The leadership blog for successful women

Do you really know where you're going? I did not for quite a long time.

I simply went through the motions.

And had no idea about what was really important to me. Except for the obvious: my family and my career.

The thing is: I had goals. And plans. Like I was taught to do.

 And often they did not work out. Which was really frustrating and deep inside I often felt like a failure.

It took me a long time until I figured out what was missing.

The underlying parts

Purpose.

Vision.

When I thought about those two levels my first impulse was…oh, no - not anything more to think about or to make my world more complicated.

I made an effort to make it simple...there are too many things in life too complicated already...so here we go.

PURPOSE

Lots of people talk about finding their purpose.

I prefer DEFINING mine.

I have not lost it, nor do I believe that some higher power hid that purpose, and it's my job to find it. What IS my job is to listen to my inner voice and truth that helps...

We need to stop glamorizing overwork and busyness - please! 

It's nothing to be applauded. Particularly when the consequences are dire. And still too many people wear exhaustion, a fully packed calendar which does not leave any breathing space and even burnout as a badge of honour. 

Why? 

Well, there are a number of factors. Having to do with beliefs we grew up with in our society (and believe me - they are utterly unhelpful!) and because we live in a (working) world where demands are so high that - most of the time - they literally cannot be fulfilled. 

Sounds like a conundrum? Maybe.

You've got the power though - to change it. 

Listen in to this week's Monday thoughts to learn:

1. The two major beliefs that keep us stuck in overworking and busyness
2. The underlying reasons why it's so hard to say good bye to overwork
3. The 3 main strategies to get out of overwork and busyness and towards more joy and energy.

Got any questions or comments? Just drop me an...

Quite honestly: 5 years ago I did not have a clue what Personal Leadership was. As I simply did not give it a thought. The definition that is.

Instinctively though I realized that there is something wrong with the way of how we learn to lead.

When I had just passed my mid-twenties and I worked for a start-up in the IT business (not that we called it like that 25 years ago) it was the first time that I managed a team. I had 3 people in a sales team to lead. And I failed miserably.

None of my team was in the slightest inspired by me and I had simply no idea what I was doing. Even when I read up about what I could do how and tested things out, it did only marginally get better. The second time around leading a team in a different organisation went better, still not great though.

Well, I could have assumed that I was simply a lousy leader. I realized later though, that I had started at the wrong end.

Start leadership at the right end 

What is the right end then?

Quite simple on one...

Last week I attended a panel discussion with high ranking people from politics, academia and economy in Geneva. Including an ambassador for the UN who’s also an Executive Director in the Secretariat of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation (I had no idea such a position existed) and the Director General from the ILO (International Labour Organisation). The event was part of the ILO 24-hour Global Tour to celebrate its Centenary.

The topic of the discussion: “How to shape a future that works”. Transforming the global response to the future of work.

I won’t go through all the details what was discussed (as many of it was pretty theoretical anyway). What was clear though was, that on this level a lot of policies & regulations are being discussed from a 100-miles above view, which does not really help the individual.

The world (of work) is massively changing

The world keeps changing and Richard Baldwin, Professor for International economy at the...

No, not a house  - how we build our vision ;-) (actually I think that's quite funny for a German...). 

In my last post I pondered about WHY a vision is so crucial...the million dollar question is though - how the heck does it work to build OURS?

That was the question I was facing myself. 

Just putting together a board with nice pictures out of a magazine and looking at it all day long?

Having a lovely idea in my head where I'll be in "the future" - whenever this might be?

Writing an essay about how my dream looks like?

Well, those might work for some of you - for me it did not do the job.

So, I experimented a while, looking at many aspects, digging in all the stuff I've learned in the last decades and came to a fairly easy 4 step-model.

1. Who do I decide to be?

2. How would I love to feel?

3. What do I chose to do?

4. What’s important for me to have?

Short and sweet really. 

Now you might ask: well, THAT does not tell me how my dream looks like, does it?

...

Have you ever felt that you’re stuck in a situation in your life? That might be in this job, we’re not enjoying anymore, but we feel like we cannot leave. It may be in a romantic relationship which seems to not to go anywhere or our health and fitness which does not get to the level where we’d like it to be.

I was definitely there – particularly on the job level and yes, also in my previous relationships. I felt like I was moving in circles and could not see any progress at all. Situations where my job left me frustrated and bored, but I felt unable to move or change.

Or, as it happened very recently that I worked and worked on my Better Workplace Project and at the same time had to deal with some personal matters…and suddenly found that I had lost track and stopped dead in the latter. I was stuck.

With the result that all this energy which drove me before evaporated and my mood reached an all time low.

No energy – no action and definitely no...

Have you ever fantasized about making the next year the best you ever had? Like at New Year, or just because you started a new job or got married to the person you love most in this world.

In other words: when you either felt the pressure (things had been turning in circles for too long) or the enthusiasm for life was just swept you away, to make this wishful promise to yourself?

My healthiest year

Well, you’re not alone  - I just made this promise to myself. In many ways this is going to be my healthiest year ever. I am building up this business where my heart really is and I am determined to have the best relationships ever with the people I love and everybody else I am dealing with.

Now the big question is how can this dream become reality without it dying a slow and painful death over some weeks or months during which “the daily trials of life” catch up with us? What’s necessary to actually grow and come closer to the best version of ourselves...