You Are What You Eat – And You Lead Who You Are

A rather wonderful ability of human beings is our ability to find the positive and celebrate crisis with memes and good humour. We are resilient little mammals that keeps us bravely (and sometimes ignorantly) marching through the challenges of our times. 

Up yours The Great Depression we will invent new industries! Screw you Covid-19 we will continue commerce dressed in pajama’s and connecting virtually!

But we must couple our optimism with conscious learning. While we continue to laugh off face-mask fashion and presidential faux pas that trumps the mediocrity of our news, we should also be turning our attention to growth.

And by growth I mean extreme, profound and necessary, individual and collective growth.

The kind of growth that has seen us leave out-dated relationships, rethink our priorities, adjust our consumerism, and above all, realign wellbeing with productivity.

Businesses have had to rapidly adjust not only their models, but their leadership styles and team management. People around the world are awakening once again to their own humanity and the richly complex needs that we all have above and beyond ticking off to-do lists. 

What I find most positive about this shift is how it is effecting the biggest piece of our life pie-chart: our work.

Despite the return to more humane practices and outlooks, we seem to be strangely ill-equipped to navigate all this emotional vulnerability and authentic communication. While many individuals and organisations are aware of the importance of incorporating these new experiences and ways of operating into their blueprint, the question remains – how?

There are 4 parts of the human brain that when activated and nurtured, provide the cornerstone to wellbeing. But guess what – wellbeing is a skill and one that needs to be learned and practiced in order to be effective. Luckily 2020 opened the door for this practice to be included in both our personal and professional lives.

Now more than ever, leaders need to upskill not only their team cohesion, communication and effectiveness, but their own wellbeing as well. As a leader, you will only ever be able to identify, nurture and grow the best from your staff and business if you, yourself, are personally able to demonstrate balance, optimism, empathy and resilience.

These 4 solutions to creating a happy, resilient, healthy and powerful state are:

1. Outlook – The ability to see the positive in others, to savour positive experiences, to see others as a human being who has innate basic goodness, and to seek opportunity within challenges.
2. Resilience – The rapidity with which you recover from adversity and learn from, rather than become defeated by, set-backs and disappointments.
3. Attention – Being present and fully engaged in the moment and to what it is that you are working towards in your immediate environment, rather than constantly worrying about either the future or the past.
4. Generosity – Engaging in practices that cultivate kindness and compassion, the sharing of your energy, time, and knowledge, and applying generosity to your own wellbeing in the form of gratitude.

These states-of-being require a shift in our habits, our mind sets, and sometimes even our beliefs. Because of our brain’s neuroplasticity, we can cultivate these types of thought patterns by exercising the circuits of our brain. And once activated, these new practices will spread their influence into all areas of our lives, creating a true state of prosperity, happiness, purpose and focus (otherwise known as wellbeing).

But like any new exercise regime, it sometimes helps to have a personal trainer on your side who can guide the process, challenge stagnant beliefs, and gently nudge you out of comfort zones that have prevented you from true, authentic expression and the realisation of all that you are capable of.

Leaders, individuals and teams are being called to meet our new environment, and for the first time in modern history, we are looking at a positive change that elevates, acknowledges, empowers and celebrates the human being.

• Will you grab this once in a lifetime opportunity to become a leader of the future?
• Will you focus on your own wellbeing, and thereby positively impact the lives of your staff?
• Are you excited about where this new mind set will take us?

I know I am 🙂