Sunday Newsletter - Is The Time Now ? - Personal Leadership (24 March 2024)

Sunday Newsletter 

Hello amazing people,

Happy Sunday! 

I hope you have had a week of beautiful surprises, new things to look forward to and of course, prosperity, and playfulness.

What are you drinking today?

The sky is blue and the sun is bright for the first time in a while. I even have washing drying on the line – what a bonus!

This is a perfect end to what has been a challenging week – completely of my own design. My 5 Days of Stretching Myself.

I choose to do a 6-day water fast. And I found it really tough toward the end. So much so, I broke my fast after completing the 5^th day.

Did I feel like I had failed? No.
It wasn’t a challenge; it was me doing what I felt was right for my body at the time. By the end of day 5 I also felt it was right to stop.

The Lessons

• What I learned most about myself is that I can rally energy and show up when I must, even if my body just wants to check out for a while.
  I also learned about awareness, and knowing when enough is enough.

• I learned about brain fog, aches on my aches, and feeling so tired I didn’t want to get off the sofa to walk my dogs.

• I learned the importance of hydration and about creating the flexibility in my life to still get what needed to be done, done.

In some ways it was a great lesson on self-management.
How adaptable are you?

With the way things are shaping up in the world, maybe it was a great lesson in preparedness and going past the discomfort and mental limitations to build resilience and inner strength, that perhaps many of us could benefit from practicing.

Not necessarily via a water fast, but maybe doing the uncomfortable things more often so that we stretch ourselves and learn and become better leaders of our own worlds.

Leadership

I have always been reluctant to call myself a leader. Maybe you feel the same way.

I have viewed the title as usually used to depict a person with hero like qualities, who can work miracles and transform the populace, or the lives of those that follow. Someone who swoops in to save the day. Or creates a wave of miraculous change over time.

Recently I have awakened to the fact that many of those I had admired as leaders were not, after all what they seemed. Do you relate?

That’s why, in my opinion, the world needs us to take full responsibility for ourselves, our businesses and our lives, and become our own true leaders.
To step into the role of having a vision, mission and passion worthy of living and showing up for irrespective of the challenge.
Will we always manage to show up? Probably not.
Yet if we begin with this intention in mind, then I reckon we’ll show up when it really matters. And that feels important to me right now.

So here’s this week’s Business Boost, about leadership.

This Weeks Business Boost 

Leaders never stop learning. True leaders are always eager to improve themselves and everything they do.

If there’s a way to increase our leadership quotient and lead others better, we’re in!

From time to time, a great book appears in the marketplace that makes sense and speaks to the needs of leaders. Andy Stanley’s book, The Next Generation Leader offers some great gems for leaders. His book is a short, practical book on the essentials of leadership that any leader can gain from. This week’s Business Boost contains a very condensed version of that book.

I’m not sure whether the 5 Cs of Leadership are simply profound, or profoundly simple! But they provide a fresh look at leadership that I hope you find as worthwhile as I did. And I invite you to apply them to life in these times, as much as you might for business.

The 5 Cs of Leadership:

1. Competence.

The core essential of this characteristic is to focus only on those things in which you are competent.

One of the greatest pitfalls of leadership is to allow ourselves to get drawn into things outside our areas of competency. Many make the mistake of thinking that a good leader should be good at everything. “Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.” – Andy StanleyFigure out quickly what your “A” competencies are and excel at those.

If in doubt, ask others what you excel at. I did this recently by reaching out and asking 20 folks (work and life) what they thought were my strongest gifts. Give it a go. It’s a worthwhile exercise on so many levels.

Once you have a picture, then do what only you can do, and delegate everything else. You’re still responsible for those delegated competencies, but you don’t have to be the one to carry them out.

This reveals one leadership competency that is universal. Every leader must be able to rally others around them and move them collectively toward a vision. A leader cannot possibly do everything him/herself. We need others. This means raising up other leaders as well. Leaders attract and develop other leaders. This is a core competency of leadership. And for me, as I said earlier, I believe we are all leaders, and our time is NOW.

2. Courage.

One of the chief ways that leaders exhibit courage is by challenging the status quo. Leaders love progress and progress only occurs when we challenge what is currently accepted. And when we challenge the status quo, there’s always resistance!

People, organizations, and processes seek stability. But stability defies change. The leader may not be the first one to see a better way, but he or she is the first to step out in front to lead the way. That takes guts, and it establishes the leader. Also, courage is not the absence of fear, but the resolve to act despite one’s fears.

Fear can cripple and keeps most people from taking action. The leader knows that progress requires risk, and risk takes courage. Risk may also mean failure, but the leader fears inactivity even more than they fear failure.

There’s never been a more crucial time to stand for your beliefs outside the status quo – in my opinion. We really do need leaders willing to stand in their truth and support humanity, each in our own way.

3. Clarity.

Because the leader is always pressing into new territory, uncertainty is an ever-present reality.

Jim Kouzes, in The Leadership Challenge, explains, “Uncertainty creates the necessary condition for leadership.” Therefore, the more uncertainty exists, the greater the need for leadership. And the greater the responsibility you assume as a leader, the more uncertainty you will have to manage.

Do you feel we are in uncertain times?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. He was able to give clarity to that dream in such a way that he rallied millions behind him. As leaders, it is vital that we are crystal clear about our vision, mission and expectations of ourselves and of others.

People will follow a leader even when the leader is wrong. But they will not follow a leader who is unclear.

4. Coaching.

Andy Stanley’s own words are so powerful on this point that I’ll simply quote him. “You will never maximize your potential in any area without coaching. It is impossible. You may be good. You may even be better than everyone else. But without outside input you will never be as good as you could be. We all do better when somebody is watching and evaluating.” (p. 104)

You can go farther and faster with someone coaching you than you can on your own. Also, an effective coach does not need to possess more or better skills than the person they are coaching.When we limit ourselves to self-evaluation, we simply compare ourselves with where we’ve been or against others. But a coach evaluates our skills based on our potential and that is something entirely different.

A good coach doesn’t tell the leader what to do but draws answers out of the leader that the leader would not otherwise come to. The bottom line is, find a good coach.

5. Character.

While it is possible to lead without character, no leader without character is worth following. Character is the moral foundation that makes a leader worthy of followers.

Even though we led into this discussion with competency, competency without character can be used for evil and nefarious purposes.

Compromise is the killer of character.

Someone with integrity will do what’s right even when it hurts. Every leader’s character will be tested at some time or another and probably more than once. Be aware that your competency may be able to take you places beyond what your character can sustain. So, character is something you must forge into the metal of your being before that test comes.

As a fellow leader (I admit, I still struggle to use this), I encourage you to continue to develop and cling to these 5 Cs of leadership. In fact, which one of the five Cs needs the most immediate attention in your life? What will you do to follow-through? What will help you most in these unique and challenging times?
If you feel like sharing hit reply or email me at [email protected]

Choosing Happy Podcast Update 

Also before I go, 2 quick things: 

#1 - I'm offering a End of Quarter Strategy Mastermind for those who want to review the previous quarter, set powerful goals for quarter 2 and receive help and support from your fellow leader. Also being in a Mastermind changes something. It gives you that extra magic that happens when amazing minds with the same intention and focus come together. It invites you to see what's possible, uncovers your blind spots and creates opportunities that you just can't find so quickly on your own. 

I'm really excited to be running these mastermind days. It gives me the in-depth time with you and your business that I find so satisfying and enjoyable, and it gives you a boost beyond what you'd probably expect!⁠

⁠Let's do this! message me to book.

[email protected]⁠

#2 - And I am putting the final touches to my Just 1st Class 90 day Success Sprint.
All about goals, projects, accountability and fantastic results, bespoke to you.

If you would like advanced details, email me and let me know.

That's it for this week! 

In a time of such confusion and chaos, may peace and healing surround you. May your families and friends be safe and may love guide you.

And always remember, if you fancy a coffee and a chat, I am only an email away. 

Wishing you a week blessed with opened hearted compassion vibes, joy filled days, good health, prosperity, grace and ease! 

Heather 

Heather V Masters 

Chief Coach, Trainer and Facilitator of Magic 

Taking Your Business Online and Choosing Happy Podcast 

Email: [email protected] or [email protected] 

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 

#1: I just launched a new Coffee and Catchup on my YouTube Channel (beginning Monday (Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning – 11 am – live). I'm putting a ton of energy into creating heaps of valuable live content that I think you'll like. It’s my aim to create a healthy habit of live content that serves you. Come check out my channel, and give me a like and subscribe.  

#2: Mastermind Day 

I have a VIP Mastermind day in March, for 4 Entrepreneurs who are wanting to review goals, strategies, growth, content and more. You can find the details here: 

https://heather-masters.mykajabi.com/VIP_mastermind 

#3: Follow me on LinkedIn for more Tech, strategy, systems, marketing tips, and happiness-building. 

P.P.S. If you are interested in copywriting services and creating a portfolio for your business drop me a line and we can arrange to chat.  

If you have something you want to ask, drop me an email and let's get your questions answered. 

Email: [email protected]