Checking In With The CEO, Moi

“Know yourself and you will win all battles” -Lao-Tzu, Chinese philosopher 

I’m feeling hyped up, kinda buzzy.  My mind is going and going with creative ideas.  They’re coming at a rapid fire pace like someone in the cosmos has a BB gun pointed at me, just pelting away.  My hands are shaky and my penmanship is turning to shit.  

“Breathe Brookie”  I exhale.  Deeply.  

“Lean back Goddess”  Yeah, I call myself Goddess.  I talk to myself with sweet nothings and it’s everything.  

I notice my mind is beginning to chill as I match my breath with my body and mind.  Bringing myself back into this moment so I can process.  So I can be aware of all that’s happening at the moment.  Lots of leaders are able to create awareness after the fact once the task or action has been completed.  But conscious leadership involves developing awareness in the moment.  Mastery of awareness is in the moment.  You gotta know yourself before you can achieve mastery and high performance.  All that starts with awareness.  Leadership of your business requires your awareness. It’s one of the core disciplines that I focus on when working with my clients. As business owners and entrepreneurs, my clients come to see through our work together how creating more awareness improves their overall success. 

Now my breathing has leveled out and I feel more relaxed.  I feel the flow of ideas come in a steady stream, not the haze of rapid fire.  I’m aware of my excitement over this new client and how I will serve them and I want to jot down all the ideas so I can go back and see what fits best.  I love the flow of creativity and I love the excited feeling.  What I don’t love so much is when I’m spinning so that whole breathing thing is really dope.  I gotta say, practicing breathwork and daily meditation (ok, most of the time it’s daily and that’s great) help me master my awareness.  My awareness of self, of others, of reality, of the environment and of my choices and options.  By creating that tiny space of the breath to reconnect mind and body or to lean back gives me the chance to check in and see what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling and most importantly how all that empowers me to make a choice and create something other than what I’m currently experiencing or interpreting.  

Business is full of decisions, actions and interactions all day, every day.  By focusing on your awareness, you provide yourself the foundation to create with deliberate intent.  When you hone in on your awareness, you’re no longer a slave to the autopilot mode.  This frees up your energy to allow your creativity and intuition to flow baby.  More creativity and intuition leads to better decision making, better communication, enhanced solution finding and it feels fucking good.  

As an experiment in fun, next time you’re not performing so hot, I want you to make a list of what might be off.  Come up with as many factors as you can no matter how small or silly or weird it might sound.  You can note it’s partly cloudy outside or your lucky shirt is in the wash. Whatever just list any internal and external things that might be off.  I want you to begin to cultivate your awareness in the moment.  Take that list and circle the ones that are most affecting your performance.  Then notice which ones you have control over.  Address those and if you want to know more, let’s connect.

“This blog contains my interpretation of the copyrighted work of Bruce D Schneider and the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC).”