This Misconception Costs Careers, Relationships and Satisfaction
This image illustrates the fallacy that hard work leads to recognition and advancement. That accessories will make you feel important. That salary equals fulfillment.
These are merely coverings we lay over our desire to be valued when we donât believe in ourselves.
At a certain level everyone is working hard, earns a reasonable wage and has a nice pen or handbag.
Hard work can turn into the treadmill to nowhere if it is your only career strategy or your escape from things that are not working.
Negotiating for salary without a tool belt of signature strengths, how youâve applied them, your measurable key accomplishments, your value proposition in a new role and a timeline for delivery is far less effective.
And the stuff you buy is a great way to treat yourself as long as it isnât how you make yourself feel good when you doubt yourself.
Everything on the bottom of this image comes from an internal sense of self-worth.
I see this in my clients. Society tells you what you should wa...
You are a human being. Not a human doing.
Do you ever feel like this?Â
You're working harder than ever yet not much is changing regarding what you really want and you're beginning to think there is something wrong with you.
You are a human being. Not a human doing. Sometimes we forget that as we work long hours or work hard but notice we arenât fulfilled or our work isnât appreciated.Â
Donât push away difficult emotions. They resurface as anxiety, busyness, anger, frustration, stress, numbness and disconnectedness.Â
When we learn how to sit quietly and ask ourselves whatâs really going on inside us, that humility creates space for courage. We open this space by getting out of our routines, going to a favorite place or on a walk. The beach always does this for me.Â
What weâve turned away from creeps out of the shadows back into the light and though it is difficult to face what weâve been running from, a sigh of relief follows when we do. Freedom is in sight.Â
Recently, I had a client who had been doubting his efficacy com...
Your Still Space, Executive Presence and Mindful Daily Practices
This podcast shows you how to stop self-sabotage and regret. Thoughts can be chaos when they are out of control. Finding your still space gives you power. In your still space you gain control over runaway thoughts before they hijack your efficacy and likability. In this episode wew explore mindful daily practices that help you build your awareness to notice the still space window before it closes and youâve missed the opportunity and said or done something you regret.
https://www.maryleegannon.com/podcasts/the-still-space-podcast/episodes/2147785607
It's Cost You Too Much Already to Stay Stuck
Youâre a leader in a high performing role but deep down you understand that emotional intelligence and clarity are critical to your success. Youâve started to doubt yourself. You feel you donât have a clear career path and feel you need more executive presence for greater influence and efficacy.
Youâve noticed your relationships are frayed, youâre resentful, youâre not sleeping well and other healthy habits have gone by the wayside too.Â
Here is what I know to be true:
- Â When you have the humility to see yourself honesty you free yourself to be a more powerful leader.
- Â When you stop focusing on being right and start focusing on getting it right you take your leadership to a whole new level.
- Â The path you seek is directly in front of you. When you push aside the doubt, cynicism, bureaucracy and personal agendas so you can see it clearly.
- Â Sitting back and waiting for others to notice your value is like sitting back and thinking the lion wonât eat you because you didnât eat hi ...
So Much Tension
Do you ever look out at the world and wonder why with so much beauty there is so much tension? Why at work there is a sound mission yet there are personal agendas, bureaucracy, posturing and cynicism.Â
Why at home and with friends there is love yet there are interpersonal struggles.Â
Why with your free time there are interests but there never seems to be enough time to get to them.Â
I took this photo on the beach recently because it reminded me that when we slow to a standstill we can actually canvas the landscape to notice not only what we need but more importantly what we want.Â
You think you need a new job. You think you need a different partner, more love, new friends. You think you need more time.Â
What you really want is to show up at work with confidence, influence and strategic execution that matters, gets noticed and opens opportunities for you to serve in a stronger capacity.Â
What you want is to go home, not reach for cookies or wine, but for a hug from a partner or fa...
If I wainted...
This is profoundly true. Yesterday I was having a discussion with a colleague about rule following and it became apparent that those who succeed donât pay as much attention to the rules as they do results. They know not to discard the rules. They respect them. And they know how to work around and within them to get things done. Their focus is on the end game.Â
Procrastination is simply denial.Â
Iâve been the CEO of three organizations. There is no question that I would have never been recruited for these roles if Iâd been known for following the rules. I was recruited because I was known for getting things done against the odds and for making it fun along the way.Â
Whatâs your brand? If you donât know, you donât have one and thatâs a problem. What do you do better than most people? And working hard is not enough. At the top everyone does that. Start taking risks in the areas of your strengths. Failure is learning. Perfectionism is fear. Build up a stable of measurable accomplishment...
This Shifts You Away from the Hurt
The shift to focusing on the lesson, not the hurt, is crucial for executive presence. It comes by way of building your self-awareness such that you notice your thoughts before you become them. How do we notice thoughts from a third party perspective instead of getting swept up in the emotions that follow? By training the mind to observe itself when not in a crisis.Â
Mindful daily practices train the mind to stay in the moment and not react with regret.Â
So build the discipline of mindful practices into your daily routine: read an inspirational passage, do a craft, meditate, take a mindful walk where you notice everything around you and not think about anything else, prayer.Â
Then watch what how saying or thinking things you used to later regret dissipates. Notice how the people you used to hate become subjects of study. Observe how your words are more productive with people you care about. Others will notice how much more you smile.
For more executive presence tips here's a link to...
Just Calm Down
Telling someone who is visibly upset to "Just calm down" is like saying, âJust stop overeatingâ to someone who wants to lose weight. Intellectually, you know what you need to do yet your self-management skills arenât keen enough to cease the behavior or the unresolved feeling. And quick fix advice such as âbe positiveâ makes you feel worse because it denies the inadequacy you feel inside.Â
I used to be more of what could have been labeled a âdistantâ leader. Calming down was not my issue. Relatability was.
Three things changed that for me and for my clients struggling with how to manage emotions:
1) Allow them.
2) Be curious about them.
3) Be compassionate to yourself and others.
This wasnât a quick fix. It was a repeated practice of continually taking myself through this exercise of self discovery which lead to self acceptance.
I was a single mother and only provider of four children who was stuck in survival mode. I neglected myself as I was taking care of everyone else. I had...
Rejection Can Be Debilitating
Rejection can be debilitating. You wonât worry about how other people feel about you if you have the presence to manage yourself and your thoughts. Build a âfamilyâ of people around you that consistently reminds you how awesome you are. That tribe combats the doubt that sits idle in your head ready to undercut your self worth at any moment of rejection because you hadnât heard often enough of your magnificence.
Don't Waste Time on Resolutions - Do This Instead
My husband and I were sitting alone on the beach of our home on Hilton Head Island last week on Christmas eve. COVID had altered the travel plans of our six children and their families. We had decided if we were going to be alone for Christmas we'd be in a place we love. We sat there talking about how COVID has changed so much for everyone this year. I deliberately got up from my chair and snapped this photo as my commitment to moving forward with a fresh perspective. Hope is on the horizon. Though hope is not a strategy, it reminds me that it is time to plan.
Would you take a trip without a map? Of course not. So why do we think we can create a New Yearâs resolution and get there just because we want to? The reason most resolutions fail is because they are simply notions centered on âgettingâ something and not grounded in your values - the root of what drives you. They arenât authentic and aligned with your core.            Â
11 Reso-YOU-tions for Results in 2021Â
- Set...