Inner Shit Talking: Delight to Doubt
Imagine it with me: You land a new role.
It’s a SIGNIFICANT step up in your leadership.
So of course you are excited about it. It’s everything you’ve worked for, and you’re going to be able to start implementing your ideas and plans.
You know, deeply, all the work you put in prior helped you get this job.
And you’re absolutely itching to dive in and generate great work.
You know what happens next for a lot of people in your (new) shoes?
The inner leadership gremlins awaken, and they are RUDE.
Instead of playing your greatest hits, their preferred soundtrack is Your Greatest Mistakes.
They’re focusing on the what-ifs and everything that could go wrong, and activating your fear of failure.
Because of course there’s a fear of failure. Because you actually care. (Only psychopaths don’t get ruffled.)
The result? Your confidence in your own leadership and competence takes a hike.
While intellectually you know you can rock this role, this new uptick in self-doubt – the inner sh*t-talking gremlins – have you questioning if this career move was actually a good idea.
Here’s what I want you to know: this flip flop from excitement to self-doubt is NORMAL.
You are a high-performing human being with a life-time of conditioning and inner voices, in a culture that doesn’t really teach us how to lead responsibly and skillfully. (No one is just born with it.)
AND…leadership does not have to mean surviving an every-day existential crisis.
In fact, that’s one of the core reasons I do this work: to reduce the toll that leadership can take on committed, caring leaders.
Here are 8 items for your personal leadership list that will you support you:
By owning your own version of leadership
By trusting that what got you here makes you uniquely qualified for this role
By updating your self-concept (this one is huge!)
By establishing your leadership style and voice
By expanding your ability to be with discomfort
By deciding which skills you need to grow or add
By learning to be with the additional responsibilities of this role and the pressure of your own expectations
By getting clear on the lifestyle you want so that your leadership fits your life
Having these invisible, internal skills is what sets you up to succeed at the tactical and strategic for your role.
It’s also what allows you to reap more of the rewards from leadership while reducing the toll leadership can take on you.
And that’s how you do the meaningful leadership work you’re here to do, on your terms, with more delight.
