have one and it can be surprisingly negative.) I see this each week in my consulting and coaching work. A client will say, “I’m just not funny” or “You seem organized but that’s just not who I am. I’m always disorganized” or “I’m not a planner.” However this repetitive dialogue shows up for you, ask yourself:
- How does it serve you?
- How does it limit you?
- How do you want to show up?
Challenge those thoughts and beliefs that are no longer serving you and become more intentional about how you want to show up in your life. Start noticing what’s in your head and from there, experiment with shifting it to what you want to be in your head.
With practice, you’ll notice your outcomes change as you shift your thought patterns and intentions – and deliberately practice showing up as the person you want to be in any situation.
4. Understand Your Feelings
You may have heard of or even explored the idea of emotional intelligence or emotional courage. It’s been promoted as the single most important key to personal as well as professional success. The Harvard Business Review has hailed emotional intelligence as “a ground-breaking, paradigm-shattering idea,” one of the most influential business ideas of the decade.
But what exactly does this mean?
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to recognize your own and other people’s emotions and to discriminate between different feelings so you can use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior. This enables you to manage or adjust in order to adapt to your external environment and achieve your goals.
It’s not just about your own feelings, but how do you want those that you interact with every day to feel? Do you want to inspire and uplift? Do you want them to feel happier, even in the face of obstacles? If you ask this of others, are you willing to go there first?
5. Let Go of the Outcome
For many of us, this is the hardest bit. If you are overly attached to how something has to happen or a particular outcome, your anxiousness and focus on it can actually increase the likelihood of it not occurring. At the very least, holding on too tightly creates a lot of unnecessary tension and stress at work and at home.
Instead, practice setting a clear intention, follow it with action and then let go of the outcome. Worrying and micromanaging are excellent ways to drive clients, connections and positive results out the door. Spending too much time or attention fixed on a desire can ultimately keep you from having much bigger results.
6. Work with a Professional Consultant or Coach
As you implement the above actions, you will begin to bring the best version of yourself to your business, your relationships and all of your interactions. One of the best gifts you can give yourself is enlisting the guidance and support of an experienced consultant, mentor or a professional coach.
This investment will ultimately save you time, as well as mental and emotional energy in knowing that you have a trusted and knowledgeable guide.
In 20+ years of leading teams, consulting business owners and coaching busy professionals, I’ve seen many successful managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders struggle with this on their own for far longer than is necessary.
Finding the right professional for your needs can not only help you sidestep a dilemma or two down the road – but a really excellent guide will question your assumptions and limiting beliefs and help you create change in a safe, supportive environment. So that you not only experience a difference yourself, but you see your results shift, too.
By combining my experience as a consultant with a unique focus on the unique mindset and energy management practices you need to create the life you truly want, I created my Success With Benefits group program to guide people – just like you – to gaining more clarity on their desired outcomes as well as how to take the steps toward them in an efficient and effective way. You can learn more about the program here.
If you don’t have that support in your professional or personal life, I encourage you to intentionally seek it out and cultivate it. You deserve it!
Embrace The New You
If you’re beginning to see the power of seeking balance and meaning in your life, then I’d like to make it even easier to stay on that journey for you.
Consider it my gift to you this holiday season. Once you review it, let me know what you think by sending me a quick email.
Remember that anyone that is important enough in your life for you to give a gift to this holiday – yourself included – will care about you enough to appreciate the gift of a new version of you.
When you focus on your own development, you are growing in ways that impact how you show up every day. This, not only, changes and can improve the quality of your own day-to-day experience and enjoyment, but also how you interact in all of your relationships – with your staff, with your boss, with your spouse, your friends, and your children.
If you enjoyed this post and would like help in making shifts at a deeper level so that you can cultivate more happiness and experience greater success, get your free guide with 5 ways to find more balance and meaning today or contact me directly to see if you qualify for a complimentary strategy session.
You can also learn more about me, read more blog posts, download free tips to create a business and a life you love or check out the stories of people who have worked with me.
