You are a leader whether you think of yourself as a leader or not.
Even if you don’t see yourself as a leader in an organization or business, you are the leader of YOUR life. There is no greater responsibility than that.
If you’re like me, you want to have a positive impact on the world, and how you do that is through the cultivation of self-awareness.
When I lead workshops on effective leadership for outdoor industry companies and conferences, I always focus on building self-awareness. It is THE most important quality you can cultivate because it gives you the power of choice.
When you have good self-awareness you:
- Align your actions with who you say you want to become because you know what’s important to you.
- Amplify your positive impact and clean up any negative impacts.
- Discern between what’s happening, and the story you’re telling yourself about what’s happening.
- Create healthy daily habits that boost your energy so you can be the best you can be.
- Recognize old habit patterns that don’t serve you and choose out of them.
5 practices that build self awareness in under 5 minutes:
- Instead of reaching for your phone first thing in the morning, pause upon waking and express gratitude for your life.
- Breathe deeply into your low back and low belly, and make your exhalation the same length as your exhalation. All you need is just one conscious breath.
- When you feel stressed, frustrated or anxious, pause, take a deep breath and curl your lips into a little smile (this works on the river too).
- The next time you’re upset about something, ask yourself: ‘What am I making this mean?’
- Sit quietly and focus on your breath. Repeat to yourself: ‘inhaling I breathe in’ as you inhale, and ‘exhaling I breathe out’ as you exhale.
The key to cultivating any practice or habit is consistency over time. If 5 minutes per day is what’s available for you, then do that! Remember, practice hard moves in easy water with consistency and you’ll get big results.
Ready to step up your game as the leader of your life? Email me to create a customized empowered leadership plan just for you.
